Estimate of the activation barriers of chemical reactions on a silica surface

Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 25, No. 6, pp. 756–757, November–December, 1989.     

Dynamics of chemical reactions and nonphysical steady states

Data on the position of nonphysical (lying beyond the region of determination) steady states are shown to be of use for understanding the dynamic behavior of chemical reactions, in particular, the reasons for slow relaxations.

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Matrix isolation of intermediates on the activated silica surface: mechanisms and efficiencies of photochemical reactions of peroxy radicals

The technique of matrix isolation on the activated silica surface for the study of mechanisms and determination of efficiencies of photochemical reactions of alkylperoxy radicals has been used. The direct experimental evidence for photochemical dissociation of peroxy radicals via two parallel pathways by the rupture of O-O and C-O bonds under light of wavelength 313 nm has been obtained. It has been found that activated silica surface is not "inert" support in studies of transformations of surface-grafted peroxy radicals.     

Properties of variational transition states for association reactions

The relationships between the structures of microcanonical variational transition states for association reactions and potential energy surface properties are analyzed. The analysis is facilitated by the recent finding that in many cases the vibrational frequencies for the transitional modes in the association reaction vary exponentially with the reaction coordinate. An increase in the attenuation of the transitional mode frequencies results in a tighter transition state. Long-range minimum energy path potentials of the form −c/r″ have only one transition state at each energy. Certain types of association reactions may not have transition states.     

Chlorination reactions of ephedrines revisited. Stereochemistry and functional groups effect on the reaction mechanisms

The stereochemistry of the chlorination reactions with SOCl₂ of free ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and their hydrochlorides, oxamides and sulfonamides was analyzed. Chlorination of free and hydrochloride erythro isomers occurs with 100% inversion of configuration at C-1 (S_N2 mechanism). Chlorination of oxamides and sulfonamides of erythro isomers occurs with retention of the configuration at C-1, (S_Ni mechanism). Chlorination reactions in all threo isomers and derivatives hydrochlorides, oxamides or sulfonamides gave the same ratio of erythro (40%) and threo isomers (60%) (S_N1 mechanism). Treatment of the isomeric mixture of the chlorodeoxyephedrine and chlorodeoxypseudoephedrine hydrochloride in DMSO with HCl changes the isomeric ratio, increasing the erythro isomer content (65%). Using the erythro ethanolamines it is possible to arrive stereoselectively at the erythro chloroamines if the compound is previously tosylated or converted to the amide, or to the threo chloroamines if the compound is directly chlorinated with SOCl₂.     

Theoretical study on the aromaticity of transition states in pericyclic reactions

The aromaticity of transition states in pericyclic reactions such as electrocyclic reactions, cycloaddition reactions, and sigmatropic shifts was studied by the IDA (index of deviation from aromaticity) on the basis of a CASSCF wave function. The aromaticity defined by the IDA classified the allowed and forbidden transition states of pericyclic reactions treated here. The order of the aromaticity levels corresponds to that of the energy barriers of some reactions. The difference between the aromaticity defined by the IDA and that by the magnetic properties as a NICS is also discussed.     

Diels-Alder and ene reactions of singlet oxygen,nitroso compounds and triazolinediones: transition states and mechanisms from contemporary theory

Singlet oxygen, nitroso compounds and triazolinediones have similar electronic structures: they share a low lying LUMO, making them powerful electrophiles, and a high lying HOMO, orthogonal to the LUMO and consisting of an antibonding combination of lone paris. This bestows some nucleophilic character on these species. We describe a number of studies employing the best levels of theory currently available for systems of this size and demonstrate that the Diels-Alder and ene reactions of these three species are calculated to show subtle changes in mechanism. The calculations have been calibrated, wherever possible, by comparison to experimental observations including measured activation and reaction energies, regio- and stereo-selectivities, intermediates observed either spectroscopically or by trapping, and kinetic isotope effects.     

Stereochemistry and rearrangement reactions of hydroxylignanolactones

Various conflicting data on the rearrangement and absolute stereochemistry of hydroxylignano-9,7'-lactones are resolved using 18O labeled compounds, also confirmed by an X-ray analysis of a pure lignano-9,7'-lactone enantiomer, obtained for the first time. Under NaH/DMF rearrangement conditions a silyl protected hydroxylignano-9,9'-lactone underwent an unexpected silyl migration.     

Chemistry of the silica surface: liquid-solid reactions of silica gel with trimethylaluminum

The reaction of trimethylaluminum and dry, high-surface-area (500 m2/g) silica gel in a mixed slurry was studied using multinuclear, solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The products of the initial reaction were characterized, and their progress through subsequent washing with diethyl ether and reactions with measured amounts of water was followed. The quantitative distribution of different chemical forms of carbon deposited on the silica surface by the initial reaction was measured. The products of the initial reaction are dominated by methyl species of the types Al(CH3)n (with Si-O-Al linkages), Si-O-CH3, and (Si-O)4-nSi(CH3)n; aluminum is seen to exist predominantly as a five-coordinate species. Subsequent treatment with diethyl ether fails to remove any surface species, but instead the ether becomes strongly associated with the surface and highly resistant to removal. Stepwise additions of water hydrolyze the Al-CH3 and Si-O-CH3 moieties, leading to conversion of five-coordinate aluminum to four- and six-coordinate aluminum, and affect the partial release of the surface-associated diethyl ether; Si-CH3 moieties remain. The effect of aromatic and saturated solvents on the initial reaction was examined and found to cause a small but significant change in the distribution of products. Structures of aluminum-centered species on the silica surface consistent with the spectroscopic data are proposed.     

Complexity index for the linear mechanisms of chemical reactions

A complexity measure is proposed for the kinetic models of chemical reactions with linear mechanisms. The index is related to the structure of fractional-rational kinetic laws for chemical reactions, as well as to the structure of cyclic graphs used to describe them. The complexity index is shown to be closely related to the detailed hierarchical classification and to the code of linear reaction mechanisms, recently introduced. A number of index properties are proved for two- and three-reaction routes. They reflect the influence of the various classification criteria, such as the number of reaction routes and intermediates, the type, class and subclasses of the mechanism, and the number of intermediates in each reaction route. Hierarchical levels of mechanisms with the same complexity (isocomplex mechanisms) are specified. Standard tables are presented with complexity indices for all topologically distinct linear reaction mechanisms having one to three reaction routes, two to six intermediates, and reversible elementary steps.[/p]     

Analysis of fluctuations in chemical reactions with several steady states

The effect of fluctuations in nonequilibrium systems is treated in terms of the stochastic theory. A solution of the fundamental equation is analyzed using the Monte-Carlo method /1, 2/. The results are compared with the conclusions following from the equations corresponding to a phenomenological model.

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On the rate of relativistic surface chemical reactions

On the basis of special relativity and the classical theory of chemical reaction rates it is shown how the surface chemical reaction rates vary as v --> c, where v is the velocity of the object under study and c is the velocity of light.     

Efficient methods for finding transition states in chemical reactions: comparison of improved dimer method and partitioned rational function optimization method

A combination of interpolation methods and local saddle-point search algorithms is probably the most efficient way of finding transition states in chemical reactions. Interpolation methods such as the growing-string method and the nudged-elastic band are able to find an approximation to the minimum-energy pathway and thereby provide a good initial guess for a transition state and imaginary mode connecting both reactant and product states. Since interpolation methods employ usually just a small number of configurations and converge slowly close to the minimum-energy pathway, local methods such as partitioned rational function optimization methods using either exact or approximate Hessians or minimum-mode-following methods such as the dimer or the Lanczos method have to be used to converge to the transition state. A modification to the original dimer method proposed by [Henkelman and Jonnson J. Chem. Phys. 111, 7010 (1999)] is presented, reducing the number of gradient calculations per cycle from six to four gradients or three gradients and one energy, and significantly improves the overall performance of the algorithm on quantum-chemical potential-energy surfaces, where forces are subject to numerical noise. A comparison is made between the dimer methods and the well-established partitioned rational function optimization methods for finding transition states after the use of interpolation methods. Results for 24 different small- to medium-sized chemical reactions covering a wide range of structural types demonstrate that the improved dimer method is an efficient alternative saddle-point search algorithm on medium-sized to large systems and is often even able to find transition states when partitioned rational function optimization methods fail to converge.