Structures and thermodynamic properties of aluminum oxyhalides: a computational study

The molecular geometries and vibrational frequencies of aluminum oxyhalides, AlOX, and their dimers, (AlOX)₂, have been calculated by MP2 and density functional methods. The monomeric molecules are linear while the dimers have a D _2h -symmetry geometry with a four-membered ring, in which the oxygen atoms serve as bridging ligands. Different thermodynamic properties have been calculated; for AlOBr and AlOI for the first time.     

CNDO calculations of ring puckering potential energy

The ring puckering potential energy functions are calculated for 2,3-dihydrofuran, 2,5-dihydrofuran, cyclopentene and cyclopent-3-enone using the standard CNDO/2 method. The equilibrium conformations are discussed and the ring puckering force constants as well as the dipole moments are evaluated. A more detailed analysis of the influence of angular deformations on the potential function of the cyclopentene molecule is performed.     

A gas electron diffraction and ab initio quantum-mechanical investigation into the molecular structure of tricyclo-(3.1.002,4)-hexane

The structure of tricyclo-(3.1.00^2,4)exane has been determined by gas phase electron diffraction. The molecule has an inversion centre. The mean carbon—carbon bond length, averaged over both three- and four-membered rings is 1.508 A. A model with equal C-C bond lengths fits to the measured diffraction intensities. The four-membered ring is planar with valency angles of 90°, while the carbon atoms of the three-membered rings form isosceles triangles. Ab initio quantum mechanical calculations at the STO-3G level support this geometry. The valency angle CCC (between three- and four-membered rings) for the equilateral four-membered ring model has been found experimentally to be 109.9°. The average C-H bond distance (1.080 Å) is small as a result of increased s-character in these bonds in agreement with reported INDO—LMO calculations.     

Pseudo Jahn-Teller origin of nonplanarity and rectangular-ring structure of tetrafluorocyclobutadiene

It is shown that the pseudo Jahn-Teller effect (PJTE) in combination with ab initio calculations explains the origin of instability of the planar configuration of tetrafluorocyclobutadiene, C(4)F(4), with respect to a puckered structure and square-to-rectangle distortion of the carbon ring, and rationalizes its difference from the planar-rectangular geometry of C(4)H(4) and nonplanar (puckered) structure of Si(4)H(4). The two types of instability and distortion of the high-symmetry D(4h) configuration in these systems emerge from the PJT coupling of the ground B(2g) state with the excited A(1g) term producing instability along the b(2g) coordinate (elongation of the carbon or silicon square ring), and with the excited E(g) term resulting in e(g) (puckering) distortion. A rhombic distortion b(1g) of the ring is also possible due to the coupling between excited A(1g) and B(1g) terms. For C(4)F(4), ab initio calculations of the energy profiles allowed us to evaluate the PJTE constants and to show that the two instabilities, square-to-tetragonal b(2g) and puckering e(g) coexist, thus explaining the origin of the observed geometry of this system in the ground state. The preferred cis-trans (e(g) type) puckering in C(4)F(4) versus trans-trans puckering (b(2u) distortion) in Si(4)H(4) follows from the differences in the energy gaps to their excited electronic E(g) and A(1u) terms causing different PJTE in these two cases.     

Density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio investigations of the electronic and molecular structures of the monomer and the dimer of trimethylaluminium

The electronic and molecular structures of the monomer and dimer of trimethylalu-minium have been studied using density functional theory and ab initio MP2 method. The optimized geometry of the monomer Al(CH3)3 is of C3h symmetry, whereas that of the dimer [A1(CH3)3]2 contains a carbon-bridged four-membered ring structure with C2h symmetry. The hydrogen-bridged six-membered ring structure is found to be unstable. The calculated dimerization energy for the four-membered ring structure is 78 kJ/mol, in close proximity to the experimental value of 85.27 kJ/mol.     

Squaramides: physical properties, synthesis and applications

Squaramides are remarkable four-membered ring systems derived from squaric acid that are able to form up to four hydrogen bonds. A high affinity for hydrogen bonding is driven through a concomitant increase in aromaticity of the ring. This hydrogen bonding and aromatic switching, in combination with structural rigidity, have been exploited in many of the applications of squaramides. Substituted squaramides can be accessed via modular synthesis under relatively mild or aqueous conditions, making them ideal units for bioconjugation and supramolecular chemistry. In this tutorial review the fundamental electronic and structural properties of squaramides are explored to rationalise the geometry, conformation, reactivity and biological activity.     

Molecular structure of free canonical 2′-deoxyribonucleosides: a density functional study

The molecular structure of isolated canonical 2′-deoxyrinobucleosides was calculated using the density functional theory. It was demonstrated that the geometry of the base unit (BU) is almost unchanged compared to free nucleobases. Only slight out-of-plane deformation of the pyrimidine ring in deoxy-cytidine is observed. The conformation of the furanose ring strongly depends on the nature and orientation of the nucleobase. All nucleosides possess different conformations of this ring. Significant influence of the steric repulsion between the nucleobase and the sugar unit (SU) on puckering of the furanose ring and variation of the C–O and glycosyl bond lengths was demonstrated. The C(3′)-endo conformer of the furanose ring is more stable at the anti-orientation BU with respect to SU. An opposite trend is observed for the syn-orientation which is additionally stabilized by an intramolecular hydrogen bond with participation of the C(5′)OH group.     

DFT研究Schrock钼催化剂催化的丙烯和丙烯腈复分解反应机理

使用密度泛函理论方法研究了Schrock钼催化剂催化的丙烯和丙烯腈复分解反应机理。研究结果表明：所有金属环丁烷中间体都是三角双锥结构,配体OCF₃和NMe占据三角双锥结构的2个顶点。大部分过渡态具有与金属环丁烷中间体相似的结构特征。Schrock钼催化剂催化的丙烯和丙烯腈的复分解反应包含了3个反应步骤。基于不同通道过渡态结构的相对能量,我们预测顺式和反式产物的产率为9∶1,这个结果与实验事实吻合得很好。     

Theoretical study of the mechanism of cycloaddition reaction between dichloro-germylidene and acetaldehyde

The mechanism of the cycloadditional reaction between singlet dichloro-germylidene(R1) and (acetaldehyde(R2) has been investigated with MP2/6-31G* method, including geometry optimization, vibrational analysis and energies for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface. From the potential energy profile, we predict that the cycloaddition reaction between singlet dichloro-germylidene and acetaldehyde has two competitive dominant reaction pathways. Going with the formation of two side products (INT3 and INT4), simultaneously. The two competitive reactions both consist of two steps: (1) two reactants firstly form a three-membered ring intermediate (INT1) and a twisted four-membered ring intermediate (INT2), respectively, both of which are barrier-free exothermic reactions of 44.5 and 63.0 kJ/mol; (2) then INT1 and INT2 further isomerize to a four-membered ring product (P1) and a chlorine-transfer product (P2) via transitions (TS1 and TS2), respectively, with the barriers of 9.3 and 1.0 kJ/mol; simultaneously, P1 and INT2 react further with acetaldehyde(R2) to give two side products (INT3 and INT4), respectively, which are also barrier-free exothermic reaction of 65.4 and 102.7 kJ/mol.     

Quantum delocalization of benzene in the ring puckering coordinates

The effect of quantum mechanical delocalization of atomic nuclei on the conformation of the six‐membered ring structure in two hydrocarbons, cyclohexane and benzene, is investigated using ab initio path integral approach. A striking feature of benzene species is revealed using ring puckering coordinate representation, which demonstrates that the zero point motion of the heavy atom skeleton dominates over the out‐of‐plane thermal motions of the ring. Even more unexpected is the fact, that this is true not only at low temperature of 150 K, at which such behavior would not be surprising, but also at room temperature, where the nuclear quantum effects are usually of lesser importance, especially in the case of such heavy nuclei as carbon. In view of this finding the planar conformation of benzene, whose equilibrium (T = 0 K) geometry results from the well‐known properties of the electronic structure, can be elucidated also at nonzero temperature. According to our simulations, it appears as a consequence of quantum delocalization of the carbon nuclei rather than a trivial time average over the classical configurations of the puckered ring. This interesting behavior is contrasted with the clearly nonplanar structure of cyclohexane, whose ring puckering states can be unequivocally assigned even if the nuclear delocalization is taken into account. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Synthese und Molekülstruktur neuer Ringsysteme aus 1,1,3,3-Tetrachlor-1,3-diphosphapropan

Synthesis and Molecular Structure of new Ring Systems from 1,1,3,3-Tetrachloro-1,3-diphosphapropane 1,1,3,3-Tetrachloro-1,3-diphosphapropane 1 reacts in two different ways to form new heterocycles. Partial oxidation of 1 with tetrachloroorthobenzoquinone furnishes the methylene-bridged λ³P, λ⁵P species 3 . Subsequent reactions with di- and triethylamine lead to the condensed ring system 6 with the P?C bonds connected to a central four-membered ring. Compound 6 displays crystallographic inversion symmetry, a short transannular P? P distance and an extremely distorted tetrahedral coordination geometry at the four-membered ring phosphorus atoms. 1 reacts with 7 to give the heterocycle 8 with a central eight-membered ring involving four phosphorus atoms. The eight – membered ring shows a ?bent”? crown conformation, the condensed five – membered rings display envelope conformation.     

Centrifugal distortion and the ring puckering vibration in the microwave spectrum of 2,3-dihydrofuran

The microwave spectrum of 2,3-dihydrofuran has been reinvestigated and measurements for the ground and first five excited states of the ring puckering vibration have been extended to higher frequencies and rotational quantum numbers in order to study the vibrational dependence of the rotational and centrifugal distortion constants. The ring puckering potential function derived by Green from the far infrared spectrum does not reproduce the vibrational dependence of the rotational constants well. A slightly different potential function is derived which gives a reasonable fit both to the far infrared spectrum and the rotational constants. This changes the barrier to ring inversion from 1.00 kJ mol⁻¹ to 1.12 kJ mol⁻¹. The vibrational dependence of the centrifugal distortion constants is accounted for satisfactorily by the theory developed by Creswell and Mills. An attempt to reproduce the vibrational dependence of the rotational and centrifugal distortion constants using the ring puckering potential function and a simple model for this vibration has very limited success.     

Ab Initio Study of the Mechanism of Forming a Spiro-Si-heterocyclic Ring Compound Involving Ge from Cl_2Ge=Si:and Formaldehyde

The X2Ge=Si:(X = H, Me, F, Cl, Br, Ph, Ar···) is a new species. Its cycloaddition reaction is a new area for the study of silylene chemistry. The mechanism of cycloaddition reaction between singlet Cl2Ge=Si: and formaldehyde has been investigated with CCSD(T)//MP2/6-31G* method. From the potential energy profile, it can be predicted that the reaction has two competitive dominant reaction pathways. The reaction rule presented is that the two reactants firstly form a four-membered Ge-heterocyclic ring silylene through the [2+2] cycloaddition reaction. Owing to the 3p unoccupied orbital of Si: atom in the four-membered Ge-heterocyclic ring silylene and the π orbital of formaldehyde forming a π→p donor-acceptor bond, the four-membered Ge-heterocyclic ring silylene further combines with formaldehyde to form an intermediate. Because the Si: atom in intermediate shows sp3 hybridization after transition state, the intermediate isomerizes to a spiro-Si-heterocyclic ring compound involving Ge via a transition state. Simultaneously, the ring strain of the four-membered Ge-heterocyclic ring silylene makes it isomerize to a twisted four-membered ring product. The research result indicates the laws of cycloaddition reaction between X2Ge=Si:(X = H, Me, F, Cl, Br, Ph, Ar···) and the asymmetric π-bonded compounds, which are significant for the synthesis of small-ring and spiro-Si-heterocyclic ring compound involving Ge. The study extends the research area and enriches the research content of silylene chemistry.     

含四元环的多环芳香化合物的研究进展

含四元环的多环芳香化合物通常能够表现出独特的光物理和化学性质,在很多领域具有潜在应用价值.分别针对线型、角型、螺旋型和环型含四元环多环芳香化合物的合成方法、分子堆积方式、光电性质及载流子迁移率等方面进行归纳总结.研究表明,表面合成法更利于制得规则形貌的多环芳香化合物;线型类分子表现出了较高的载流子迁移率;角型分子通常显...     

Puckering transition of proline residue in water

The puckering transition of the proline residue with trans and cis prolyl peptide bonds was explored by optimizations along the torsion angle chi1 of the prolyl ring using quantum-chemical methods in water. By analyzing the potential energy surfaces and local minima in water, it is observed that the puckering transition of the proline residue proceeds from a down-puckered conformation to an up-puckered one and vice versa through the transition state with an envelope form having the N atom at the top of the envelope and not a planar one, as seen in the gas phase, although the backbone conformations are different in the gas phase and in water. The barriers to the puckering transition DeltaGup-->down are estimated to be 3.12 and 3.00 kcal/mol for trans and cis conformers at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory in water, respectively, which are about 1.7 kcal/mol higher than those in the gas phase. Out of 2197 prolines from the 241 high-resolution PDB chains, four transition-state-like structures with the envelope ring puckering are identified. Three of them have the trans prolyl peptide bonds and one has the cis one. The favorable or steric interactions by neighboring residues may be responsible for the stabilization of these transition-state-like ring structures in the proteins.     

Poly-oxygenated tricyclobutabenzenes via repeated [2 + 2] cycloaddition of benzyne and ketene silyl acetal

Described herein is a synthesis of highly functionalized tricyclobutabenzenes, a class of molecules of structural and theoretical interest. The preparation is based on the repeated [2 + 2] cycloadditions of benzyne and ketene silyl acetals (KSAs), where two types of regioselectivity enable discrimination of the functionalities on the four-membered rings. By these steps, we were able to prepare poly-oxygenated octamethoxytricyclobutabenzene and its hydrolyzed tetra-oxo derivatives. Structural study on the latter compound showed the interesting properties related to the strained four-membered ring.     

Strained heterocyclic systems. VII. The mass spectral fragmentations of dihydrocycloalka[b]quinolines and quinoline N-Oxides

High resolution mass spectra of compounds 1-6 were investigated. The quinolines ( 1-3 ) all exhibit a prominent (M-1)⁺ peak and subsequent loss of HCN. These processes are consistent with azatropylium ion intermediates. The N-oxides ( 4-6 ) all exhibit major peaks at (M-16)⁺; the abundance of the latter is related to the geometry of the molecule. The four-membered ring compounds (3 and 6) give more complex spectra, which reflect the influence of the fused strained ring.     

X-ray structural parameters and the thermal stability of 1,2-dioxetanes

The structural parameters and thermal activation data for 1,2-dioxetanes are reported, showing that the degree of puckering of the peroxide ring does not influence the thermal stability of these “high energy” molecules.