Theoretical study of the interaction of molecular oxygen with copper clusters

A new method based on frontier orbital theory has been used to investigate the binding site of molecular oxygen to neutral and anion copper clusters. It has been shown that one can make useful predictions of the binding sites based on the knowledge of the donor local reactivity of the cluster using the condensed Fukui function, f(-)(Ff). In this way, it was found that Cu(3), Cu(5), and Cu(5)(-) have the highest reactivity toward molecular oxygen.     

Effects of bulk impurity concentration on the reactivity of metal surface: sticking of hydrogen molecules and atoms to polycrystalline Nb containing oxygen

Nonmetallic impurities segregated onto metal surfaces are able to drastically decrease the chemical reactivity of metals. In the present paper, effects of bulk impurities on the reactivity of metallic surfaces were investigated in a wide temperature range on an example of the sticking of hydrogen molecules and atoms to Nb [polycrystalline, with mainly (100)] containing solute oxygen. At all the investigated surface temperatures, T(S) (300-1400 K), we found the bulk oxygen concentration C(O) to have a strong effect on the integral probability, alpha(H(2) ), of dissociative sticking of H(2) molecules followed by hydrogen solution in the metal lattice: alpha(H(2) ) monotonically decreased by orders of magnitude with increasing C(O) from 0.03 to 1.5 at. %. The sticking coefficient alpha(H(2) ) was found to depend on T(S) but not on the gas temperature. The effect of C(O) on alpha(H(2) ) is explained by the presence of oxygen-free sites (holes in coverage) serving as active centers of the surface reaction in the oxygen monolayer upon Nb. In contrast to H(2) molecules, H atoms were found to stick to, and be dissolved in, oxygen-covered Nb with a probability comparable to 1, depending neither on C(O) nor on T(S). This proves that, unlike H(2) molecules, H atoms do stick to be dissolved mainly through regular surface sites covered by oxygen and not through the holes in coverage.     

Theoretical modeling of oxygen adsorption on the PbTe(001) surface

For the semiconducting compound PbTe, the initial stages of oxidation, which are important for technology of IR-and thermoelectric devices, have been theoretically studied. The structure, stability, and changes in the electrostatic potentials at the oxidized sites in lead telluride have been calculated in the framework of the cluster approach by the hybrid density functional theory B3LYP method. Different variants of attachment of one to six oxygen atoms to the atoms of the surface and subsurface layers have been considered. The most stable oxidation products have been found. The calculation results are quantitatively consistent with experimental XPS data on chemical shifts.     

Theoretical investigation of the reactivity of copper atoms with OCS: comparison with CS2 and CO2

The reaction mechanism of the Cu atom with OCS and CO2 has been studied by means of density functional method (B3LYP). The overall energetics has been refined at the CCSD(T) level. In the case of the Cu + OCS reaction, the CS insertion route is found much more favorable than the CO insertion one. This later reaction is direct and involves an activation energy of 83.3 kcal/mol and is endothermic by 50.0 kcal/mol at the CCSD(T) level. The insertion into the CS bond proceeds through the eta1s and eta2cs coordination species as intermediates and is found exothermic by about 20 kcal/mol. The highest transition structure along this route is only 11.5 kcal/mol higher in energy than the reactant's ground states. In the case of the Cu + CO2 reaction, the insertion route into the CO bond is also found direct but with a lower endothermicity (30.6 kcal/mol) and smaller activation energy (61.1 kcal/mol) than that into the CO bond of OCS. In all cases, the insertion mechanism proceeds simultaneously with electron transfer from the Cu atom to OCS (or CO2) molecule.     

Theoretical and experimental study on the reactivity of methyl dichlorobenzoates with sulfur-centered nucleophiles by electron transfer reactions

Reactions of methyl 2,5-dichlorobenzoate or methyl 3,6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoate with sulfur-centered nucleophiles gave mono- and disubstitution products, respectively through S_RN1 mechanism in liquid ammonia. Products obtained could be potential herbicides less toxic to the environment. Theoretical studies explained the reactivity observed considering geometries, and spin densities of radical anions and potential energy surfaces for the dissociation of the radical anions formed.     

Ellipsometric study of the interaction of a germanium monocrystal with bromine

Using an ellipsometric technique, the dynamics of formation of adsorption layers in the process of interaction of bromine with a germanium monocrystal surface has been studied. It is shown that the reaction begins only when the second layer of bromine molecules is formed on the germanium surface. The ellipsometric data are in agreement with the results obtained by kinetic experiments.

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Эллипсометрическим методом исследована динамика адсорбционных заполнений во время химической реакции германия с бромом. Сделан вывод о том, что химическая реакция германия с бромом становится возможной только при адсорбции второго слоя молекул брома. Получено хорошее соответствие между результатами кинетических и эллипсометрических экспериментов.

     

Theoretical study of the adsorption of oxygen on a Cu(100) surface and the coadsorption with alkali atoms

We performed a theoretical study of the adsorption of oxygen on a cluster model of the Cu(100) surface and also the surface coadsorbed with lithium and potassium atoms. The study showed that alkali coadsorption facilitates in a significant way the process of molecular adsorption, whereas the adsorption of atomic oxygen is only slightly modified. The alkali atoms on the copper surface produce an increase in the charge transfer toward the oxygen molecule, favoring the oxygen dissociation. The effect is greater for the potassium coadsorption. In addition, we found that the potassium coadsorption favored the dissociation and recombination processes by about 60 and 15%, respectively. In turn, the lithium coadsorption favored only the recombination process by about 50%. These results could be an important aspect for catalytic processes.From the Proceedings of the 28th Congreso de Quimicos Teóricos de Expression Latina (QUITEL 2002)     

Theoretical study on the reaction of hydrogen atoms with aniline

The reaction of aniline with hydrogen atom is investigated herein using the hybrid meta-DFT functional of BB1 K. Hydrogen atom is found to preferentially add at an ortho position. However, the fate of the o-(C₆H₅NH₂)H adduct is found to be solely the deactivation of the initial addition channel. The rate constant for the abstraction channel (C₆H₅NH₂ + H → C₆H₅NH + H₂) is fitted by the expression 1.10 × 10⁻¹¹ exp(−4,200/T) cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹. Our calculated rate constant for the abstraction channel agrees very well with the available experimental measurements. Satisfactory agreement is found between calculated and experimental measurements for the displacement channel (C₆H₅NH₂ + H → C₆H₆ + NH₂). Our detailed analysis for the corresponding displacements in toluene and phenol suggests that the three systems exhibit similar behavior with regard to the relative importance of abstraction and displacement channels.     

Repulsive potentials for the interaction of oxygen atoms with the noble gases and atmospheric molecules

Repulsive potentials between about 0.2 eV and 20 eV are determined for interactions of oxygen atoms with the noble gas atoms and with H₂, N₂, O₂, NO, CO, CO₂ and H₂O molecules from incomplete total scattering cross sections. Good agreement with theory is obtained for the noble gases. The potentials for the interaction with molecules obtained by assuming spherically symmetric potentials are compared with the same potentials computed by averaging the cross sections for different orientations of the molecules. By introducing reduced variables, the problem of finding two isotropic potential parameters is simplified to a search for one, the other being determined by a least-squares constraint.     

An experimental and computational study on the reactivity and regioselectivity for the nitrosoarene ene reaction: comparison with triazolinedione and singlet oxygen

The regioselectivities and the reactivities (relative rates) for the ene reaction of the enophile 4-nitronitrosobenzene (ArNO) with an extensive set of regiochemically defined acyclic and cyclic olefins have been determined. These experimental data establish that the ArNO enophile attacks the olefinic substrate along the novel skew trajectory, with preferred hydrogen abstraction at the corner (twix regioselectivity). This is in contrast to the isoelectronic species singlet oxygen ((1)O(2)), which abstracts at the higher substituted side of the double-bond (cis effect), and triazolindione (TAD), which undergoes the ene reaction at the more crowded end (gem effect). Ab initio computations (B3LYP/6-31+g) for the ene reaction of the ArNO with 2-methyl-2-butene reveal that the steric effects between the aryl group of the enophile and the substituents of the olefin dictate the skew trajectory. These computations identify the aziridine N-oxide (AI) as a bona fide intermediate in this ene reaction, whose formation is usually rate-determining and, thus, irreversible along the skew trajectory (twix selectivity). The reversible generation of the AI becomes feasible when conformational constraints outweigh steric effects, as manifested by enhanced twin regioselectivity.     

Interaction of diatomic germanium with lithium atoms: electronic structure and stability

Quantum chemical calculations were applied to investigate the electronic structure of mono-, di-, and trilithiated digermanium (Ge2Lin) and their cations (n=0-3). Computations using a multiconfigurational quasidegenerate perturbation approach based on complete active space self-consistent-field wave functions, and density functional theory reveal that Ge2Li has a 2B1 ground state with a doublet-quartet energy gap of 33 kcal/mol. Ge2Li2 has a singlet ground state with a 3Au-1A1 gap of 29 kcal/mol, and Ge2Li3 a doublet ground state with a 4B2-2A2 separation of 22 kcal/mol. The cation Ge2Li+ has a 3B1 ground state, being 13 kcal/mol below the open-shell 1B1 state. The computed electron affinities for diatomic germanium are EA(1)=1.9 eV, EA(2)=-2.5 eV, and EA(3)=-6.0 eV, for Ge2-, Ge2 (2-), and Ge2 (3-), respectively, indicating that only the monoanion is stable with respect to electron detachment, in such a way that Ge2Li is composed by Ge2-Li+ ions. An "atoms-in-molecules" analysis shows the absence of a ring critical point in Ge(2)Li. An electron localization function analysis on Ge2Li supports the view that the Ge-Li bond is predominantly ionic; however, a small covalent character could be anticipated from the analysis of the Laplacian at the Ge-Li bond critical point. The ionic picture of the Ge-Li bond is further supported by a natural-bond-order analysis and the Laplacian of the electron density. The calculated Li affinity value for Ge2 is 2.08 eV, while the Li+ cation affinity value for Ge2- is 5.7 eV. The larger Li+ cation affinity value of Ge2- suggests a Ge2-Li+ interaction and thus supports the ionic nature of Ge-Li bond. In GeLi4 and Ge2Li, the presence of trisynaptic basins indicates a three-center bond connecting the germanium and lithium atoms.     

Theoretical study on the reactions of trimethylsilane with chlorine and bromine atoms

Theoretical studies are carried out on the multi-channel reactions of SiH(CH₃)₃ with Cl (reaction 1, R1) and Br atoms (R2) by direct dynamics method. The minimum energy path is calculated at the MP2/6-31+G(d,p) level, and energetic information is further refined by the MC-QCISD (single-point) method. The rate constants for individual reaction channels, R1a, R1b-in, R1b-out, R1c, R1d, R2a, R2b-in, R2b-out, R2c, and R2d, are calculated by the improved canonical variational transition state theory with small-curvature tunneling correction over the temperature range 200–1,500 K. The theoretical three-parameter expressions k ₁ (T) = 6.30 × 10⁻¹⁵ T ^1.36exp(704.94/T) and k ₂ (T) = 9.41 × 10⁻²⁶ T ^4.89exp(−1,033.80/T) cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹ are given. Our calculations indicate that reaction channels R1c and R2c are the major channel.     

Generation,low-temperature stabilization,structure, and reactivity of intermediates with low-coordinated carbon,silicon, and germanium atoms

The mechanisms of thermal and photochemical transformations of organic and organometallic compounds which pass through formation of different reactive intermediates were investigated by low-temperature matrix IR spectroscopy. Low-temperature matrix stabilization of the intermediates, the primary products of these reactions, was conducted at 10–15 K. The spectral and structural parameters of the free radicals (CCl₃, CCl₂Br, CClBr₂, CH₂CH=CH₂, CF₂CF=CF₂, CH₂-CCH, CH₂CN, CH₂Ph, CF₂C₆F₅), halocarbenes and their silicon and germanium analogs, and unstable molecules with double-bond silicon and germanium atoms were obtained as a result.The article is based on a plenary report to the 10th IUPAC Conference on Physical-Organic Chemistry (Haifa, Israel, August, 1990) [1] and partially includes data from Low-Temperature Matrix Stabilization and IR Spectroscopic Study of Free Radicals by O. M. Nefedov, A. K. Mal'tsev, and V. A. Korolev, awarded the N. N. Semenov Prize, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, for 1991.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 11, pp. 2425–2442, November, 1991.We would like to thank V. A. Korolev for assisting in writing this article.     

Effect of vibrational excitation on the reactivity of methyl fluoride with bromine atoms

The influence of non-equilibrium vibrational excitation of CH₃F molecules on the rate of their reaction with bromine atoms has been investigated. A three-fold increace in the reaction rate has been registered at CH₃F and Br₂ pressures of 0.07 Torr and at 100°C. The increase is shown not to be associated with equilibrium thermal heating.

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CH₃F . CH₃F Br₂ 0,07 100°C. , .

     

Cluster-model study of the interaction of halogen atoms with Ag clusters

Analysis of ab initio wave functions shows that the interaction between halogen atoms (F, Cl, and Br) and Ag clusters is ionic, and that the halogen ionicity is essentially ?1. The interaction and the bonding arise, almost entirely, from the Coulomb attraction between the charged halogen and the metal and from polarization of the two subunits. Large shifts in equilibrium bond distances and vibrational energies are caused by an external electric field. These changes arise from a dominant Stark effect.     

Formation of oxygen atoms in the reaction of chlorine atoms with ozone

Oxygen atoms are detected by NO + O + M chemiluminescence as a secondary product of the reaction between Cl and O₃. The mechanism Cl + O₃ → ClO + O₂(¹Σ⁺_g), O₂(¹Σ⁺_g) + O₃ → O₂ + O₂ + O is proposed to account for the oxygen atom formation. The branching ratio to the O₂(¹Σ⁺_g) product in the reaction of Cl with O₃ is estimated to be in the range (0.1–0.5) x 10^?2.     

Theoretical study of the stability of lithium atoms in alpha-rhombohedral boron

The stability of lithium atoms in alpha-rhombohedral boron was investigated by first-principles calculations of total energies and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In the case of a low concentration (1.03 at. %), Li at the center of the icosahedral B12 site (the I-site) had a negative binding energy, which suggests Li at the I-site is unstable. However, MD simulations at temperatures below 750 K indicated that Li is still confined in the B12 cage under these conditions, which means Li at the I-site is metastable. Over 800 K, Li began to move away from the B12 site and settled at the tetrahedral site (the T-site) or at the octahedral site (the O-site). Li at the T-site also had a negative binding energy, but MD simulations indicated it was metastable up to 1400 K and did not move to other sites. Li at the O-site was energetically the most favorable, having a positive binding energy. In the case of a high concentration (7.69 at. %), the I-site changed to an unstable saddle point. At this concentration, the T-site was metastable and the O-site became the most stable. In MD simulations at 1400 K, Li atoms at the O-site never jumped to other sites regardless of concentration. Considering these facts, the diffusion coefficient of Li in alpha-rhombohedral boron would have to be very small below 1400 K.     

Theoretical study of the interaction of tetramethylammonium with double-stranded oligonucleotides

Computations are performed on the interaction specificities of tetramethylammonium (TMA) for double-stranded oligonucleotides held in the B conformation. The effects of base sequence and chain length are investigated. In the short oligomers (helices formed from dinucleoside monophosphates and trinucleoside diphosphates), the interaction energies of TMA are larger in the major groove of (dG)_n · (dC)_n than in the minor groove of either (dA)_n · (dT)_n or (dA—dT)_n. Upon lengthening the oligomers, and owing to the gradual shaping of the grooves of the helix and cumulative effect of the phosphates, TMA is shown to increasingly favor the minor groove of (dA)_n · (dT)_n with respect to the major groove of (dG)_n · (dC)_n, with a sizeable energy difference computed at the pentanucleoside hexaphosphate level. The binding of TMA in the minor groove of (dA)_n · (dT)_n involves stabilizing contacts with several sites, on the bases and on the deoxyriboses. Configurations locating the cation closer to the thymine strand are slightly preferred over configurations locating it closer to the adenine strand.