Access to a stable Si2N2 four-membered ring with non-Kekulé singlet biradical character from a disilyne

The reactions of 1,1,4,4-tetrakis[bis(trimethylsilyl)methyl]-1,4-diisopropyltetrasila-2-yne 1 with an equivalent amount of trans- and cis-3,3',5,5'-tetramethylazobenzenes produced a Si(2)N(2) four-membered ring biradicaloid [RSi(μ-NAr)(2)SiR] 2 (R = Si(i)Pr[CH(SiMe(3))(2)](2), Ar = 3,5-Me(2)C(6)H(3)), which was isolated as air- and moisture-sensitive dark purple crystals. Compound 2 displays no EPR signal, and the molecular structure of 2 was characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography, revealing that 2 has a planar centrosymmetric Si(2)N(2) four-membered ring. The Si1-Si1' distance is 2.63380(9) ?, and there is no bond interaction between the Si1 and Si1' atoms of 2. The reactions of 2 with methanol and carbon tetrachloride show that 2 has both closed-shell and radical-type reactivity.     

Critical comparison of equations correlating valence and length of a chemical bond. Evaluation of the parameters R1 and B for the MoO bond in MoO6 octahedra

The most commonly used equations correlating bond valence and bond length have been critically compared. It has been shown that the Zachariasen equation is more accurate than the Brown–Shannon equation. Doubts already voiced about the universality of the constant B in the Brown–Altermatt equation with a value of 0.37 Å have been hereby confirmed. Moreover, by a method based on the comparison of formal oxidation states and valences of molybdenum in suitable oxides, the parameters relative to the Zachariasen equation have been accurately determined for the MoO bond in MoO₆ octahedra. Their values are R₁=1.8790 and B=0.3048 Å in the 3–6 v.u. range.     

Static and dynamic descriptions of bond breaking/formation: a complementary view?

Ab initio molecular-dynamic simulations using density-functional theory and the recent atom-centered density-matrix propagation (ADMP) method were used to study the bond breaking and formation for a case-study substitution nucleophilic bimolecular reaction, namely, the Walden inversion. Using the atoms-in-molecule approach, we have performed a detailed analysis to investigate intra- and intermolecular charge transfer along the ADMP trajectory. These results were compared to those obtained considering a static approach, such as the intrinsic reaction path. In particular, the topological properties computed along the dynamic trajectory well evidence a stronger electron exchange tending to spontaneously maximize the rising covalent interaction. Furthermore, their analysis suggests that the bond formation mechanism involves a reactive intermediate with a bonding interaction stronger than in the final product.     

Experimental and theoretical study of the dissociation enthalpy of the N–O bond on 2-hydroxypyridine N-oxide: theoretical analysis of the energetics of the N–O bond for hydroxypyrydine N-oxide isomers

The standard (p^∘=0.1 MPa) molar enthalpy of formation of crystalline 2-hydroxypyridine N-oxide was measured, at T=298.15 K, by static bomb calorimetry and the standard molar enthalpy of sublimation, at T=298.15 K, was obtained using Calvet microcalorimetry. These values were used to derive the standard molar enthalpy of formation of 2-hydroxypyridine N-oxide in gaseous phase, and to evaluate the dissociation enthalpy of the N–O bond. Additionally, high-level density functional theory calculations using the B3LYP hybrid exchange-correlation energy functional have been performed for the three isomers of hydroxypyridine N-oxide in order to confirm the experimental trend for the dissociation enthalpy of the (N–O) bond.     

The microbial reductive splitting of the NO bond of dihydrooxazines; an alternative to the chemical reduction

In the presence of artificial mediators many bacteria reductively split the NO bond of dihydrooxazines in a chemoselective way if hydrogen is used as an electron source. The yields as determined by HPLC are almost quantitative i.e. considerably better than by chemical reductions.     

Is hydrophilic interaction chromatography with silica columns a viable alternative to reversed-phase liquid chromatography for the analysis of ionisable compounds?

The separation of acidic, neutral and particularly basic solutes was investigated using a bare silica column, mostly under hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) conditions with water concentrations >2.5% and with >70% acetonitrile (ACN). Profound changes in selectivity could be obtained by judicious selection of the buffer and its pH. Acidic solutes had low retention or showed exclusion in ammonium formate buffers, but were strongly retained when using trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) buffers, possibly due to suppression of repulsion of the solute anions from ionised silanol groups at the low (s)(s)pH of TFA solutions of aqueous ACN. At high buffer pH, the ionisation of weak bases was suppressed, reducing ionic (and possibly hydrophilic retention) leading to further opportunities for manipulation of selectivity. Peak shapes of basic solutes were excellent in ammonium formate buffers, and overloading effects, which are a major problem for charged bases in RPLC, were relatively insignificant in analytical separations using this buffer. HILIC separations were ideal for fast analysis of ionised bases, due to the low viscosity of mobile phases with high ACN content, and the favourable Van Deemter curves which resulted from higher solute diffusivities.     

Boron/nitrogen substitution of the central carbon atoms of the biphenalenyl diradical π dimer: a novel 2e-12c bond and large NLO responses

On the basis of the famous staggered biphenalenyl diradical π dimer 1, the eclipsed biphenalenyl (1a), with no centrosymmetry, was obtained by rotating a layer of 1 by 60° around its central axis. Furthermore, the central carbon atoms of 1 and 1a were substituted by boron and nitrogen atoms to form 2 and 2a with a novel 2e-12c bond. We found that the novel 2e-12c bond is formed by the electron pair of the occupied orbital of the phenalenyl monomer substituted by the nitrogen atom and the unoccupied orbital of the phenalenyl monomer substituted by the boron atom. As a result of the novel 2e-12c bond, 2 and 2a exhibit a fascinating interlayer charge-transfer transition character, which results in a significant difference in the dipole moments (Δμ) between the ground state and the crucial excited state. The values of Δμ for 2 and 2a are 6.4315 and 6.9253 Debye, clearly larger than the values of 0 and 0.0015 Debye for 1 and 1a. Significantly, the boron/nitrogen substitution effect can greatly enhance the first hyperpolarizabilities (β(0) ) of 2 and 2a with a novel 2e-12c bond compared with 1 and 1a with a traditional 2e-12c bond: 0 and 19 a.u. for 1 and 1a are much lower than 3516 and 12272 a.u. for 2 and 2a. Furthermore, the interaction energies (E(int) )of 2 and 2a are larger than those of 1 and 1a, which could be considered as a signature of reliability for the newly designed dimers. Our present work will be beneficial for further theoretical and experimental studies on the properties of molecules with the novel 2e-12c bond.     

Is the ring conformation the most critical parameter in lipase-catalysed acylation of cycloalkanols?

CAL-B catalysed the resolution of several five and six-membered cyclic beta-hydroxy esters efficiently with the exception of the cis-cyclohexanol (+/-)-4. When employing molecular modelling techniques the conformation turned out to be the most important determinant for their reactivity towards O-acetylation. In all cases, the R enantiomers reacted faster than the S enantiomers since the reactive intermediates of the former can adopt more favourable ring conformations and thus experience less steric hindrance in the active site. Furthermore, the minimised structure for the main conformer of R-4 showed that the axial hydrogens in the 3 and 5-positions with respect to the hydroxyl group prevent the enzymatic reaction.     

Estimation of the NF bond distance in NF4+ from its general valence force field

The estimate of the bond length in NF₄⁺ from the published general valence force field was revised and a value of 1.31 Å is suggested.     

Infrared and microwave spectra of the acetylene-ammonia and carbonyl sulfide-ammonia complexes: a comparative study of a weak C-H···N hydrogen bond and an S···N bond

We report a combined high resolution infrared and microwave spectroscopic investigation of the acetylene-ammonia and carbonyl sulfide-ammonia complexes using a pulsed slit-nozzle multipass absorption spectrometer based on a quantum cascade laser and a pulsed nozzle beam Fourier transform microwave spectrometer, respectively. The ro-vibrational transitions of the acetylene-ammonia complex have been measured at 6 μm in the vicinity of the ν(4) band of ammonia for the first time. The previously reported pure rotational transitions have been extended to higher J and K values with (14)N nuclear quadrupole hyperfine components detected and analyzed. The spectral analysis reveals that acetylene binds to ammonia through a C-H···N weak hydrogen bond to form a C(3v) symmetric top, consistent with the previous microwave [Fraser et al., J. Chem. Phys., 1984, 80, 1423] and infrared spectroscopic study at 3 μm [Hilpert et al., J. Chem. Phys., 1996, 105, 6183]. A parallel study has also been carried out for the carbonyl sulfide-ammonia complex whose pure rotational and ro-vibrational spectra at 6 μm have been detected and analyzed for the first time. The spectral and the subsequent structural analyses, in conjunction with the corresponding ab initio calculation, indicate that the OCS-NH(3) complex assumes C(3v) symmetry with S pointing to N of NH(3), in contrast to the T-shaped geometries obtained for the isoelectronic N(2)O-NH(3) and CO(2)-NH(3) complexes.     

Possible intramolecular rearrangements of O-vinyloximes initiated by N—O bond dissociation: a quantum-chemical analysis

The potential surface of conformational transitions of O-vinylacetoxime was studied and the regions of starting states for possible isomeric transformations with the N—O bond dissociation as the limiting stage were recognized. The activation parameters and heat effects of intramolecular rearrangement O-vinylacetoxime iminoacetaldehyde were evaluated. Transition-state structure of the rearrangement was identified.     

N[bond]C(alpha) bond dissociation energies and kinetics in amide and peptide radicals. Is the dissociation a non-ergodic process?

Dissociations of aminoketyl radicals and cation radicals derived from beta-alanine N-methylamide, N-acetyl-1,2-diaminoethane, N(alpha)-acetyl lysine amide, and N(alpha)-glycyl glycine amide are investigated by combined density functional theory and M?ller-Plesset perturbational calculations with the goal of elucidating the mechanism of electron capture dissociation (ECD) of larger peptide and protein ions. The activation energies for dissociations of N[bond]C bonds in aminoketyl radicals decrease in the series N[bond]CH(3) > N-CH(2)CH(2)NH(2) > N[bond]CH(2)CONH(2) approximately N[bond]CH(CONH(2))(CH(2))(4)NH(2). Transition state theory rate constants for dissociations of N[bond]C(alpha) bonds in aminoketyl radicals and cation-radicals indicate an extremely facile reaction that occurs with unimolecular rate constants >10(5) s(-1) in species thermalized at 298 K in the gas phase. In neutral aminoketyl radicals the N[bond]C(alpha) bond cleavage results in fast dissociation. In contrast, N[bond]C(alpha) bond cleavage in aminoketyl cation-radicals results in isomerization to ion-molecule complexes that are held together by strong hydrogen bonds. The facile N[bond]C(alpha) bond dissociation in thermalized ions indicates that it is unnecessary to invoke the hypothesis of non-ergodic behavior for ECD intermediates.     

Complete active space analysis of a reaction pathway: Investigation of the oxygen–oxygen bond formation

Water nucleophilic attack is an important step in water oxidation reactions, which have been widely studied using density functional theory (DFT). Nevertheless, a single-determinant DFT picture may be insufficient for a deeper insight into the process, in particular during the oxygen–oxygen bond formation. In this work, we use complete active space self-consistent field calculations and describe an approach for a complete active space analysis along a reaction pathway. This is applied to the water nucleophilic attack at a Ru-based catalyst, which has successfully been used for efficient water oxidation and in silico design of new water oxidation catalysts recently.     

On the nature of interactions in the F2OXe…NCCH3 complex: Is there the Xe(IV)?N bond?

Nature of the bonding in isolated XeOF₂ molecule and F₂OXe^…NCCH₃ complexes have been studied in the gas phase (0 K) using Quantum Chemical Topology methods. The wave functions have been approximated at the MP2 and DFT levels of calculations, using the APFD, B3LYP, M062X, and B2PLYP functionals with the GD3 dispersion correction. The nature of the formal Xe?O bond in the XeOF₂ monomer depends on the basis set used (all‐electron vs. the ecp‐28 approximation for Xe). Within the all‐electron basis set approach the bond is represented by two bonding attractors, V_{i = 1,2}(Xe,O), with total population of about 1.06e and highly delocalized electron density in both bonding basins. No bonding basins are observed using the ecp‐28 approximation. These results shows that the nature of xenon–oxygen is complicated and may be described with mesomeric equilibrium of the Lewis representations: Xe⁽⁺⁾O^(?) and Xe^(–)O⁽⁺⁾. For both the xenon–oxygen and xenon–fluorine interactions the charge‐shift model can be applied. The F₂OXe^…NCCH₃ complex exists in two structures: “parallel,” stabilized by non‐covalent C^…O and Xe^…N interactions and “linear” stabilized by the Xe^…N interaction. Topological analysis of ELF shows that the F₂OXe^…NCCH₃ molecule appears as a weakly bound intermolecular complex. Intermolecular interaction energy components have also been studied using Symmetry Adapted Perturbation Theory. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Neutron diffraction study of the HF adducts containing a hydrogen bond F-H?O

Single-crystal structures of HF adducts of acid salts CsH₂PO₃·HF, KH₂PO₄·HF, and CsH₂PO₄·HF were determined by neutron diffraction using the Laue method. In the crystals, HF molecules are connected to anions by means of new type of hydrogen bonds, F-H?O, which are significantly shorter (F?O distances 2.356-2.386(3) Å) than strong O-H?O or O-H?F hydrogen bonds. The H-F distances in the structures of these adducts, 1.020-1.027(5) Å, are compared with those in crystalline HF and hydrofluoride anions.