Olefin epoxidation by molybdenum peroxo compound: molecular mechanism characterized by the electron localization function and catastrophe theory

The oxygen atom transfer reaction from the Mimoun-type complex MoO(η(2)-O(2))(2)OPH(3) to ethylene C(2)H(4) affording oxirane C(2)H(4)O has been investigated within the framework of the Bonding Evolution Theory in which the corresponding molecular mechanism is characterized by the topological analysis of the electron localization function (ELF) and Thom's catastrophe theory (CT). Topological analysis of ELF and electron density analysis reveals that all Mo-O bonds in MoO(η(2)-O(2))(2)OPH(3) and MoO(2)(η(2)-O(2))OPH(3) belong to closed-shell type interactions though negative values of total energy densities E(e)(r(BCP)) imply some covalent contribution. The peroxo O(i)-O(j) bonds are characterized as charge-shift or protocovalent species in which pairs of monosynaptic basins V(3)(O(i)), V(3)(O(j)) with a small electron population of ~0.25e each, are localized between core basins C(O(i)), C(O(j)). The oxygen transfer reaction from molybdenum diperoxo complex MoO(η(2)-O(2))(2)OPH(3) to C(2)H(4) system can be described by the following consecutive chemical events: (a) protocovalent peroxo O(2)-O(1) bond breaking, (b) reduction of the double C(1)=C(2) bond to single C(1)-C(2) bond in ethylene, (c) displacement of oxygen O(1) with two nonbonding basins, V(i=1,2)(O(1)), (d) increase of a number of the nonbonding basins to three (V(i=1,2,4)(O(1))); (e) reorganization and reduction in the number of nonbonding basis to two basins (V(i=1,4)(O(1))) resembling the ELF-topology of the nonbonding electron density in oxirane, (e) formation of the first O(1)-C(2) bond in oxirane, (f) C(2)-O(1)-C(2) ring closure, (g) formation of singular nonbonding basin V(O(2)) in new Mo=O(2) bond. The oxygen atom is transferred as an anionic moiety carrying a rather small electronic charge ranging from 0.5 to 0.7e.     

Quantum dynamics of gas-phase SN2 reactions.

Understanding the state-resolved dynamics of elementary chemical reactions involving polyatomic molecules, such as the well-known reaction mechanism of nucleophilic bimolecular substitution (SN2), is one of the principal goals in chemistry. In this Review, the progress in the quantum mechanical treatment of SN2 reactions in the gas phase is reviewed. The potential energy profile of this class of reactions is characterized by two relatively deep wells, which correspond to pre- and post-reaction chargedipole complexes. As a consequence, the complex-forming reaction is dominated by Feshbach resonances. Calculations in the energetic continuum constitute a major challenge because the high density of resonance states imposes considerable requirements on the convergence and the energetic resolution of the scattering data. However, the effort is rewarding because new insights into the details of multimode quantum dynamics of elementary chemical reactions can be obtained.     

A theoretical study on the reaction mechanism for the bergman cyclization from the perspective of the electron localization function and catastrophe theory

The reaction mechanism associated with the Bergman cyclization of the (Z)-hexa-1,5-diyne-3-ene to render p-benzyne has been analyzed by means of a combined use of the electron localization function (ELF) and the catastrophe theory on the basis of density functional theory (DFT) calculations (B3LYP/6-31G(d)). The complex electronic rearrangements of this reaction can be highlighted using this novel quantum mechanical perspective. Five domains of structural stability of the ELF occurring along the intrinsic reaction path as well as four catastrophes (fold-cusp-fold-cusp) responsible for the changes in the topology of the system have been identified. The multiple factors that occur along the intrinsic reaction coordinate path are presented and discussed in a consistent way. The topological analysis of ELF and catastrophe theory reveals that mechanical deformation of the C1-C2-C3 unit and closed-shell repulsion between terminal acetylene groups lead to an early formation of diradicaloid character at C2 and C5 atoms. Immediately after the transition structure (TS) is reached, the open-shell-singlet biradical becomes stable. Meanwhile, C1 and C6 atoms are preparing to be covalently bonded; that will finally occur at a distance of 1.791 A. In addition, a separation of the ELF into in-plane (sigma) and out-of-plane (pi) contributions allows us to discuss the aromaticity profiles; sigma-aromaticity appears in the vicinities of the TS, while pi-aromaticity takes place in the final stage of the reaction path, once the ring has been formed.     

Electronic fluxes during diels‐alder reactions involving 1,2‐benzoquinones: mechanistic insights from the analysis of electron localization function and catastrophe theory

By means of the joint use of electron localization function (ELF) and Thom's catastrophe theory, a theoretical analysis of the energy profile for the hetero‐Diels‐Alder reaction of 4‐methoxy‐1,2‐benzoquinone 1 and methoxyethylene 2 has been carried out. The 12 different structural stability domains obtained by the bonding evolution theory have been identified as well as the bifurcation catastrophes (fold and cusp) responsible for the changes in the topology of the system. This analysis permits finding a relationship between the ELF topology and the evolution of the bond breaking/forming processes and electron pair rearrangements through the reaction progress in terms of the different ways of pairing up the electrons. The reaction mechanism corresponds to an asynchronous electronic flux; first, the O1? C5 bond is formed by the nucleophilic attack of the C5 carbon of the electron rich ethylene 2 on the most electrophilically activated carbonyl O1 oxygen of 1 , and once the σ bond has been completed, the formation process of the second O4? C6 bond takes place. In addition, the values of the local electrophilicity and local nucleophilcity indices in the framework of conceptual density functional theory accounts for the asychronicity of the process as well as for the observed regioselectivity. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Understanding reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry from catastrophe theory applied to the electron localization function topology

Thom's catastrophe theory applied to the evolution of the topology of the electron localization function (ELF) gradient field constitutes a way to rationalize the reorganization of electron pairing and a powerful tool for the unambiguous determination of the molecular mechanisms of a given chemical reaction. The identification of the turning points connecting the ELF structural stability domains along the reaction pathway allows a rigorous characterization of the sequence of electron pair rearrangements taking place during a chemical transformation, such as multiple bond forming/breaking processes, ring closure processes, creation/annihilation of lone pairs, transformations of C-C multiple bonds into single ones. The reaction mechanism of some relevant organic reactions: Diels-Alder, 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition and Cope rearrangement are reviewed to illustrate the potential of the present approach.     

An analysis of the interaction energy in some SN2 reactions

The interaction energy between an incoming group X^– and the substrate CRH₂Y at the geometry of the transition state (TS) for bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reactions (with X, Y, and R equal to H and F) has been subjected to decomposition according to the Morokuma scheme. The influence of the basis set and of the geometry chosen for the TS is examined. The results bring out regular trends in the different terms of the decomposition along the whole set of reactions, but they are not sufficient to give a rationale of the energetic factors involved in these reactions.     

An orbital localization criterion based on the topological analysis of the electron localization function

This work proposes a new molecular orbital localization procedure. The approach is based on the decomposition of the overlap matrix in accordance with the partitioning of the three‐dimensional physical space into basins with clear chemical meaning arising from the topological analysis of the electron localization function. The procedure is computationally inexpensive, provides a straightforward interpretation of the resulting orbitals in terms of their localization indices and basin occupancies, and preserves the σ/π‐separability in planar N‐electron systems. The localization algorithm is tested on selected molecular systems. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The alpha-effect in gas-phase SN2 reactions: existence and the origin of the effect

The origin of enhanced reactivity of alpha-nucleophiles in SN2 reactions was examined on the basis of computational results at the high level G2(+) method for 22 gas-phase reactions: Nu- + RCl --> RNu + Cl- [R = Et and i-Pr; Nu- = HO-, CH3O-, HS-, Cl-, Br-, NH2O-, HOO-, FO-, HSO-, ClO-, and BrO-]. The results clearly indicate the existence of the alpha-effect, whose size varies depending on the R group and the identity of the alpha-atom. The alpha-effect is larger for i-PrCl than EtCl, and for an alpha-nucleophile with a harder alpha-atom. Analyses of the present results, together with previously reported ones for MeF and MeCl reactions, reveal that several rationales so far presented to explain the alpha-effect, such as thermodynamic product stability, transition state (TS) tightness, electrostatic interaction, ET rationale, and polarizability, cannot explain the observed size of the alpha-effect. The importance of deformation energy on going from the reactant to the TS is presented.     

Influence of the solvent description on the predicted mechanism of SN2 reactions

The influence of the implicit solvent model on transition state structures of two S N2 reactions of biochemical importance is presented. In the considered methyl transfer reaction, we show experimentally that the rate constant in blood serum is about 60% slower than in the aqueous solution and that the implicit solvent model with slightly modified parameters for water captures correctly the energetics of this reaction. With the example of the reaction between 4-methyl-1,2,4-triazol-3-thione and ethyl bromoacetate, we show that relative stabilities of the conformationally different transition states depend upon the solvent inclusion strategy.     

An orbital localization criterion based on the topological analysis of the electron localization function at correlated level

This work describes a procedure for localizing orbitals based on the topological analysis of the electron localization function at correlated level. The decomposition of the overlap matrix according to the partitioning of the three dimensional physical space into basins provided by that function allows us to define a localization index to be maximized using isopycnic orbital transformations. The localization algorithm has been computationally implemented and its efficiency tested on selected molecular systems at equilibrium, stretched, and twisted geometries. We report results which allow to analyze the influence of the correlated and uncorrelated treatments on the orbital localization.     

A joint study based on the electron localization function and catastrophe theory of the chameleonic and centauric models for the Cope rearrangement of 1,5-hexadiene and its cyano derivatives

A novel interpretation of the chameleonic and centauric models for the Cope rearrangements of 1,5-hexadiene (A) and different cyano derivatives (B: 2,5-dicyano, C: 1,3,4,6-tetracyano, and D: 1,3,5-tricyano) is presented by using the topological analysis of the electron localization function (ELF) and Thom's catastrophe theory (CT) on the reaction paths calculated at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level. The progress of the reaction is monitorized by the changes of the ELF structural stability domains (SSD), each being change controlled by a turning point derived from CT. The reaction mechanism of the parent reaction A is characterized by nine ELF SSDs. All processes occur in the vicinity of the transition structure and corresponding to a concerted formation/breaking of C(1)-C(6) and C(3)-C(4) bonds, respectively, together with an accumulation of charge density onto C(2) and C(5) atoms. Reaction B presents the same number of ELF SSDs as A, but a different order appears; the presence of 2,5-dicyano substituents favors the formation of C(1)-C(6) bonds over the breaking of C(3)-C(4) bond process, changing the reaction mechanism from a concerted towards a stepwise, via a cyclohexane biradical intermediate. On the other side, reaction C presents the same type of turning points but two ELF SSD less than A or B; there is an enhancement of the C(3)-C(4) bond breaking process at an earlier stage of the reaction by delocalizing the electrons from the C(3)-C(4) bond among the cyano groups. In the case of competitive effects of cyano subsituents on each moiety, as it is for reaction D, seven different ELF SSDs have been identified separated by eight turning points (two of them occur simultaneously). Both processes, formation/breaking of C(1)-C(6) and C(3)-C(4) bonds, are slightly favored with respect to the parent reaction (A), and the TS presents mixed electronic features of both B and C. The employed methodology provides theoretical support for the centauric nature (half-allyl, half-radical) for the TS of D.     

Nature of the ring-closure process along the rearrangement of octa-1,3,5,7-tetraene to cycloocta-1,3,5-triene from the perspective of the electron localization function and catastrophe theory

We analyze the behavior of the energy profile of the ring‐closure process for the transformation of (3Z,5Z)‐octa‐1,3,5,7‐tetraene 5 to (1Z,3Z,5Z)‐cycloocta‐1,3,5‐triene 6 through a combination of electron localization function (ELF) and catastrophe theory (CT). From this analysis, concepts such as bond breaking/forming processes, formation/annihilation of lone pairs, and other electron pair rearrangements arise naturally through the reaction progress simply in terms of the different ways of pairing up the electrons. A relationship between the topology and the nature of the bond breaking/forming processes along this rearrangement is reported. The different domains of structural stability of the ELF occurring along the intrinsic reaction path have been identified. The reaction mechanism consists of six steps separated by fold and cusp catastrophes. The transition structure is observed in the third step, d(C1? C8) = 2.342 Å, where all bonds have topological signature of single bonds (C? C). The “new” C1? C8 single bond is not formed in transition state and respective catastrophe of the ELF field (cusp) is localized in the last step, d(C1? C8) ≈ 1.97 Å, where the two monosynaptic nonbonding basins V(C1) and V(C8) are joined into single disynaptic bonding basin V(C1,C8). The V(C1,C8) basin corresponds to classical picture of the C1? C8 bond in the Lewis formula. In cycloocta‐1,3,5‐triene 6 the single C1? C8 bond is characterized by relatively small basin population 1.72e, which is much smaller than other single bonds with 2.03 and 2.26e. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011     

Organic chemistry on cold molecular films: kinetic stabilization of SN1 and SN2 intermediates in the reactions of ethanol and 2-methylpropan-2-ol with hydrogen bromide

We prepared thin molecular films of ethanol and 2-methylpropan-2-ol on Ru(001) substrates at temperature of 100-150 K and examined their reactivity toward HBr. The reaction intermediates and products formed at the surfaces were unambiguously identified by the techniques of Cs(+) reactive ion scattering (RIS) and low-energy sputtering. The reaction on the ethanol surface produced protonated ethanol, which is stabilized on the surface and does not proceed to further reactions. On the 2-methylpropan-2-ol surface, protonated alcohol [(CH(3))(3)COH(2) (+)] and carbocation [(CH(3))(3)C(+)] were formed with the respective yield of 20 and 78 %. Alkyl bromides, which are the final products of the corresponding reactions in liquid solvents, have extremely small yields on these surfaces (< 0.3 % for ethyl bromide and 2 % for tert-butyl bromide). The results indicate that the reactions on frozen films are characterized by kinetic control, stabilization of ionic intermediates (protonated alcohols and tert-butyl cation), and effective blocking of the charge recombination steps in S(N)1 and S(N)2 paths. The implication of these findings for the molecular evolution process in interstellar medium is also discussed.     

Theoretic studies on the kinetics and mechanism of multi-channel gas-phase unimolecular reactions of 1-chloropropane and 2-chloropropane

The potential energy surfaces of the gas-phase unimolecular decomposition reactions of 1-chloropropane and 2-chloropropane are investigated by various quantum chemical methods including CCSD(T), CCSD, GBS-QB3, C3B3, MP4, MP2, and B3LYP. Modified strong collision/RRKM theory was used to calculate the unimolecular rate constants as a function of pressure and temperature. It is found that the major reaction pathway is the HCl elimination. It is predicted that bond dissociation reactions have negligible contribution to the overall rate constant. The computed rate constants are compared with the available experimental data.