First-principles calculations of ammonia decomposition on Ni(110) surface

First-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) have been performed to study the adsorption and decomposition of NH₃ on Ni(110). The adsorption sites, the adsorption energies, the transition states and the activation energies of the stepwise dehydrogenation of NH₃ and the associative desorption of N are determined, and the zero point energy correction is included, which makes it possible to compute the rate constants of the elementary steps in NH₃ decomposition. Combined DFT calculations and kinetic analysis at 350 K indicate that the associative desorption of N has a reaction rate lower than NH_x dehydrogenation and is therefore the rate determining step. The distinctly different rate constants over Ni(110), Ni(111) and Ni(211) imply that ammonia decomposition over Ni-based catalyst is a structure-sensitive reaction.     

The effect of benzo‐annelation on intermolecular hydrogen bond and proton transfer of 2‐methyl‐3‐hydroxy‐4(1H)‐quinolone in methanol: A TD‐DFT study

Excited‐state intermolecular or intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) reaction has important potential applications in biological probes. In this paper, the effect of benzo‐annelation on intermolecular hydrogen bond and proton transfer reaction of the 2‐methyl‐3‐hydroxy‐4(1H)‐quinolone (MQ) dye in methanol solvent is investigated by the density functional theory and time‐dependent density functional theory approaches. Both the primary structure parameters and infrared vibrational spectra analysis of MQ and its benzo‐analogue 2‐methyl‐3‐hydroxy‐4(1H)‐benzo‐quinolone (MBQ) show that the intermolecular hydrogen bond O₁―H₂?O₃ significantly strengthens in the excited state, whereas another intermolecular hydrogen bond O₃―H₄?O₅ weakens slightly. Simulated electron absorption and fluorescence spectra are agreement with the experimental data. The noncovalent interaction analysis displays that the intermolecular hydrogen bonds of MQ are obviously stronger than that of MBQ. Additionally, the energy profile analysis via the proton transfer reaction pathway illustrates that the ESIPT reaction of MBQ is relatively harder than that of MQ. Therefore, the effect of benzo‐annelation of the MQ dye weakens the intermolecular hydrogen bond and relatively inhibits the proton transfer reaction.     

Quasiparticle band structure and optical properties of NH3BH3

The quasiparticle band structure of the low temperature orthorhombic phase of NH₃BH₃ is studied by using the GW approximation. It is found that NH₃BH₃ is an insulator with a value of the band gap of 5.90 eV with GGA and of 9.60 eV with the GW approximation. Then, the optical properties of NH₃BH₃ are obtained by the calculation of the dielectric function, corrected by a scissor shift operation corresponding to the GW correction on the band gap. Also, the optical anisotropy in NH₃BH₃ is analyzed through the refractive index and static dielectric constants along the different crystallographic directions. Finally, it is found that the energy loss function has a prominent peak at 22.26 eV; at these frequencies (above 22.26 eV) NH₃BH₃ becomes transparent. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Vibrational spectra and structural studies of nonlinear optical crystal ammonium D,L‐tartrate: a density functional theoretical approach

Single crystals of ammonium D , L ‐tartrate, a potential nonlinear optical (NLO) material of interest, were grown by the slow evaporation technique. The crystal structure was determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectra of the crystallized molecule were recorded and analyzed. The geometry, intermolecular hydrogen bonding, first hyperpolarizability and harmonic vibrational wavenumbers were calculated with the help of B3LYP density functional theory method. The red shift of hydroxyl and NH₄⁺ stretching wavenumbers indicate the formation of inter‐ and intramolecular hydrogen bonding. Simultaneous activation of CH stretching wavenumbers shows the presence of intramolecular charge transfer in the molecule. Natural bond orbital analysis was carried out to demonstrate the various inter‐ and intramolecular interactions that are responsible for the stabilization of this molecule, leading to high NLO activity. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Theoretical study on the mechanism for NH3BH3 reduction of ketones and imines

In spite of a potential hydrogen storage material, ammonia borane (AB) was recently found to be a good hydrogenation reagent. It can reduce certain ketones to alcohols or borate esters, and imines to amines. The mechanisms of these reactions are not fully understood yet, and have been systematically studied using high-level CCSD(T) calculations in this work. We have validated theoretically that the forming of alcohols and amines undergoes concerted double-hydrogen transfer (DHT) mechanism. Furthermore, we predicted that the DHT process is facile for more general ketones and imines. For the borate ester formation, we found a pretty high barrier for the experimentally derived stepwise mechanism. Alternatively, we propose that the reaction starts with the DHT process to form alcohol and NH₂BH₂, followed by alcoholysis of NH₂BH₂ to form the first B–O bond. This mechanism is in good agreement with the current experimental facts, and also explains why ketone reduction affords different products at different conditions. For these reaction systems, the performances of M06-2x and MP2 (underestimate the barrier by 5–7 kcal/mol, but with right trends) are better than B3LYP and BLYP methods (underestimate the barrier by 0–5 kcal/mol).     

Electronic structure and decomposition pathways of monoammoniate of lithium borohydride Li(NH3)BH4: A first-principles investigation

The monoammoniate of lithium borohydride (Li(NH₃)BH₄) is a potential candidate for hydrogen storage owing to its high hydrogen capacity (18 wt%). In this work, electronic structure, bonding characters, and decomposition pathways of Li(NH₃)BH₄ are investigated from first-principles calculations. We find that NH₃ molecules are covalently attached to Li atoms through N atoms and the ionization of Li atoms plays an essential role in stabilizing the compound. A general correlation between the stability of X(NH₃)BH₄ (X=H,Li,Na,K) and the electronegativities of $X$ atoms is established. The thermal stability of X(NH₃)BH₄ could be modulated by manipulating the cation electronegativities. Free energy computations indicate that Li(NH₃)BH₄→LiBH₄+NH₃ is the most likely thermal decomposition route.     

Decomposition of NH3 on Ir(110): A first-principle study

The adsorption and dehydrogenation of NH₃ on Ir(110) have been investigated using periodic density functional calculations. The adsorption sites, the adsorption energies, the predominant adsorption configurations and the transition states of the stepwise dehydrogenation of NH₃ were identified. The results show that the NH₃ prefers the top site with inclining 68.6° of N―Ir bond relative to the surface, while NH₂, NH, N and H favor the short bridge position. The NH decomposition to N and H or recombination with H to form NH₂ shares the similar and relatively high reaction energy barrier, implying that NH will be the main surface species in the NH₃ dehydrogenation processes. N―N bond formation possesses the highest energy barrier of 1.75 eV, indicating that it is the rate-limiting step for NH₃ decomposition. Barrier decomposition analysis reveals that the deformation and the binding to the surface of the reactants and the interaction among binding species in transition states will increase the activation energy while the bonding to the surface of the species in transition state will decrease the energy barrier.     

Kinetic study of BH3 reduction of benzaldehydes: identification of effective reducing species

A kinetic study was carried out for the reaction of benzaldehyde and borane (BH₃) in tetrahydrofuran. The effect of BH₃ concentration on the rate constant showed that the reaction order with respect to BH₃ was 1.6. Substituent effects gave a linear Hammett plot with a ρ value of ?0.51. It was concluded that the reaction proceeds through a rate‐determining hydride‐transfer transition state with two BH₃ molecules, in which one molecule of BH₃ acts as a reducing agent and the other serves as a catalyst. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mechanistic investigations in α‐hydroxycarbonyls reduction by BH4‐

BH₄^‐, a well‐known and widely used reducing agent for carbonyl compounds, has been reported to have the ability to participate in dihydrogen bonding, an interaction with applications in catalysis, stereoselectivity and crystal engineering. Specifically, α‐hydroxycarbonyls are activated for reduction by dihydrogen bonding that occurs between BH₄^‐ and hydroxyl group. We explored the effect of the interaction on the mechanism of these reactions by examining their activation parameters. We found that dihydrogen bonding activates α‐hydroxycyclopentanone for reduction with NBu₄BH₄ by lowering the activation enthalpy by 6.6 kcal/mol. While the activation entropy is a significant component of the barrier, the changes resulting from the occurrence of dihydrogen bonding are manifested predominantly in the enthalpy term. Computational studies suggest that, while internal hydrogen bonding is allowed by the flexibility of the carbon backbone, that interaction is outweighed by dihydrogen bonding once BH₄^‐ is present in the system. Experimentally, a red shift of the hydroxyl frequency is observed upon addition of BH₄^‐ to the reaction mixture, suggesting a dihydrogen bonding interaction. The flexibility of the substrate's skeleton or the selectivity of the hydride sites in BH₄^‐ does not account for the lack of directing effect of the dihydrogen bonding. When a substrate with a rigid naphthalene backbone moiety, 2‐hydroxyacenaphthylen‐1(2H)‐one, is reduced, the stereochemical outcome is very similar to the one corresponding to the α‐hydroxycyclopentanone. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ammonia activation on platinum {1 1 1}: A density functional theory study

By means of density functional theory calculations we have investigated the role of adsorbed atomic oxygen and adsorbed OH in the oxidation of ammonia on Pt{1 1 1}. We have investigated the dissociation of NH_3,ads, NH_2,ads and NH_ads on Pt{1 1 1} and the oxidation of these species by O_ads and OH_ads. We have done normal mode frequency analysis and work function calculations to characterise reactant, product and transition states. We have determined reaction energies, activation entropies, kinetic parameters and corrected total energies with the zero point energy. We have shown that O_ads only activates the dehydrogenation of NH_3,ads and that OH_ads activates the dehydrogenation of all NH_x,ads species and have reasoned this difference in activation by a bond order conservation principle. We have pointed out the importance of a zero point energy correction to the reaction energies and barriers. We have compared the calculated vibrational modes of the adsorbates with corresponding experimental EELS data. This has led to a revise of the frequency assignment of ν(Pt-OH₂), a revise in the identification of a NH₂ species on the Pt{1 1 1} surface after electron bombardment of pre-adsorbed NH₃ and the confirmation of an ammonia dimer binding model at the expense of a hollow site occupation by ammonia on the Pt{1 1 1} surface.     

Structural, elastic, and electronic properties of orthorhombic NH3BH3: An ab initio study

At the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), the elastic constants of the orthorhombic phase of NH₃BH₃ were calculated with plane-wave pseudo-potential method. Our calculation showed that the orthorhombic phase NH₃BH₃ is a loose and brittle material, as well as hard to be deformed, also we calculated the elastic anisotropies and the Debye temperatures from the elastic constants. And from the band structure and density of state (DOS), we concluded that NH₃BH₃ is a wide-gap semiconductor and the band gap is almost 6.0 eV. The bonds between N atoms and H atoms show a strong covalent characteristic, B atoms and H atoms form ironic bonds, and so as to the B-N bonds. Electrons from the B atoms are absorbed by the H atoms around the B atoms, and the H atoms display electronegativity.     

双金属RuM（M=Co，Ni）合金纳米粒子负载于MIL-110（Al）：协同催化氨硼烷水解释氢

By adjusting various Ru/M (M=Co, Ni) molar ratios, a series of highly dispersed bimetallic RuM alloy nanoparticles (NPs) anchored on MIL-110(Al) have been successfully prepared via a conventional impregnation-reduction method. And they are first used as heterogeneous catalysts for the dehydrogenation reaction of AB at room temperature. The results reveal that the as-prepared Ru₁Co₁@MIL-110 and Ru₁Ni₁@MIL-110 exhibit the highest catalytic activities in different RuCo and RuNi molar ratios, respectively. It is worthy of note that the turnover frequency (TOF) values of Ru₁Co₁@MIL-110 and Ru₁Ni₁@MIL-110 catalysts reached 488.1 and 417.1 mol H₂ min^-1 (mol Ru)^-1 and the activation energies (E_a) are 31.7 and 36.0 kJ/mol, respectively. The superior catalytic performance is attributed to the bimetallic synergistic action between Ru and M, uniform distribution of metal NPs as well as bi-functional effect between RuM alloy NPs and MIL-110. Moreover, these catalysts exhibit favorable stability after 5 consecutive cycles for the hydrolysis of AB.     

Adsorption and dissociation of ammonia on Au(1 1 1) surface: A density functional theory study

Periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations using plane waves had been performed to systematically investigate the stable adsorption amine and its dehydrogenated reaction on Au(1 1 1) surface. The equilibrium configuration including on top, bridge, and hollow (fcc and hcp) sites had been determined by relaxation of the system. The adsorption both NH₃ on top site and NH₂ on bridge site is favorable on Au(1 1 1) surface, while the adsorption of NH on hollow (fcc) site is preferred. The adsorbates are adsorbed on the gold surface with the interaction between p orbital of adsorbate and the d orbital of gold atoms. The interaction between adsorbate and gold slab is more evident on the first layer than on any others. Furthermore, the dissociation reaction of NH₃ on clean gold surface, as well as on the pre-covered oxygen atom and pre-covered hydroxyl group surface had been investigated. The results show that the dehydrogenated reaction energy barrier on the pre-covered oxygen gold surface is lower. The adsorbed O can promote the dehydrogenation of amine. Additionally, OH as the product of the NH₃ dissociation reaction participates in continuous dehydrogenation reaction, and the reaction energy barrier is the lowest (22.77 kJ/mol). The results indicated that OH_ads play a key role in the dehydrogenated reaction on Au(1 1 1) surface.     

NH3在Ni/Pt(111)和Ni/WC(001)表面上分解的第一性原理研究

采用密度泛函理论和slab模型,研究NH₃在Ni单原子层覆盖的Pt（111）和WC（001）表面上的物理与化学行为,计算了Ni单原子覆盖表面的电子结构以及NH₃的吸附与分解.表面覆盖的单原子层中,Ni原子的性质与Ni（111）面上的Ni原子明显不同.与Ni（111）相比,Ni/Pt（111）和Ni/WC（001）表面上Ni原子dz²轨道上的电子更多地转移到了其它位置,该轨道上电荷密度降低有利于NH₃吸附.在Ni/Pt（111）和Ni/WC（001）面上NH₃吸附能均大于Ni（111）,NH₃分子第一个N-H键断裂的活化能则明显比Ni（111）面上低,有利于NH₃的分解,吸附能增大使NH₃在Ni/Pt（111）和Ni/WC（001）面上更倾向于分解,而不是脱附.N₂分子的生成是NH₃分解的速控步骤,该反应能垒较高,说明N₂分子只有在较高温度下才能生成.WC与Pt性质相似,但Ni/Pt（111）和Ni/WC（001）的电子结构还是有差异的,与Ni（111）表面相比,NH₃在Ni/Pt（111）表面上分解速控步骤的能垒降低,而在Ni/WC（001）上却升高.要获得活性好且便宜的催化剂,需要对Ni/WC（001）表面做进一步改进,降低N₂分子生成步骤的活化能.     

Comparison of O–H and C–H activation of methanol on Ni-based cluster: a DFT investigation

Using the density functional theory, the initial dehydrogenation of methanol on Ni_xM_y (M?=?Ni, Co, Fe, Mn, Cr, x?+?y?=?4, y?=?1, 2) clusters is investigated. Two adsorption and dehydrogenation mechanisms of methanol are studied: one proceeds along the C–H scission and another begins with the breaking of the O-H bond. The adsorption sites of methanol on the Ni or M sites of the Ni_xM_y clusters are considered. The adsorption of methanol on Ni₄ cluster is stronger than those on bimetallic clusters, while the initial dehydrogenation barriers on Ni_xM_y clusters are lower than that on Ni₄ cluster. The comparable energy barriers of two pathways (O–H or C–H dissociation) on Ni-based clusters indicate that these two paths are quite competitive. In addition, the Ni₂M₂ clusters show superior activation performance compared with the Ni₃M clusters, especially for Ni₂Mn₂ and Ni₂Cr₂ clusters. The effects of alloyed metal on the catalytic activity of Ni for methanol initial dehydrogenation, including the adsorption energy, O–H or C–H bond scission barrier and frontier molecular orbital levels, are discussed. It can be concluded that the addition of Co, Fe, Mn and Cr to Ni catalyst is able to enhance the activity of the methanol dehydrogenation reaction.     

1,5‐electrocyclization versus 1,5‐proton shift in imidazolium allylides and 2‐phospha‐allylides: a DFT investigation

The competitive 1,5‐electrocyclization versus intramolecular 1,5‐proton shift in imidazolium allylides and imidazolium 2‐phosphaallylides has been investigated theoretically at the DFT (B3LYP/6‐311 + +G**//B3LYP/6‐31G**) level. 1,5‐Electrocyclization follows pericyclic mechanism and its activation barrier is lower than that for the pseudopericyclic mechanism by ～5–6 kcal mol^?1. The activation barriers for 1,5‐electrocyclization of imidazolium 2‐phosphaallylides are found to be smaller than those for their nonphosphorus analogues by ～3–5 kcal mol^?1. There appears to be a good correlation between the activation barrier for intramolecular 1,5‐proton shift and the density of the negative charge at C8, except for the ylides having fluorine substituent at this position ( 7b and 8b ). The presence of fluorine atom reduces the density of the negative charge at C8 (in 7b it becomes positively charged) and thus raises the activation barrier. The ylides 7f and 8f having CF₃ group at C8, in preference to the 1,5‐proton shift, follow an alternative route leading to different carbenes which is accompanied by the loss of HF. The carbenes Pr _{7 , 8b – e} resulting from intramolecular 1,5‐proton shift have a strong tendency to undergo intramolecular S_N2 type reaction, the activation barrier being 7–28 kcal mol^?1. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The adsorption and reaction of ethylene glycol and 1,2-propanediol on Pd(111): A TPD and HREELS study

The reactions of ethylene glycol and 1,2-propanediol have been studied on Pd(111) using temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS). Both molecules initially decompose through O–H activation, forming ethylenedioxy (–OCH₂CH₂O–) and 1,2-propanedioxy (–OCH₂CH(CH₃)O–) surface intermediates. For ethylene glycol, increases in thermal energy lead to dehydrogenation and formation of carbonyl species at both oxygen atoms. The resulting glyoxal (O═CHCH═O) either desorbs molecularly or reacts through one of two competing pathways. The favored pathway proceeds via C–C bond scission, dehydrogenation, and decarbonylation to form carbon monoxide and hydrogen. In a minor pathway, small amounts of glyoxal undergo C–O bond scission and recombination with surface hydrogen to form ethylene and water. The same reaction mechanism occurs for 1,2-propanediol after methyl elimination and formation of glyoxal. However, this is accompanied by a minor pathway involving a methylglyoxal (O=CHC(CH₃)=O) intermediate. The prevalence of the dehydrogenation/decarbonylation pathway in the current work is consistent with the high selectivity for C–C scission in the aqueous phase reforming of polyols on supported Pd catalysts.     

Protonation of captodative trifluoromethylated aminoalkenes and isomerization of their salts. An ab initio study

A study of the regioselectivity of protonation of captodative trifluoromethylated enamines was carried out using MP2/6‐311 + G(d,p) calculations and the natural bond orbital analysis. The central issue of this research concerns the influence of the electron‐withdrawing group, which is not capable of the π,π‐conjugation, on the properties of captodative enamines and their salts. The presence of CF₃ group in such type of enamines levels the energy of their N‐protonated and C‐protonated forms. The transition states were found for both intramolecular and intermolecular processes of the proton transfer. The more possible mechanism of the isomerization of enammonium and iminium cations includes the proton transfer from N‐protonated form to olefinic carbon atom of the starting enamine. The transition state energies, which correspond to intermolecular process, are relatively low (11–13 kcal mol^–1) in contrast to the intramolecular pathway (64–69 kcal mol^–1). Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intermediate product identification for ammonia decomposition at Ni (110)

Ammonia decomposition at Ni(110) has been identified to proceed via NH₃(ad) → NH₂(ad) → NH(ad) → N + H. The decomposition activation of NH is determined to be 47 kcal/mol, suggesting an amazing stability of the NiNH bond. Decomposition of NH₂ occurs up from about 350 K; no kinetic data can be given yet. NH₃ decomposition is found to proceed slower than NH₃ desorption at least below 300 K.     

Photoinduced electron‐transfer reactions of tris(2,2′‐bipyridine)ruthenium(II)‐based carbonic anhydrase inhibitors tethering plural binding sites

Tris(2,2′‐bipyridine)ruthenium(II) complex‐based carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibitors, [Ru(bpy)₂(bpydbs)]²⁺ {bpy = 2,2′‐bipyridine and bpydbs = 2,2′‐bipyridinyl‐4,4′‐dicarboxilic acid bis[(2‐{2‐[2‐(4‐sulfamoylbenzoylamino)ethoxy]ethoxy}ethyl)amide]} and [Ru(bpydbs)₃]²⁺, tethering plural benzenesulfonamide groups have been prepared. The CA catalytic activity was effectively suppressed by these synthetic [Ru(bpy)₂(bpydbs)]²⁺ and [Ru(bpydbs)₃]²⁺ inhibitors, and their dissociation constants at pH = 7.2 and at 25°C were determined to be K_I = 0.93 ± 0.02 μM and K_I = 0.24 ± 0.03 μM, respectively. Next, 2 photoinduced electron‐transfer (ET) systems comprising a Ru²⁺‐CA complex and an electron acceptor, such as chloropentaamminecobalt(III) ([CoCl(NH₃)₅]²⁺) or methylviologen (MV²⁺) were studied. In the presence of CA and a sacrificial electron acceptor, such as pentaamminechlorocobalt(III) complex, the photoexcited triplet state of ³([Ru(II)]²⁺)* was quenched through an intermolecular photoinduced ET mechanism. In case of the [Ru(bpydbs)₃]²⁺‐CA‐MV²⁺ system, the photoexcited triplet state of ³([Ru(bpydbs)₃]²⁺)* was quenched by sacrificial quencher through an intermolecular photoinduced ET mechanism, giving the oxidized [Ru(bpydbs)₃]³⁺. Then the following intramolecular ET from the amino acid residue, Tyr6, near the active site of CA proceeded. We observed a transient absorption around at 410 nm, arising from the formation of a Tyr^?+ in the [Ru(bpydbs)₃]²⁺‐CA‐MV²⁺ system. These artificial Ru(II)‐CA systems may clearly demonstrate both intermolecular and intramolecular photoinduced ET reactions of protein and could be one of the interesting models of the ET proteins. Their photophysical properties and the detailed ET mechanisms are discussed in order to clarify the multistep ET reactions.