Detection of intermediates in cobalt-catalyzed hydroformylation using para-hydrogen-induced polarization

para-Hydrogen-induced polarization methods are shown to enable the in situ detection of linear and branched monophosphine-containing intermediates during hydroformylation when Co(eta3-C3H5)(CO)2(PCy3) is the catalyst precursor. The NMR signal characteristics of the alkyl arms of these species provide direct evidence for the rapid interconversion of linear and branched cobalt alkyls prior to the CO insertion step. The observation of additional para-hydrogen-enhanced signals for the corresponding linear and branched aldehydes enables the reactions selectivity to be rapidly monitored as a function of H2 and CO pressure or reaction temperature.     

Cluster and periodic DFT calculations: the adsorption of atomic nitrogen on M(111) (M = Cu, Ag, Au) surfaces

First-principle density functional calculations with cluster and slab models have been performed to investigate adsorption and thermally activated atomic nitrogen on M(111) (M = Cu, Ag, Au) surfaces. Optimized results indicate that the basis set of the N atom has a distinct effect on the adsorption energy but an indistinct one on the equilibrium distance. For the N/M(111) adsorption systems studied here, the threefold face centered cubic (fcc) hollow site is found to be the most stable adsorption site. The reason for the fcc site is that the perfected adsorption site has been explained by the density of states (DOS) analysis, that is, that N(2p) has the smallest DOS population near the Fermi level on the fcc site as compared with other adsorption sites. The variations of the adsorption energy as a function of adsorption site are similar and in the following order of N-M(111) binding strengths on a given site: Cu(111) > Ag(111) > Au(111). It is found that the N atom forms essentially an ionic bond for the most stable site. Large contributions between the M(ns) and N(2p) orbitals (n = 4, 5, and 6 for Cu, Ag, and Au, respectively) are found for the cluster model at the B3LYP/LANL2DZ-6-31G(d,p) level and also found in the slab DFT-GGA calculation results, which are the main characteristics of M-N bonds. At last, the dissociation of N2 on Cu(111) and Au(111) has also been obtained in this work, and the results showed that the dissociation of N2 on Cu(111) is more active than that on the Au(111) surface.     

苯乙烯在Ag(111)和Ag(110)表面环氧化反应结构敏感性的理论研究

采用密度泛函理论(DFT)对苯乙烯在Ag(110)表面和Ag(111)表面的环氧化反应进行了计算研究. 经计算, 在Ag(110)表面预吸附氧原子更易吸附在3 重穴位(3h), 吸附能为-3.59 eV; 在Ag(111)表面预吸附氧原子的最稳定吸附位是fcc 位, 吸附能为-3.69 eV. 苯乙烯的环氧化反应过程首先经过一个金属中间体, 然后再进一步反应变为产物, 其中经过直链中间体较支链中间体更加有利. Ag(110)面的反应活化能一般大于Ag(111)面的, 并且微观动力学模拟结果表明, Ag(111)表面生成环氧苯乙烷的选择性要明显高于Ag(110)表面(0.38 与 0.003), 原因是Ag(111)面环氧化反应活化能小于苯乙醛及燃烧中间体的活化能, 而在Ag(110)上正相反.     

氢原子在Pt及Pt系双金属催化表面吸附的密度泛函理论研究

采用密度泛函理论(dFT)考察了Pt(100)、(110)、(111)三种表面氢原子的吸附行为, 计算了覆盖度为0.25 ML时氢原子在Pt 三种表面和M-Pt(111)双金属(M=Al, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Pd)上的最稳定吸附位、表面能以及吸附前后金属表面原子层间弛豫情况. 分析了氢原子在不同双金属表面吸附前后的局域态密度变化以及双金属表面d 带中心偏离费米能级的程度并与氢吸附能进行了关联. 计算结果表明, 在Pt(100), Pt(110)和Pt(111)表面, 氢原子的稳定吸附位分别为桥位、短桥位和fcc 穴位. 三种表面中以Pt(111)的表面能最低, 结构最稳定. 氢原子在不同M-Pt(111)双金属表面上的最稳定吸附位均为fcc 穴位, 其中在Ni-Pt 双金属表面的吸附能最低, Co-Pt 次之. 表明氢原子在Ni-Pt 和Co-Pt 双金属表面的吸附最稳定. 通过对氢原子在M-Pt(111)双金属表面吸附前后的局域态密度变化的分析, 验证了氢原子吸附能计算结果的准确性. 掺杂金属Ni、Co、Fe 的3d-Pt(111)双金属表面在吸附氢原子后发生弛豫, 第一层和第二层金属原子均不同程度地向外膨胀. 此外, 3d金属的掺入使得其对应的M-Pt(111)双金属表面d带中心与Pt 相比更靠近费米能级, 吸附氢原子能力增强, 表明3d-Pt系双金属表面有可能比Pt具有更好的脱氢活性.     

Structural dependence of thermodynamics of alkene binding to yttrium alkyl complexes and of kinetics of alkyl migration to coordinated alkenes

Agostic interactions in yttrium alkyls are structure dependent. Primary alkyl yttrium complexes have beta-CH(2) agostic interactions at low temperature, but a shift toward alpha-agostic interactions occurs on warming. For the more crowded beta-disubstituted yttrium alkyls, an alpha-CH(2) agostic interaction is seen. The thermodynamics of alkene binding to the primary alkyl yttrium complex Cp(2)YCH(2)CH(2)CH(CH(3))(2) (2) depend strongly on the structure of the alkene. A single allylic substituent on the alkene has a small effect on alkene binding, but a second allylic substituent has a large destabilizing effect. Propene binding to yttrium alkyls is largely independent of the nature of the alkyl ligand. Equilibrium constants for propene binding to n-, gamma-substituted, beta-substituted, and secondary alkyl yttrium complexes are similar. The rate of migration of an alkyl group to a coordinated alkene depends strongly on the structure of the alkyl group: n-alkyl approximately gamma-substituted > beta-substituted > alpha-substituted. The approximately 200-fold slower insertion of propene into Cp(2)YCH(2)CH(CH(3))(2) (6) than that into Cp(2)YCH(2)CH(2)CH(CH(3))(2) (2) is therefore due to kinetically slow migration of the beta-disubstituted alkyl group of 6 and not to differences in the equilibrium binding of propene. Processes related to chain transfer and site epimerization at the metal center are also reported.     

Static investigation of adsorption and hetero‐diffusion of copper,silver, and gold adatoms on the (111) surface

In this work, we have used the static molecular simulations combined with an interatomic potential derived from the embedded‐atom method to study the adsorption and hetero‐diffusion on the (111) surface of Cu, Ag, and Au adatoms by using LAMMPS code. The investigation is performed for six heterogeneous systems such as Ag/Au(111), Ag/Cu(111), Au/Ag(111), Au/Cu(111), Cu/Ag(111), and Cu/Au(111). First, we have investigated the relaxation trends and the bond lengths of the atoms in the systems. The calculation results show that, the top layer spacing between the first and second layers of the Au(111), Ag(111), and Cu(111) substrates is contracted. This contraction is found to be more important in the Au(111) substrate. On the other hand, the strong reduction of the binding length is found in Au/Cu(111) for the different adsorption sites. In addition, the binding, adsorption, and static activation energies for all studied systems were examined. The results indicated that the binding and adsorption energies reached their maximum values in the Au/Cu(111) and Au/Ag(111) systems, respectively. Moreover, the static activation barriers for hopping diffusion on the (111) surfaces are found to be low compared with those found in the (100) and (110) surfaces. Therefore, our calculations showed that the difference in energy between the hcp and fcc sites on the (111) surfaces is very small. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adsorption of atoms on cu surfaces: a density functional theory study

The chemisorption of atoms (H, N, S, O, and C) on Cu surfaces has been systematically studied by the density functional theory generalized gradient approximation method with the slab model. Our calculated results indicate that the orders of the adsorption energy are H < N < S < O < C on Cu(111) and H < N < O < S < C on Cu(110) and Cu(100). Furthermore, the adsorption energies of the given atoms on Cu(100) are larger than those on Cu(111) and Cu(110). The preferred adsorption sites are a 3-fold hollow site on Cu(111) and a 4-fold hollow site on Cu(100), but the preferred adsorption sites on Cu(110) are different for different adatoms. The energy, as well as the geometry, is in good agreement with the experimental and other theoretical data. In addition, this study focuses on the electronic and geometric properties of the metal-atom (M-A) bond to explain the difference in adsorption energies among adatoms. A detailed investigation of the density of states curves explains the nature of the most stable site. Finally, we test the effect of the coverage and find that the surface coverage has no influence on the preferred adsorption sites of the given adatoms on Cu(110) with the exception of hydrogen and oxygen, but has much influence on the value of the adsorption energy.     

Interactions of Peptides from Secreted Human CKLF1 and the N-Terminal Extracellular Tail of CCR4 Analyzed by CZE

Human chemokine-like factor 1 (CKLF1) exhibits chemotactic effects on leukocytes. A previous study demonstrated that CKLF1 is a functional ligand for human CC chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4). The N-terminal amino acid sequencing of secreted CKLF1 protein showed that it contains at least two peptides, CKLF1-C27 and CKLF1-C19, which have functional activation via CCR4. To quantitatively evaluate the interaction of CKLF1-C27 or CKLF1-C19 with CCR4, the N-terminal extracellular tail of CCR4 (ML40), CKLF1-C27 and CKLF1-C19 were chemically synthesized and analyzed by capillary zone electrophoresis. Both qualitative and quantitative characterizations of the peptide-peptide binding were determined. We used the macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC) as the positive control and its binding constant was (4.99 ± 0.86) × 10⁴ M^?1. The binding constant of the interactions between CKLF1-C27/CKLF1-C19 and ML40 was calculated as (2.96 ± 0.59) × 10⁴ M^?1 and (1.39 ± 0.38) × 10⁴ M^?1 by the Scatchard analysis. This result proved that CKLF1-C27 had a greater potent affinity with ML40 than CKLF1-C19 because of the excess eight amino acids. To understand the molecular basis for the interaction, a mutagenesis study of CKLF1-C19 was undertaken. CKLF1-C19pm and CKLF1-C19km were synthesized and their interactions with ML40 were analyzed by CZE. We found that the substitution of Lys or Pro to Ala within the residues of CKLF1-C19 strongly abolished or decreased its interaction with ML40, suggesting that the Lys residues of CKLF1-C19 play the important role for the interaction and the Pro residues of CKLF1-C19 affect its affinity. All the experimental results show that the reported method by CZE for the determination of the interactions of CKLF1 peptides and the N-terminal extracellular tail of CCR4 is powerful.     

CO在Pt低指数面上吸附行为的理论研究

用密度泛函理论(DFT)中的广义梯度近似(GGA)方法对CO-Pt低指数面吸附体系进行了结构优化, 并对吸附体系的吸附热、C—O键和C—Pt键的键长、布居数分析、电子态密度进行了研究. 计算结果表明, 在0.25 ML(monolayer)的覆盖率下, CO最容易在Pt(100)晶面的桥位、Pt(110)晶面的短桥位、Pt(111)晶面的hcp三重位吸附, 吸附热分别达到了2.11、2.37、1.96 eV; CO在吸附成键过程中伴有电子在CO分子和Pt之间的转移. 吸附后, C—O键被削弱, 键长变长, 金属内部的作用亦被削弱, 其表层Pt 原子的布居数明显降低; 态密度分析表明, CO在吸附过程中, 其4σ、1π、5σ、2π轨道均参与成键.     

Structure and dynamics of neutral beta-H agostic nickel alkyls: a combined experimental and theoretical study

Addition of BF(3).OEt(2) to ethereal solutions of the Ni(II) beta-diketiminates [Me(2)NN]Ni(R)(2,4-lutidine) (R = Et (1), Pr (2)) allows the isolation of the neutral beta-H agostic monoalkyls [Me(2)NN]Ni(R) (R = Et (3), Pr (4)). X-ray studies of primary alkyls 3 and 4a reveal acute Ni-C(alpha)-C(beta) angles with short Ni-C(beta) distances, indicating structures along the beta-H elimination pathway. Positional disorder of the alkyl group in the X-ray structure of 4 corresponds to partial (22%) occupancy by the secondary alkyl [Me(2)NN]Ni(CHMe(2)) (4b). Variable-temperature NMR spectra of 3 and 4 reveal fluxional behavior that result from beta-H elimination, in-plane rotation of the beta-CH(3) group, and a tetrahedral triplet structure for 3 that were investigated by density functional theory calculations at the Becke3LYP/6-31G level of theory without simplifications on the beta-diketiminate ancillary ligand. Calculations support low temperature NMR studies that identify the linear beta-H agostic propyl isomer 4a as the ground state with the branched beta-H agostic isomer 4b slightly higher in energy. NMR studies and calculations show that the beta-agostic 3 reluctantly coordinates ethene and that 3 is the ground state for this ethylene oligomerization catalyst. The thermodynamic isotope effect K(H)/K(D) = 1.3(2) measured for the loss of 2,4-lutidine from 1 to form beta-agostic 3 was also examined by DFT calculations.     

n- and isoalkane adsorption mechanisms on zeolite MCM-22

Low-coverage adsorption properties (Henry constants, adsorption enthalpy, and entropy) of linear and branched alkanes (C3-C8) on zeolite MCM-22 were determined using the chromatographic technique at temperatures between 420 and 540 K. It was found that adsorption enthalpy and entropy of linear alkanes vary in a nonmonotonic way with carbon number. The adsorption behavior of alkanes was rationalized on the basis of the pore geometry. Short molecules prefer to reside in the pockets of the MCM-22 supercage, where they maximize energetic interaction with the zeolite. Longer molecules reside in the larger central part of the supercage. For carbon numbers up to six, singly branched alkanes are selectively adsorbed over their linear counterparts. This preference originates from the entropic advantage of singly branched molecules inside MCM-22 supercages, where these species have high rotational freedom because of their small length.     

Enhanced selectivity towards O(2) and H(2) dissociation on ultrathin Cu films on Ru(0001)

The reactivity of Cu monolayer (ML) and bilayer films grown on Ru(0001) towards O(2) and H(2) has been investigated. O(2) initial sticking coefficients were determined using the King and Wells method in the incident energy range 40-450 meV, and compared to the corresponding values measured on clean Ru(0001) and Cu(111) surfaces. A relative large O(2) sticking coefficient (～0.5-0.8) was measured for 1 ML Cu and even 2 ML Cu/Ru(0001). At low incident energies, this is one order of magnitude larger than the value observed on Cu(111). In contrast, the corresponding reactivity to H(2) was near zero on both Cu monolayer and bilayer films, for incident energies up to 175 meV. Water adsorption on 2 ML Cu/Ru(0001) was found to behave quite differently than on the Ru(0001) and Cu(111) surfaces. Our study shows that Cu/Ru(0001) is a highly selective system, which presents a quite different chemical reactivity towards different species in the same range of collision energies.     

Energy density analysis of cluster size dependence of surface-molecule interactions (II): formate adsorption onto a Cu(111) surface

Adsorption of formate (HCOO) onto a Cu(111) surface has been treated theoretically using 18 kinds of Cu(n) (6 < or = n < or = 56) clusters. The energy density analysis (EDA) proposed by Nakai has been adopted to examine surface-molecule interactions for different cluster sizes. EDA results for the largest model cluster Cu(56) have shown that the adsorption-induced energy density variation in Cu atoms decays with distance from the adsorption site. Analysis of this decay, which can be carried out using the EDA technique, is important because it enables verification of the reliability of the model cluster used. In the case of formate adsorption onto the Cu(111) surface, it is found that at least a four-layer model cluster is necessary to treat the surface-molecule interaction with chemical accuracy.     

Bromine Adsorption and Thermal Stability on Rh(111): A Combined XPS,LEED and DFT Study

This study addresses a fundamental question in surface science: the adsorption of halogens on metal surfaces. Using synchrotron radiation-based high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), temperature-programmed XPS, low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we investigated the adsorption and thermal stability of bromine on Rh(111) in detail. The adsorption of elemental bromine on Rh(111) at 170 K was followed in situ by XPS in the Br 3d region, revealing two individual, coverage-dependent species, which we assign to fcc hollow- and bridge-bound atomic bromine. In addition, we find a significant shift in binding energy upon increasing coverage due to adsorbate-adsorbate interactions. Subsequent heating shows a high thermal stability of bromine on Rh(111) up to above 1000 K, indicating strong covalent bonding. To complement the XPS data, LEED was used to study the long-range order of bromine on Rh(111): we observe a (√3×√3)R30° structure for low coverages (≤0.33 ML) and a star-shaped compression structure for higher coverages (0.33–0.43 ML). Combining LEED and DFT calculations, we were able to visualize bromine adsorption on Rh(111) in real space for varying coverages.     

Pronounced Dependence of All-Polymer Solar Cells Photovoltaic Performance on the Alkyl Substituent Patterns in Large Bandgap Polymer Donors

For all-polymer solar cells which are composed of polymer donors and polymer acceptors, the effect of alkyl side chains on photovoltaic performance is a matter of some debate, and this effect remains difficult to forecast. In this concise contribution, we demonstrate that three alkyls namely branched alkyl 2-butyloctyl (2BO), long linear alkyl n-dodecyl (C12), and double-short linear alkyl n-hexyls (DC6) incorporated into the side chains of large bandgap polymer donor PBDT-TTz can induce considerable, of significance, and different electronic, optical, and morphological parameters. Systematic studies shed light on the critical role of the double-short linear alkyl n-hexyls (DC6) in (i) producing large ionization potential value, (ii) increasing propensity of the polymer to order along the π-stacking direction, (iii) generating polymer crystallites with more preferential “face-on” orientation, consequently, (iv) improvement of carriers transportation, (v) suppression of charge recombination, (vi) reduction of energy loss in all-polymer devices. In parallel, we unearth that the PBDT-TTz with double-short linear alkyl n-hexyls (DC6) represents the highest efficiency of 8.3 %, whereas, the other two PBDT-TTz analogues (2BO, C12) yield efficiencies of less than 3 % in optimized all-polymer solar cells. Though branched or long linear alkyl side chains (2BO, C12) have been applied to provide the solution processability of conjugated polymers, motifs bearing multiple short linear alkyl substituents (DC6) are proved critical to the development of high performing polymers.     

Zn adsorption on Pd(111): ZnO and PdZn alloy formation

The adsorption and thermal desorption of Zn and ZnO on Pd(111) was studied in the temperature range between 300 and 1300 K with TDS, LEED, and CO adsorption measurements. At temperatures below 400 K, multilayer growth of Zn metal on the Pd(111) surface takes place. At a coverage of 0.75 ML of Zn, a p(2 x 2)-3Zn LEED structure is observed. Increasing the coverage to 3 ML results in a (1 x 1) LEED pattern arising from an ordered Zn multilayer on Pd(111). Thermal desorption of the Zn multilayer state leads to two distinct Zn desorption peaks: a low-temperature desorption peak (400-650 K) arising from upper Zn layers and a second peak (800-1300 K) originating from the residual 1 ML Zn overlayer, which is more strongly bound to the Pd(111) surface and blocks CO adsorption completely. Above 650 K, this Zn adlayer diffuses into the subsurface region and the surface is depleted in Zn, as can be deduced from an increased amount of CO adsorption sites. Deposition of >3 ML of Zn at 750 K leads to the formation of a well-ordered Pd-Zn alloy exhibiting a (6 x 4 square root 3/3)rect. LEED structure. CO adsorption measurements on this surface alloy indicate a high Pd surface concentration and a strong reduction of the CO adsorption energy. Deposition of Zn at T > 373 K in 10(-6) mbar of O2 leads to the formation of an epitaxial (6 x 6) ZnO overlayer on Pd(111). Dissociative desorption of ZnO from this overlayer occurs quantitatively both with respect to Zn and O2 above 750 K, providing a reliable calibration for both ZnO, Zn, and oxygen coverage.     

Two-dimensional Molecular Phase Transition of Alkylated-TDPB on Au(111) and Cu(111) Surfaces

The derivatives of aromatic cores bearing alkyl chains with different lengths are of potential interest in on-surface chemistry, and thus have been widely investigated both at liquid-solid interfaces and in vacuum. Here, we report on the structural evaluation of self-assembled 1,3,5-tri(4-dodecylphenyl)benzene(TDPB) molecules with increased molecular coverages on both Au(111) and Cu(111) surfaces. As observed on Au(111), rhombic and herringbone structures emerge successively depending on surface coverage. In the case of Cu(111), the same process of phase conversion is also observed, but with two distinct structures. In comparison, the self-assembled structures on Au(111) surface are packed more densely than that on Cu(111) surface under the same preparation conditions. This may fundamentally result from the higher adsorption energy of TDPB molecules on Cu(111), restricting their adjustment to optimize a thermodynamically favorable molecular packing.     

甲醇和甲氧基在Cu(111)表面吸附的第一性原理研究

Adsorption of methanol and methoxy at four selected sites(top,bridge,hcp,fcc)on Cu(111)surface has beeninvestigated by density functional theory method at the generalized gradient approximation(GGA)level.The cal-culation on adsorption energies,geometry and electronic structures,Mulliken charges,and vibrational frequenciesof CH_3OH and CH_3O on clean Cu(111)surface was performed with full-geometry optimization,and compared withthe experimental data.The obtained results are in agreement with available experimental data.The most favoriteadsorption site for methanol on Cu(111)surface is the top site,where C-O axis is tilted to the surface.Moreover,the preferred adsorption site for methoxy on Cu(111)surface is the fcc site,and it adsorbs in an upright geometrywith pseudo-C_(3v) local symmetry.Possible decomposition pathways also have been investigated by transition-statesearching methods.Methoxy radical,CH_3O,was found to be the decomposition intermediate.Methanol can be ad-sorbed on the surface with its oxygen atom directly on a Cu atom,and weakly chemisorbed on Cu(111)surface.Incontrast to methanol,methoxy is strongly chemisorbed to the surface.     

Structure and bonding of alkanethiols on Cu(111) and Cu(100)

The local structure of the sulfur atom of methanethiolate and ethanethiolate on the Cu(111) and Cu(100) surfaces was investigated from first principles employing the periodic supercell approach in the framework of density functional theory. On the 111 surface, we investigated the (square root 3 x square root 3)R30 degrees and (2 x 2) structures, whereas on the 100 surface, we investigated the p(2 x 2) and c(2 x 2) structures. The landscape of the potential energy surface on each metal surface presents distinctive features that explain the local adsorption structure of thiolates found experimentally. On the Cu(111) surface, the energy difference between the hollow and bridge sites is only 3 kcal/mol, and consequently, adsorption sites ranging from the hollow to the bridge site were observed for increasing surface coverages. On the Cu(100) surface, there is a large energy difference of 12 kcal/mol between the hollow and bridge sites, and therefore, only the 4-fold coordination was observed. The high stabilization of thiolates on the hollow site of Cu(100) may be the driving force for the pseudosquare reconstruction observed experimentally on Cu(111). Density of states analysis and density difference plots were employed to characterize the bonding on different surface sites. Upon interaction with the metal d bands, the pi* orbital of methanethiolate splits into several peaks. The two most prominent peaks are located on either edge of the metal d band. They correspond to bonding and antibonding S-Cu interactions. In the case of ethanethiolate, all the back-bonds are affected by the surface bonding, leading to alternating regions of depletion and accumulation of charge in the successive bonds.     

糠醛在Pt(111)表面的吸附和脱碳反应

采用广义梯度近似的密度泛函理论并结合平板模型的方法, 优化了糠醛分子在Pt(111)面的吸附模型,并探究了糠醛脱碳反应形成呋喃的机理. 结果表明: 吸附后糠醛分子环上的C―H(O)键及支链―CHO相对于金属表面倾斜上翘, 分子平面被扭曲, 易于呋喃的形成; 同时, 糠醛分子向Pt表面转移电子0.765e, 环中的大π键与Pt(111)表面的d轨道发生较强的相互作用, 使得糠醛的芳香性被破坏, 环上的碳原子呈现准sp³杂化. 此外, 对糠醛脱碳反应中的各反应步骤进行过渡态搜索, 通过比较各步骤的活化能, 得出糠醛更易先失去支链上的H形成酰基中间体(C₄H₃O)CO, 中间体继续脱碳加氢形成产物呋喃. 该过程的控速步骤为(C₄H₃O)CO^*+^*→C₄H₃O^*+CO^* (^*为吸附位),活化能为127.65 kJ·mol^-1.