Theoretical studies on the mechanism of the thermal decarboxylation and decarbonylation of a number of α-keto-acids

Both processes of decarboxylation and decarbonylation of a number of acids including RCOCO2H,R=H,CH3,CH2F,CF3,CH=CH2,Ph,OH have been studied by semi-empirical MO theory AMI method to verify the reaction mechanism of each process and the effect of different substituents on them.The calculated results are consistent with the experimental reports and can be summed up as follows:(1) The decarboxylation of these acids to form aldehydes and carbon dioxide is concerted and takes place through a 4-membered ring transition state in which a partial negative charge develops on the carbon of the α-carbonyl group,so that the inductive effect of some substituents is favourable for this process.(2) Their decarbonylation into carboxylic acids and carbon monoxide however is the attack of the OH on the carbon of the alkyl portion of the acid,forming a 3-membered ring transition state.(3) The activation energy of decarbonylation is lower than that of decarboxylation,since oxygen is more nucleophilic than hydrogen and als     

亚烷基锡烯与乙烯环加成反应机理的理论研究

The mechanism of a cycloaddition reaction between singlet alkylidenestannylene and ethylene has been investigated with MP2/3-21 G^* and B3LYP/3-21 G* methods, including geometry optimization and vibrational analysis for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface. Energies for the involved conformations were calculated by CCSD(T)//MP2/3-2 IG^* and CCSD(T)//B3LYP/3-21G^* methods, respectively. The results show that the dominant reaction pathway of the cycloaddition is that an intermediate (INT) is firstly formed between the two reactants through a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 39.7 kJ/mol, and the intermediate then isomerizes to a four-membered ring product (P2.1) via a transition state TS2.1 with a barrier of 66.8 kJ/mol.     

Theoretical Study on the Mechanism of the Cycloaddition Reaction between Alkylidene Carbene and Ethylene

The mechanism of cycloaddition reaction between singlet alkylidene carbene and ethylene has been investigated with second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2). By using 6-31 G^* basis, geometry optimization, vibrational analysis and energetics have been calculated for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface. The results show that the title reaction has two major competition channels. An energy-rich intermediate (INT) is firstly formed between alkylidene carbene and ethylene through a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 63.62 kJ/mol, and the intermediate then isomerizes to a three-membered ring product (P 1) and a four-memberd ring product (P2) via transition state TS1 and TS2, in which energy barriers are 47.00 and 51.02 kJ/mol, respectively. P1 is the main product.     

Topological studies on IRC paths of the isomerization reaction of silicon methyl-nitrene

On the basis of kinetic study of isomerization reaction of H_3Si-N, ab initio (RHF, UHF/6-31G) calculations on some points of the singlet and triplet reaction paths were carried out. The breakage and formation of chemical bond in the reaction are discussed. The calculated results show that there is a transitional structure of three-membered ring on each of reaction paths. A 'structural transition region' and a 'structural transition state' in both of studied reaction are found. Our previous conclusion that the structure transition state (STS) always appears before the energy transition state (ETS) in endothermic reaction and after ETS in exothermic reaction is further confirmed. The relationship between the change of spin density distribution and the structural transition state are investigated.     

亚甲基硅烯与乙烯环加成反应机理的理论研究

The mechanism of a cycloaddition reaction between singlet methylidenesilene and ethylene has been investigated with MP2/6-31G^＊ and B3LYP/6-31G^＊ methods, including geometry optimization and vibrational analysis for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface. Energies of the involved conformers were calculated by CCSD（T）//MP2/6-31G＊ and CCSD（T）//B3LYP/6-31 G＊ methods, respectively. The results show that the dominant reaction pathway of the cycloaddition reaction is that a complex intermediate is firstly formed between the two reactants through a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 13.3 kJ/mol, and the complex is then isomefized to a four-membered ring product P2,1 via a transition state TS2.1 with a barrier of 32.0 kJ/mol.     

Ab Initio Study on the Mechanism of Cycloaddition Reaction between Silylene Carbene （H_2Si=C：） and Acetone

The mechanism of cycloaddition reaction between singlet silylene carbene and acetone 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. One consists of two steps: (1) the two reactants (R1, R2) firstly form a four-membered ring intermediate (INT4) through a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 585.9 kJ/mol; (2) Then intermediate (INT4) isomerizes to CH3-transfer product (P4.1) via a transition state (TS4.1) with energy barrier of 5.3 kJ/mol. The other is as follows: on the basis of intermediate (INT4) created between R1 and R2, intermediate (INT4) further reacts with acetone (R2) to form the intermediate (INT5) through a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 166.3 kJ/mol; Then, intermediate (INT5) isomerizes to a silicic bis-heterocyclic product (P5) via a transition state (TS5), for which the barrier is 54.9 kJ/mol. The presented rule of this reaction: the [2+2] cycloaddition effect between the π orbital of silylene carbene and the π orbital of π-bonded compounds leads to the formation of a four-membered ring intermediate (INT4); The unsaturated property of C atom from carbene in the four-membered ring intermediate (INT4) results in the generation of CH3-transfer product (P4.1) and silicic bis-heterocyclic compound (P5).     

Oxygenolysis reaction mechanism of copper-dependent quercetin 2,3-dioxygenase: A density functional theory study

The mechanism of the action of copper-dependent quercetin 2,3-dioxygenase(2,3QD) has been investigated by means of hybrid density functional theory.The 2,3QD enzyme cleaves the O-heterocycle of a quercetin by incorporation of both oxygen atoms into the substrate and releases carbon monoxide.The calculations show that dioxygen attack on the copper complex is energetically favorable.The adduct has a possible near-degeneracy of states between [Cu 2+-(substrate-H +)] and [Cu +-(substrate-H).],and in addition the pyramidalized C 2 atom is ideally suited for forming a dioxygen-bridged structure.In the next step,the C 3-C 4 bond is cleaved and intermediate Int 5 is formed via transition state TS 4.Finally,the O a-O b and C 2-C 3 bonds are cleaved,and CO is released in one concerted transition state(TS 5) with the barrier of 63.25 and 61.91 kJ/mol in the gas phase and protein environments,respectively.On the basis of our proposed reaction mechanism,this is the rate-limiting step of the whole catalytic cycle and is strongly driven by a relatively large exothermicity of 100.86 kJ/mol.Our work provides some valuable fundamental insights into the behavior of this enzyme.     

Theoretical Studies on the Mechanism of Photocycloaddition Reaction Between 6 Azauracil and Acetone

The mechanism of photocycloaddition reaction between 6-azauracll and acetone was studied by using semiemptrical SCFMO AMI method. It was found that this reaction is not a concerted one. The calculated results are as follows:(1) A T1 state exciplex is on the T1 state energy surface; (2) T exciplex as a reactant will proceed along the energy surface of T1 state to form a diradical intermediate. The energy barrier of this reaction step is 63. 6 kJ/mol; (3) The T1 state diradical intermediate happens to be close in energy to the ground state intermediate with a similar geometry. Such a situation turns out to be very favorable for an intersystem crossing (jump from the T, state to the ground state) ; (4) The final product will be formed from the ground S0 state intermediate via an energy barrier 88. 2 kJ/mol.     

Ab inito Study on Enantioselective Reduction of Ketones Catalyzed by Thiazolidino[3,4—c]oxazaborolidines

The ab initio molecular orbital method is employed to study the enantioselective reduction of acetophenone with borane catalyzed by thiszolidino[3,4-c]oxazaborolidine.Computation result shows that the controlling step for the reduction is the decomposition of the catalyst-alkoxyborane adduct and the reduction leads to S-alcohols.The transition atate of the hydride transfer from the borane moiety to the carbonyl carbon of acetophenone is a twisted chair structure with a B(2)-N(3)-BBH3-HBH3-CCo-OCO6-membered ring.     

Addition Mechanisms of Phenol toward Formaldehyde under Acidic Condition： a Theoretical Investigation

The reaction mechanisms of phenol with formaldehyde in the first and second addition at the ortho- and para-position in acid solution were theoretically investigated at the PW91/DNP level with solvent effects included. The reaction of phenol with protonated methanediol firstly forms an adduct intermediate, via a SN2 mechanism with a water molecule as the leaving group. From the adduct intermediate, there are two reaction channels involving a proton transfer to form the addition products. One is that a proton directly transfers via a four-membered ring transition state with a notable energy barrier (Four-member mechanism). Another mechanism involving a water molecule as catalyst to mediate the proton transfer (WCP mechanism), is a barrierless process, indicating that the formation of the adduct intermediate, the first reaction step, is rate-limiting. The reaction products are free hydroxymethyl phenols and/or hydroxybenzy carbocation (HOC6H4CH2+) which plays an important role in the following formation of methylene and methylene ether linkages. The second addition reactions between formaldehyde and hydroxymethyl phenol at all possible reaction sites of the phenol ring in acid solution were also investigated and discussed.     

A quantum chemical investigation of pyrolysis reactions of glyoxylic acid ethylester

Two possible reaction paths for the pyrolysis of the ethylester of glyoxylic acid have been studied by ab initio molecular orbital calculations. The basis sets 3-21G and 6-31G * have been used, and electron correlation has been included by Møller–Plesset calculations up to fourth order. Our calculations indicate that the reaction leading to acid and ethylene through a 6-membered ring transition state is favored relative to a process involving a formyl hydrogen transfer via a 5-membered ring to the alkyl unit leading to ethane, CO, and CO₂. The predicted activation energies for these two reactions obtained at the highest level of calculation, MP 4(SDTQ )/6–31G *, are 50.4 and 71.7 kcal/mol, respectively. The transition states have RHF wave functions that are stable relative to UHF solutions using the 3–21G basis. The geometry of the transition states and IRC following indicate that both reactions are strongly asynchronous: The C? O bond rupture is virtually completed before hydrogen transfer occurs. For comparative purposes, analogous calculations have been performed for the ethylester of formic acid, where it is confirmed that a 6-membered ring transition state is preferred relative to a 4-membered one by around 42 kcal/mol at the highest level of calculation.     

Umamidierungsreaktionen an cyclischen Amino-amid-Systemen. 3. Mitteilung über Umamidierungsreaktionen

Transamidation Reactions with Cyclic Amino-amides Lactames which are substituted at the nitrogen atom by a 3-aminopropyl residue are transformed under base catalysis to cyclic amino-amides enlarged by 4 ring atoms. The formed ring must be at minimum 12-membered. Scheme 2 illustrates this result: the 8-membered 7 is transamidated in 96% yield to the 12-membered ring 8 (in the presence of potassium 3-aminopropylamid in 1, 3-propanediamine), the 9-membered 10 to the 13-membered ring 11 (97%) and the 11-membered 14 to the 15-membered ring 15 . Furthermore, the 13-membered ring 27 (Scheme 5) is transformed to the 17-membered 28 . In the case of the 15-membered lactame 15 it is demonstrated that 14 is not formed back under the conditions of the transamidation. Large ring lactames which are substituted at the nitrogen atom by a 3-(alkylamino) propyl group lead under base catalysis to an equilibrium mixture, e.g. the 17-membered 26 is in equilibrium with the 21-membered 29 . This result is similar to the behavior of the corresponding open-chain amino-amides [2]. Because of transannular interactions, the 11-membered ring 2 is not stable: transamidation of the 7-membered 1 (Scheme 1) doesn't give the expected 2 , but its water elimination product 3 in small yield. The N-tosyl derivative of 2 , namely 20 , is synthesized by an independent route (Scheme 3). Detosylation of 20 yields the 7-membered 1 instead of 2 . Concerning the mechanism of this interesting reaction see Scheme 4.     

A Theoretical Study of the Reductive Elimination of CH3EH3 from cis‐[Pt(CH3)(EH3)(PH3)2] (E = Si,Ge) in the Presence of Acetylene

The reaction mechanism of the elimination of CH₃EH₃ from the platinum complexes cis‐[Pt(CH₃) · (EH₃)(PH₃)₂] (E = Si, Ge) in the presence of acetylene has been studied using gradient‐corrected DFT calculations at the B3LYP level. The reaction proceeds in two steps. The first step is the formation of the acetylene complex [Pt(CH₃)(HCCH)(EH₃)(PH₃)] which occurs in a associative/dissociate pathway via the five‐coordinated intermediate [Pt(CH₃)(HCCH)(EH₃)(PH₃)₂]. The rate‐determining step is the elimination of CH₃EH₃ via a four‐coordinated transition state. The alternative mechanism via direct dissociation from the five‐coordinated intermediates has higher activation barriers. The calculated activation energies of the model reactions are in good agreement with experimental results. The silyl complex has a lower barrier for the elimination reaction than the germyl complex. The calculated transition states show that the reason for the lower barrier is the strength of the nascending C–Si bond, which is higher than the C–Ge bond. The results are in agreement with the postulated mechanism of Ozawa et al. (Organometallics, 1998 , 17, 1018).     

A DFT Study on the Conversion of Aryl Iodides to Alkyl Iodides: Reductive Elimination of R−I from Alkylpalladium Iodide Complexes with Accessible β‐Hydrogens

DFT calculations have been performed on the palladium‐catalyzed carboiodination reaction. The reaction involves oxidative addition, alkyne insertion, C?N bond cleavage, and reductive elimination. For the alkylpalladium iodide intermediate, LiOtBu stabilizes the intermediate in non‐polar solvents, thus promoting reductive elimination and preventing β‐hydride elimination. The C?N bond cleavage process was explored and the computations show that PPh₃ is not bound to the Pd center during this step. Experimentally, it was demonstrated that LiOtBu is not necessary for the oxidative addition, alkyne insertion, or C?N bond cleavage steps, lending support to the conclusions from the DFT calculations. The turnover‐limiting steps were found to be C?N bond cleavage and reductive elimination, whereas oxidative addition, alkyne insertion, and formation of the indole ring provide the driving force for the reaction.     

Pyrolysis reaction of carpronium chloride and its structurally related compounds. 2—a mass spectrometric study of the lactonization mechanism

The mechanism of the pyrolysis reaction of carpronium chloride [(CH₃)₃N⁺? (CH₂)₃? COOCH₃CI^?] leading to γ-butyrolactone and tetramethylammonium chloride was investigated by means of thermal analysis, pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry and field desorption mass spectrometry, using deuterium labelling. The results indicated that carpronium chloride pyrolysed to yield equimolar amounts of γ-butyrolactone and tetramethylammonium chloride, methyl transfer occurred between N and O during the pyrolysis process. The mechanism is discussed on the basis of the experimental results, and with the aid of the theoretical results calculated by the CNDO/2 method. The mechanism presented is as follows. γ-Butyrolactone is formed by the intramolecular migration of the π-orbital of C?O to the carbon adjacent to [(CH₃)₃N]⁺ via a 5-membered ring transition state, accompanied by a bimolecular reaction between [(CH₃)₃N]⁺ and the CH₃ of O? CH₃, resulting in the formation of tetramethylammonium chloride in an amount equimolar with γ-butyrolactone.     

σ‐Noninnocence: Masked Phenyl‐Cation Transfer at Formal NiIV

Reductive elimination is an elementary organometallic reaction step involving a formal oxidation state change of ?2 at a transition‐metal center. For a series of formal high‐valent Ni^IV complexes, aryl–CF₃ bond‐forming reductive elimination was reported to occur readily (Bour et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015 , 137, 8034–8037). We report a computational analysis of this reaction and find that, unexpectedly, the formal Ni^IV centers are better described as approaching a +II oxidation state, originating from highly covalent metal–ligand bonds, a phenomenon attributable to σ‐noninnocence. A direct consequence is that the elimination of aryl–CF₃ products occurs in an essentially redox‐neutral fashion, as opposed to a reductive elimination. This is supported by an electron flow analysis which shows that an anionic CF₃ group is transferred to an electrophilic aryl group. The uncovered role of σ‐noninnocence in metal–ligand bonding, and of an essentially redox‐neutral elimination as an elementary organometallic reaction step, may constitute concepts of broad relevance to organometallic chemistry.     

Cyclopolymerization: Cyclization of diallylcyanamide to pyrrolidine derivatives

Free-radical addition of perfluoroalkyl iodides (R_FI) to diallylcyanamide gave cis- and trans-1-cyano-3-iodomethyl-4-(perfluoroalkyl)methylpyrrolidine (Ia,b). Five-membered ring products were preferentially formed in this reaction by other 1,6-dienes having terminal vinyl groups. This strongly suggests that cyclopolymerization of such monomers occurs in analogous fashion, instead of leading to 6-membered rings as has been previously understood. Dehydrohalogenation of Ia,b gave 3-methylenepyrrolidine derivatives as expected. Infrared and NMR spectra clearly show the exocyclic CH₂? group. The influence of reaction conditions on the yield of cyclization product Ia,b and certain side products was investigated.     

Theoretical studies on the elimination of hydrogen fluoride from alkyl fluoride and its substituent effect

The reaction mechanism of the α, α and α, β elimination of hydrogen fluorides from alkyl fluorides has been studied theoretically. For fluoroethane as a reactant, the transition state (TS) optimized at the level of the 6-31G** basis set shows that the α, β elimination proceeds via a four membered-ring TS with a barrier height 64.6 kcal/mol, while the α, α elimination, via a three-membered ring TS with a 83.7 kcal/mol barrier. Four substituents, CH₃, CN, F, and NH₂, were used to investigate the substituent effect of elimination by using the 3-21G basis set. The calculated barriers show that NH₂-substituted alkyl fluorides favor both the α, α and α, β elimination and these two reactions would be expected to proceed simultaneously. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Theoretical study on the mechanism for the thermal rearrangement reactions of 2‐silylethyl acetate H3SiCH2CH2OCOCH3

The thermal rearrangement mechanisms of 2‐silylethylacetate H₃SiCH₂CH₂OOCCH₃ were investigated by ab initio molecular orbital theory for the first time. All structures of reactant, transition states, and products were located and fully optimized at the B3LYP/6‐311+G(d, p) levels, and harmonic vibrational frequencies for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface were obtained. The reaction pathways were analyzed and confirmed by intrinsic reaction coordinate (IRC) calculations. Furthermore, atomic charges were determined by using the natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. The calculational results show that H₃SiCH₂CH₂OOCCH₃ can rearrange thermally in two ways. One is [1,3] rearrangement (Reaction A), in which silyl group transfers from carbon to oxygen(in C? O? C) via a four‐membered ring transition state, forming silyl acetate and ethylene, the other way, [1,5] rearrangement (Reaction B), happens with transferring of silyl group from carbon to oxygen (in C?O) via a six‐membered ring transition state, forming the same products as in Reaction A. The energy barriers of the Reactions A and B were calculated to be 188.9 and 191.6 kJ/mol at the B3LYP/6‐311+G(d,p) levels, respectively. Changes in thermodynamic functions (ΔS, ΔH, and ΔG), equilibrium constant K(T), as well as preexponential factor A(T), and reaction rate constant k(T) in Eyring transition state theory were calculated over a temperature range of 200–1600 K, and then thermodynamic and kinetic properties of the reactions were analyzed. It can be suggested that Reactions A and B are noncompetitive, and both happen only at elevated temperature. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2009