NO(2)(+) nitration mechanism of aromatic compounds: electrophilic vs charge-transfer process

The nitration of methylnaphthalenes with NO(2)BF(4) and NOBF(4) was examined in order to shed light on the controversial aromatic nitration mechanism, electrophilic vs charge-transfer process. The NO(2)(+) nitration of 1,8-dimethylnaphthalene showed a drastic regioselectivity change depending on the reaction temperature, where ortho-regioselectivity at -78 degrees C and para-regioselectivity at 0 degrees C were considered to reflect the electrophilic and the direct or alternative charge-transfer process, respectively, because the NO(+) nitration through the same reaction intermediates as in the NO(2)(+) nitration via a charge-transfer process resulted in para-regioselectivity regardless of the reaction temperature. The NO(2)(+) nitration of redox potential methylnaphthalenes higher than 1,8-dimethylnaphthalene gave a similar ortho-regioselectivity enhancement to 1,8-dimethylnaphthalene at lower temperature, thus reflecting the electrophilic process. On the other hand, the NO(2)(+) nitration of redox potential methylnaphthalenes lower than 1,8-dimethylnaphthalene showed para-regioselectivity similar to the NO(+) nitration, indicating the direct or alternative charge-transfer process. In the presence of strong acids where the direct charge-transfer process will be suppressed by protonation, the ortho-regioselectivity enhancement was observed in the NO(2)(+) nitration of 1,8-dimethylnaphthalene, suggesting that the direct charge-transfer process could be the main process to show para-regioselectivity. These experimental results imply that the NO(2)(+) nitration proceeds via not only electrophilic but also direct charge-transfer processes, which has been considered to be unlikely because of the high energy demanding process of a bond coordination change between NO(2)(+) and NO(2). Theoretical studies at the MP2/6-31G(d) level predicted ortho- and para-regioselectivity for the NO(2)(+) nitration via electrophilic and charge-transfer processes, respectively, and the preference of the direct charge-transfer process over the alternative one, which support the experimental conclusion     

Unified mechanistic concept of electrophilic aromatic nitration: convergence of computational results and experimental data

The mechanism of electrophilic aromatic nitration was revisited. Based on the available experimental data and new high-level quantum chemical calculations, a modification of the previous reaction mechanism is proposed involving three separate intermediates on the potential energy diagram of the reaction. The first, originally considered an unoriented pi-complex or electron donor acceptor complex (EDA), involves high electrostatic and charge-transfer interactions between the nitronium ion and the pi-aromatics. It explains the observed low substrate selectivity in nitration with nitronium salts while maintaining high positional selectivity, as well as observed oxygen transfer reactions in the gas phase. The subsequent second intermediate originally considered an oriented "pi-complex" is now best represented by an intimate radical cation-molecule pair, C(6)H(6)(+)(*)()/NO(2), that is, a SET complex, indicative of single-electron transfer from the aromatic pi-system to NO(2)(+). Subsequently, it collapses to afford the final sigma-complex intermediate, that is, an arenium ion. The proposed three discrete intermediates in electrophilic aromatic nitration unify previous mechanistic proposals and also contribute to a better understanding of this fundamentally important reaction. The previously obtained ICR data of oxygen transfer from NO(2)(+) to the aromatic ring are also accommodated by the proposed mechanism. The most stable intermediate of this reaction on its potential energy surface is a complex between phenol and NO(+). The phenol.NO(+) complex decomposes affording C(6)H(6)O(+)(*)/PhOH(+) and NO, in agreement with the ICR results.     

New nitrite ionic liquid (IL-ONO) and nanoparticles of organosilane-based nitrite ionic liquid immobilized on silica as nitrosonium sources for electrophilic aromatic nitrosation

An improved method for the synthesis of nitrosoarenes has been developed using a new nitrite ionic liquid (IL-ONO) and immobilized nitrite ionic liquid. These ionic liquids play as nitrosonium sources for electrophilic aromatic nitrosation of active aromatics at 0-5 °C. Their action was accomplished in water and the satisfactory results were obtained under the mild conditions in short reaction time.     

Synthesis, X-ray characterization, NMR and ab initio molecular-orbital studies of some cadmium(II) macrocyclic Schiff-base complexes with two 2-aminoethyl pendant arms

Three new pendant arm Schiff-base macrocyclic complexes, [CdLⁿ]²⁺ (n = 5, 6, 7), have been prepared via cyclocondensation of 2,6-diacetylpyridine with three different branched hexaamines in the presence of Cd(II). The ligands are 15-, 16- and 17-membered pentaaza macrocycles having two 2-aminoethyl pendant arms [L⁵ = 2,13-dimethyl-6,9-bis(aminoethyl)-3,6,9,12,18-pentaazabicyclo[12.3.1]octadeca-1(18),2,12,14,16-pentaene, L⁶ = 2,14-dimethyl-6,10-bis(aminoethyl)-3,6,10,13,19-pentaazabicyclo[13.3.1]nonadeca-1(19),2,13,15,17-pentaene and L⁷ = 2,15-dimethyl-6,11-bis(aminoethyl)-3,6,11,14,20-pentaazabicyclo[14.3.1]eicosa-1(20),2,14,16,18-pentaene]. All complexes were investigated by IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR, COSY(H,H) and HETCOR(H,C) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. In the solid state structure of each complex the Cd(II) ion is situated centrally within an approximately planar pentaaza macrocyclic ring, binding to the five nitrogen atoms, and also to the two pendant amines which are located on opposite sides of the macrocyclic plane. ab initio HF-MO calculations using a standard 3-21G* basis set have been used to verify that these similar basic structures correspond to energy minima in the gas phase.     

Achieving fast convergence of ab initio free energy perturbation calculations with the adaptive force-matching method

This paper studies the possibility of improving the convergence of ab initio free energy perturbation (FEP) calculations by developing customized force fields with the adaptive force-matching (AFM) method. The ab initio FEP method relies on a molecular mechanics (MM) potential to sample configuration space. If the Boltzmann weight of the MM sampling is close to that of the ab initio method, the efficiency of ab initio FEP will be optimal. The difference in the Boltzmann weights can be quantified by the relative energy difference distribution (REDD). The force field developed through AFM significantly improves the REDD when compared with standard MM models, thus improving the convergence of the ab initio FEP calculation. The static dielectric constant ε_s of ice-Ih was studied with PW-91 through ab initio FEP. With a customized force field developed through AFM, we were able to converge ε_s to 80 ± 4 with 3,600 configurations. A similar ab initio FEP calculation with the TIP4P model would require 220 times more configurations to achieve the same accuracy. Our study indicates that the PW-91 functional underestimates ice-Ih ε_s by about 20%.     

Modelling of interactions between volatile anaesthetics (halothane,enflurane) and aromatic compounds,ab initio study

For many years halothane and enflurane have been used clinically as volatile anaesthetics, however, their mechanism of action is still not fully understood. Recently, it has been suggested that they can act by a direct bonding to neuroreceptors containing the aromatic groups. In this work, the halothane?benzene and enflurane?benzene complexes were studied by the ab initio MP2 and CCSD(T) methods. All possible structures of the complexes were calculated by means of the counterpoise CP-corrected gradient optimization technique. It has been found that among these species, the C–H?π hydrogen bonded complexes are the most stable. The CCSD(T)/CBS calculated stabilization energies for halothane and enflurane complexes are: −10.56 and −9.72 kcal mol⁻¹, respectively. The interaction energy is mainly dominated by the dispersion attraction. In the case of enflurane, the C–H bond shows a very small contraction (by −0.0008 Å) upon complexation. This change is accompanied by the blue-shift (20 cm⁻¹) of the C–H stretching frequency and an increase of the infrared intensity of the corresponding mode by 7 km mol⁻¹. Similar results were obtained for the halothane complex: a small contraction of the C–H bond; an increase of the C–H stretching frequency by 11 cm⁻¹ (blue-shift); and an increase of the infrared intensity by 37 km mol⁻¹. In order to explain the nature of these effects, the halothane and enflurane molecules were studied in the electric field generated by benzene atoms, and Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analyses were performed. The molecular dipole moments of these molecules were calculated with respect to the C–H bond changes. The positive dipole moment derivative obtained for halothane is in agreement with the literature data, while, in the case of enflurane, an unusual effect is observed, the blue-shift of the C–H stretching frequency is accompanied by the positive dipole moment derivative for one C–H bond and the negative for the other C–H bond. The mechanisms responsible for contraction and strengthening of the C–H bonds are discussed.     

Force field development for poly(dimethylsilylenemethylene) with the aid of ab initio calculations

The molecular geometries, conformational energies, and zero-point energies of di(trimethylsilylene)methylene have been determined from high-level quantum chemistry calculations. The results are further used in the parametrization of a classical potential energy function suitable for performing simulations of the corresponding polymer, namely, poly(dimethylsilylenemethylene). Di(trimethylsilylene)methylene geometrical parameter optimizations for a proper location of the global minimum and other local minima, constrained at certain dihedral and bond angles, were performed at both the B3LYP/6-311G and MP2(full)/6-311G levels of theory. The global minimum configuration is slightly displaced from a perfectly staggered geometry, approximately by 16.0 degrees, at both levels of theory. Molecular mechanics and Monte Carlo calculations for isolated polymer chains together with molecular dynamics runs for the modeled dimer provide very good results in terms of conformational and thermodynamic properties.     

Scandium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate catalyzed aromatic nitration with inorganic nitrates and acetic anhydride

The rare earth metal(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate (rare earth metal(III) triflate, RE(OTf)3) was found to be an efficient catalyst for aromatic nitration with carboxylic anhydride-inorganic nitrate as the nitrating agent. In the presence of a catalytic amount of RE(OTf)3, the nitration of substituted benzenes proceeded to afford the corresponding nitrobenzenes. Especially, scandium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate (scandium(III) triflate, Sc(OTf)3) is the most active catalyst among our tested Lewis acids. It was also found that acetic anhydride-Al(NO3).9H2O is the most active nitrating agent in this system.     

Methyaluminoxane (MAO) polymerization mechanism and kinetic model from ab initio molecular dynamics and electronic structure calculations

MAO is the co-catalyst in metallocene catalytic systems, which are widely used in single-site olefin polymerization due to their high stereoselectivity. To date, the structures of the catalytically active compound or compounds in MAO have eluded researchers. Although many structural models have been proposed, none are generally accepted. In this study, aspects of the formation mechanism of MAO are addressed. Molecular dynamics simulations at the MP2 level of theory were carried out for presumed elementary steps in MAO formation via hydrolysis of trimethylaluminum (TMA). Methane production was observed, in agreement with experiment, as well as intermediate species that are consistent with the known structural features of MAO and similar to isolated and structurally characterized aluminoxanes. A (CH3)3Al-OH2 species, which we denote as TMA-OH2, containing a stable Al-O single bond emerged as the building block molecule. From this species, a hexameric cage was formed and activation barriers for the various reactions were calculated. Three distinct channels were identified for growth beyond the hexameric cage. It was concluded that MAO formation is a step polymerization through a bifunctional monomer, with [(CH3)Al-O] as the structural unit and a kinetic model was proposed. The structures that emerged were in agreement with the crystallographic evidence for aluminoxanes and support the experimental data regarding the MAO chemical composition.     

Chemical bonding in Si5(2-) and NaSi5(-) via photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations

Photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations are used to investigate the electronic structure and chemical bonding of Si5(-) and Si5(2-) in NaSi5(-). Photoelectron spectra of Si5(-) and NaSi5(-) are obtained at several photon energies and are compared with theoretical calculations at four different levels of theory, TD-B3LYP, R(U)OVGF, UCCSD(T), and EOM-CCSD(T), all with 6-311+G(2df) basis sets. Excellent agreement is observed between experiment and theory, confirming the obtained ground-state structures for Si5(-) and Si5(2-), which are both found to be trigonal bipyramid with D3h symmetry at several levels of theory. Chemical bonding in Si5, Si5(-), and Si5(2-) is analyzed using NPA, molecular orbitals, ELF, and NICS indices. The bonding in Si5(2-) is compared with that in the isoelectronic and isostructural B5H5(2-) species, but they are found to differ due to the involvement of electron densities, which are supposed to be lone pairs in the skeletal bonding in Si5(2-).     

An ab initio intermolecular potential energy surface for the F(2) dimer

Two analytical representations for the potential energy surface of the F(2) dimer were constructed on the basis of ab initio calculations up to the fourth-order of M?ller-Plesset (MP) perturbation theory. The best estimate of the complete basis set limit of interaction energy was derived for analysis of basis set incompleteness errors. At the MP4/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory, the most stable structure of the dimer was obtained at R = 6.82 au, theta(a) = 12.9 degrees , theta(b) = 76.0 degrees , and phi = 180 degrees , with a well depth of 716 microE(h). Two other minima were found for canted and X-shaped configurations with potential energies around -596 and -629 microE(h), respectively. Hexadecapole moments of monomers play an important role in the anisotropy of interaction energy that is highly R-dependent at intermediate intermolecular distances. The quality of potentials was tested by computing values of the second virial coefficient. The fitted MP4 potential has a more reasonable agreement with experimental values.     

皂土催化剂上芳烃的硝酸酯硝化反应的区域选择性研究

研究了酸性皂土催化剂上硝酸烷基酯硝化芳烃烷基苯方法的区域选择性。反应具有强对位选择性硝化能力,如甲苯的硝酸正丙酯硝化,产物邻对比例可达到0.58,较硝硫混酸的1.67显著降低。催化剂可循环使用。催化特性通过化学分析、FTIR、XRD和ESCA讨论。该方法在合成硝基芳烃化合物领域具有环境和经济双重意义。     

An ab initio and density functional theory study on the mechanism for the reaction of OH with 2-ethylfuran

The mechanism of the reaction of OH + 2-ethylfuran has been investigated using the G3MP2 and G3MP2B3 levels of theory. The geometric parameters of all species involved in the reaction have been optimized at the MP2 and B3LYP levels of theory with 6-311G(d,p) basis set. The overall profile of doublet potential energy surface (PES) for the OH + 2-ethylfuran reaction has been constructed using the G3MP2 and G3MP2B3 methods. The results show that the addition-elimination mechanism dominates the OH + 2-ethylfuran reaction and the major products are CH₃CH₂C(OH)CHCHCHOH (P8) and CH₃CH₂COCHCHCHOH (P6).     

An ab initio molecular orbital study of the mechanism for the gas-phase water-mediated decomposition and the formation of hydrates of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN)

There is uncertainty in the mechanism for the hydrolysis of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), and experimental attempts to detect products of the direct reaction have been unsuccessful. Ab initio calculations are used to examine the energetics of water-mediated decomposition of gas-phase PAN into acetic acid and peroxynitric acid. On the basis of ab initio calculations, an alternative reaction mechanism for the decomposition of PAN is proposed. The calculations indicate that the barrier for one water addition to PAN is large. However, including additional water molecules reveals a substantially lower energy route. The calculations suggest that the formation of PAN hydrate complexes are energetically favorable and stable. Additional waters are increasingly efficient at stabilizing hydrated PAN.     

Interactions of Li, Ca, and Al with aromatic carbon materials: an ab initio study

The interactions of benzene (C6H6), naphthalene (C10H8), and perinaphthene (C13H9) with metal atoms (Li, Ca, and Al) were studied using second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory. By analyzing the frontier molecular orbitals, geometric structures, binding energies, and charge transfers, it was found that these metal atoms can bond strongly with C13H9, but can only bond weakly with C6H6 and C10H8. The bonding nature between a metal atom and C13H9 at their ground state depends significantly on the valence orbital of the metal atom and the pi-bonding distribution of the aromatic hydrocarbons. The spindly shaped 3p valence orbital of an Al atom results in the deviation of the adsorption site to the edge of C13H9, whereas the ball-shaped 2s/4s valence orbitals of a Li and a Ca atom facilitate their overlap with the second lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of C13H9. Further, Hartree-Fock and density-functional theory methods were demonstrated generally to be unreliable in describing the interactions of metal atoms with these pi systems.     

Vibrational spectroscopy of protonated imidazole and its complexes with water molecules: ab initio anharmonic calculations and experiments

The results of anharmonic frequency calculations on neutral imidazole (C3N2H4, Im), protonated imidazole (ImH+), and its complexes with water (ImH+)(H2O)n, are presented and compared to gas phase infrared photodissociation spectroscopy (IRPD) data. Anharmonic frequencies are obtained via ab initio vibrational self-consistent field (VSCF) calculations taking into account pairwise interactions between the normal modes. The key results are: (1) Prediction of anharmonic vibrational frequencies on an MP2 ab initio potential energy surface show excellent agreement with experiment and outstanding improvement over the harmonic frequencies. For example, the ab initio calculated anharmonic frequency for (ImH+)(H2O)N2 exhibits an overall average percentage error of 0.6% from experiment. (2) Anharmonic vibrational frequencies calculated on a semiempirical potential energy surface fitted to ab initio harmonic data represents spectroscopy well, particularly for water complexes. As an example, anharmonic frequencies for (ImH+)H2O and (ImH+)(H2O)2 show an overall average deviation of 1.02% and 1.05% from experiment, respectively. This agreement between theory and experiment also supports the validity and use of the pairwise approximation used in the calculations. (3) Anharmonic coupling due to hydration effects is found to significantly reduce the vibrational frequencies for the NH stretch modes. The frequency of the NH stretch is observed to increase with the removal of a water molecule or replacement of water with N2. This result also indicates the ability of the VSCF method to predict accurate frequencies in a matrix environment. The calculation provides insights into the nature of anharmonic effects in the potential surface. Analysis of percentage anharmoncity in neutral Im and ImH+ shows a higher percentage anharmonicity in the NH and CH stretch modes of neutral Im. Also, we observe that anharmonicity in the NH stretch modes of ImH+ have some contribution from coupling effects, while that of neutral Im has no contribution whatsoever from mode-mode coupling. It is concluded that the incorporation of anharmonic effects in the calculation brings theory and experiment into much closer agreement for these systems.     

Valence-bond determination of bond lengths of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: comparisons with recent experimental and ab initio results

Pauling's valence-bond (VB) method for determining bond lengths is compared to ten recent literature experimental and theoretical results and is shown to give comparable results. His method only requires computation of the number of Kekulé (K) and Dewar structures (DS) of conjugated hydrocarbons. Both K and DS are obtained from the last two coefficients of the matching polynomial which is also used to obtain topological resonance energy (TRE). A molecular fragmentation method is given for determining DS of essentially disconnected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Both Kekuléan alternant and nonalternant PAHs, including essentially disconnected and non-Kekuléan systems, have bond lengths that are easily determined by this method.     

Ab initio molecular-orbital study of the binding of ZnII with SH2 and SH−

This paper reports an ab initio molecular-orbital (MO ) study of binding of SH₂ and SH^? with Zn^II. The mechanism of binding of Zn^II with these ligands is investigated using a detailed analysis of the energy decomposition and of the electronic distribution. The dependence of the results on the choice of the basis set for sulfur (in particular the effect of incorporation of diffuses p and d orbitals) on the geometry of ligand binding, the binding energy, and the proton affinity of SH^? are investigated. Comparison made with the corresponding results concerning the binding of OH₂, OH^?, and NH₃ shows that sulfur binding is less favorable although more covalent. Both sulfur ligands show a marked preference for angular conformations for binding with the metal ion. The effect of Zn^II binding on the ease of deprotonation of H₂S is quite similar to the corresponding effect found earlier for H₂O.     

某些过渡金属钌配合物非线性光学性能的从头算和密度泛函理论研究

实验发现金属钌的某些配合物具有大的非线性光学性能。我们的理论研究表明 金属钌配合物[Ru(NH_3)_4L~DL~A]~(n+) (n = 2，3；L~D，L~A =吡啶衍生物配体) 的非线性光学性能取决于推电子基团L~D的给电子能力以及拉电子基团L~A的受电子 能力，L~D和L~A的推拉电子越强越有利于提高配合物的二阶非线性光学系数β，因 此带正电荷的L~A能大幅度提高β值。虽然增加共轭体系的长度有利于提高β值， 但在Ru的配合中，吡啶环间或吡淀环与苯环间不一定要保持共面也会有大的β值。 DFT和ab initio方法的计算结果对比表明，对于含过渡金属Ru的化合物，在HF水平 上难以得到满意的结论，由从头算有限场方法计算得到的β值偏小，而用TDDFT方 法能得到可与实验值符合较好的结果。