Electrophilic fluorination of aromatic compounds with NF type reagents: kinetic isotope effects and mechanism

H/D Isotope effects in fluorination of aromatic compounds with NF type reagents have been studied to reveal the reaction mechanism. The results obtained are consistent with a polar S_EAr mechanism. Small deuterium isotope effects (k_H/k_D = 0.86-0.99) show that decomposition of a Wheland-type intermediate is not rate determining. The first example of a 1,2-hydrogen shift accompanying electrophilic fluorination of arenes has been observed in the fluorination of 1,3,5-trideuterobenzene.     

The mechanism of ethylene polymerization by nickel salicylaldiminato catalysts - Agostic interactions and their kinetic isotope effects

The ethylene polymerization reaction of a neutral nickel catalyst was studied by DFT calculations at the Becke3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. As in related cases a β-agostic bond stabilizes the nickel alkyl ground states. Transition states for the insertion of the olefin show a distinct α-agostic interaction, which has not been observed for late metal polymerization catalysts before. An ethylene-alkyl complex was identified as the resting state of the reaction. The overall barrier height of the reaction amounts to 17.54 kcal/mol, which slightly increases to 17.60 kcal/mol for the polymerization of deuterated ethylene. Therefore, a small positive kinetic isotope effect (k_H/k_D = 1.09) can be calculated, which is caused by the α-agostic interaction in the transition state. A comparison to other late metal based polymerization systems reveals that the ethylene coordination step of highly active catalysts is significantly lower in energy compared to catalysts which are only moderately active.     

Ab initio path‐integral calculations of kinetic and equilibrium isotope effects on base‐catalyzed RNA transphosphorylation models

Detailed understandings of the reaction mechanisms of RNA catalysis in various environments can have profound importance for many applications, ranging from the design of new biotechnologies to the unraveling of the evolutionary origin of life. An integral step in the nucleolytic RNA catalysis is self‐cleavage of RNA strands by 2′‐O‐transphosphorylation. Key to elucidating a reaction mechanism is determining the molecular structure and bonding characteristics of transition state. A direct and powerful probe of transition state is measuring isotope effects on biochemical reactions, particularly if we can reproduce isotope effect values from quantum calculations. This article significantly extends the scope of our previous joint experimental and theoretical work in examining isotope effects on enzymatic and nonenzymatic 2′‐O‐transphosphorylation reaction models that mimic reactions catalyzed by RNA enzymes (ribozymes), and protein enzymes such as ribonuclease A (RNase A). Native reactions are studied, as well as reactions with thio substitutions representing chemical modifications often used in experiments to probe mechanism. Here, we report and compare results from eight levels of electronic‐structure calculations for constructing the potential energy surfaces in kinetic and equilibrium isotope effects (KIE and EIE) computations, including a “gold‐standard” coupled‐cluster level of theory [CCSD(T)]. In addition to the widely used Bigeleisen equation for estimating KIE and EIE values, internuclear anharmonicity and quantum tunneling effects were also computed using our recently developed ab initio path‐integral method, that is, automated integration‐free path‐integral method. The results of this work establish an important set of benchmarks that serve to guide calculations of KIE and EIE for RNA catalysis. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Geometric H/D isotope effects and cooperativity of the hydrogen bonds in porphycene.

We investigate the primary, secondary, and vicinal hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) isotope effects on the geometry of the two intramolecular hydrogen bonds in porphycene. Multidimensional potential energy surfaces describing the anharmonic motion in the vicinity of the trans isomer are calculated for the different symmetric (HH/DD) and asymmetric (HD) isotopomers. From the solution of the nuclear Schr?dinger equation the ground-state wavefunction is obtained, which is further used to determine the quantum corrections to the classical equilibrium geometries of the hydrogen bonds and thus the geometric isotope effects. In particular, it is found that the hydrogen bonds are cooperative, that is, both expand simultaneously even in the case of an asymmetric isotopic substitution. The theoretical predictions compare favorably with NMR chemical-shift data.     

Enantioselective organocatalytic Diels-Alder reactions: a density functional theory and kinetic isotope effects study

The mechanism and enantioselectivity of the organocatalytic Diels-Alder reaction were computationally investigated by density functional theory at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. The uncatalyzed Diels-Alder reaction was also studied to explore the effect of the organocatalyst on this reaction in terms of energetics, selectivity, and mechanism. The catalyzed reaction showed improved endo/exo selectivity, and the free energy of activation was significantly lowered in the presence of the catalyst. Both uncatalyzed and catalyzed reactions exhibited concerted asynchronous reaction mechanism with the degree of asynchronicity being more evident in the presence of the catalyst. The Corey's experimentally derived predictive selection rules for the outcome of the organocatalytic Diels-Alder reaction were also theoretically analyzed, and an excellent agreement was found between experiment and theory.     

Deuterium isotope effects on 15N chemical shifts of double Schiff bases in the solid state and solution

The proton transfer equilibrium in a series of double Schiff base derivatives of trans‐1,2‐diaminocyclohexane in solution and the solid state was studied by means of ¹⁵N NMR spectroscopy and analysis of the deuterium isotope effect on the chemical shifts Δ¹⁵N(D). The presence of a proton transfer equilibrium in the N‐2‐hydroxynaphthylidene moieties of the Schiff bases studied in the solid state at room temperature was evidenced. The results confirmed the interrelation of the two hydrogen bonds in double Schiff base derivatives of trans‐1,2‐diaminocyclohexane. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dual-level direct dynamics calculations of deuterium kinetic isotope effects for the Cl(2P)+C2H6 abstraction reaction

 Kinetic isotope effects, KIEs, for hydrogen abstraction from C₂H₆ and C₂D₆ by chlorine atom have been studied by the dual-level direct dynamics approach. A low-level potential energy surface is obtained with the MNDO-SRP method. High-level structural properties of the reactants, transition state, and products were obtained at the MP2 level with the cc-pVDZ, aug-cc-pVDZ, and the cc-pVTZ basis sets. Using the variational transition state theory with microcanonical optimized multidimensional tunneling, the values of deuterium KIE, at 300 K, range from 2.28 to 3.27, in good agreement with the experimental values (2.69–5.88). Received: 6 June 2001 / Accepted: 12 July 2001 / Published online: 19 November 2001     

Experimental and theoretical multiple kinetic isotope effects for an SN2 reaction. An attempt to determine transition-state structure and the ability of theoretical methods to predict experimental kinetic isotope effects

The secondary alpha-deuterium, the secondary beta-deuterium, the chlorine leaving-group, the nucleophile secondary nitrogen, the nucleophile (12)C/(13)C carbon, and the (11)C/(14)C alpha-carbon kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) and activation parameters have been measured for the S(N)2 reaction between tetrabutylammonium cyanide and ethyl chloride in DMSO at 30 degrees C. Then, thirty-nine readily available different theoretical methods, both including and excluding solvent, were used to calculate the structure of the transition state, the activation energy, and the kinetic isotope effects for the reaction. A comparison of the experimental and theoretical results by using semiempirical, ab initio, and density functional theory methods has shown that the density functional methods are most successful in calculating the experimental isotope effects. With two exceptions, including solvent in the calculation does not improve the fit with the experimental KIEs. Finally, none of the transition states and force constants obtained from the theoretical methods was able to predict all six of the KIEs found by experiment. Moreover, none of the calculated transition structures, which are all early and loose, agree with the late (product-like) transition-state structure suggested by interpreting the experimental KIEs.     

Combined QM/MM and path integral simulations of kinetic isotope effects in the proton transfer reaction between nitroethane and acetate ion in water

An integrated Feynman path integral-free energy perturbation and umbrella sampling (PI-FEP/UM) method has been used to investigate the kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) in the proton transfer reaction between nitroethane and acetate ion in water. In the present study, both nuclear and electronic quantum effects are explicitly treated for the reacting system. The nuclear quantum effects are represented by bisection sampling centroid path integral simulations, while the potential energy surface is described by a combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) potential. The accuracy essential for computing KIEs is achieved by a FEP technique that transforms the mass of a light isotope into a heavy one, which is equivalent to the perturbation of the coordinates for the path integral quasiparticle in the bisection sampling scheme. The PI-FEP/UM method is applied to the proton abstraction of nitroethane by acetate ion in water through molecular dynamics simulations. The rule of the geometric mean and the Swain-Schaad exponents for various isotopic substitutions at the primary and secondary sites have been examined. The computed total deuterium KIEs are in accord with experiments. It is found that the mixed isotopic Swain-Schaad exponents are very close to the semiclassical limits, suggesting that tunneling effects do not significantly affect this property for the reaction between nitroethane and acetate ion in aqueous solution.     

Isotope effects in isotope-exchange reactions: evidence for a large 12C/13C kinetic isotope effect in the gas phase

The O-exchange reaction between CO2+ and CO is triggered by two different entrance channels in 13C-labeled systems. The unimolecular dissociation of the C13CO3(+) reactive intermediate is investigated at varying energies by mass spectrometric techniques. An almost "one-way" O-exchange at energies close to the dissociation threshold discloses a remarkably large intramolecular 12C/13C kinetic isotope effect ranging from 6.0 to 7.3 +/- 0.5.     

Secondary kinetic isotope effects: Deuterium abstraction by chlorine atoms from the CD3 group in CD3CH2Cl,CD3CHDCl,and CD3CD2Cl

The occurrence and magnitude of secondary kinetic isotope effects in the gas phase has been determined for deuterium abstraction from the CD₃ group in CD₃CH₂Cl, CD₃CHDCl, and CD₃CD₂Cl by photochemically generated ground-state chlorine atoms. Over the temperature range 10–94°C a discernible “inverse” kinetic isotope effect is observed. Both the pre-exponential factors and activation energies decrease with deuterium substitution in the vicinal chloromethyl group. The opposing trends result in a net effect close to unity.     

Modeling temperature dependent kinetic isotope effects for hydrogen transfer in a series of soybean lipoxygenase mutants: The effect of anharmonicity upon transfer distance

Soybean lipoxygenase-1 (SLO) catalyzes the oxidation of linoleic acid. The rate-limiting step in this transformation is the net abstraction of the pro-S hydrogen atom from the center of the 1,5-pentadienyl moiety in linoleic acid. The large deuterium kinetic isotope effect (KIE) for this step appears in the first order rate constant ((D)k(cat) = 81 ± 5 at T = 25 °C). Furthermore, the KIE and the rate for protium abstraction are weakly temperature dependent (E(A,D) - E(A,H) = 0.9 ± 0.2 kcal/mol and E(A,H) = 2.1 ± 0.2 kcal/mol, respectively). Mutations at a hydrophobic site about 13 ? from the active site Fe(III), Ile(553), induce a marked temperature dependence that varies roughly in accordance with the degree to which the residue is changed in bulk from the wild type Ile. While the temperature dependence for these mutants varies from the wild type enzyme, the magnitude of the KIE at 25 °C is on the same order of magnitude. A hydrogen tunneling model [Kuznetsov, A.M., Ulstrup, J. Can. J. Chem. 77 (1999) 1085-1096] is utilized to model the KIE temperature profiles for the wild type SLO and each Ile(553) mutant. Hydrogenic wavefunctions are modeled using harmonic oscillators and Morse oscillators in order to explore the effects of anharmonicity upon computed kinetic observables used to characterize this hydrogen transfer.     

Energy‐dependent normal and unusually large inverse chlorine kinetic isotope effects of simple chlorohydrocarbons in collision‐induced dissociation by gas chromatography‐electron ionization‐tandem mass spectrometry

Kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) occurring in mass spectrometry (MS) can provide in‐depth insights into the fragmentation behaviors of compounds of interest in MS. Yet, the fundamentals of KIEs in collision‐induced dissociation (CID) in tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) are unclear, and information about chlorine KIEs (Cl‐KIEs) of organochlorines in MS is particularly scarce. This study investigated the Cl‐KIEs of dichloromethane, trichloroethylene, and tetrachloroethylene during CID using gas chromatography‐electron ionization triple‐quadrupole MS/MS. Cl‐KIEs were evaluated with MS signal intensities. All the organochlorines presented large inverse Cl‐KIEs (<1, the departures of Cl‐KIEs from 1 denote the magnitudes of Cl‐KIEs), showing the largest magnitudes of 0.797, 0.910, and 0.892 at the highest collision energy (60 eV) for dichloromethane, trichloroethylene, and tetrachloroethylene, respectively. For dichloromethane, both intra‐ion and inter‐ion Cl‐KIEs were studied, within the ranges of 0.820–1.020 and 0.797–1.016, respectively, showing both normal and inverse Cl‐KIEs depending on collision energies. The observed Cl‐KIEs generally declined from large normal to extremely large inverse values with increasing collision energies from 0 to 60 eV but were inferred to be independent of MS signal intensities. The Cl‐KIEs are dominated by critical energies at low internal energies of precursor ions, resulting in normal Cl‐KIEs; while at high internal energies, the Cl‐KIEs are controlled by rotational barriers (or looseness/tightness of transition states), which lead to isotope‐competitive reactions in dechlorination and thereby inverse Cl‐KIEs. It is concluded that the Cl‐KIEs may depend on critical energies, bond strengths, available internal energies, and transition state looseness/tightness. The findings of this study yield new insights into the fundamentals of Cl‐KIEs of organochlorines during CID and may be conducive to elucidating the underlying mechanisms of KIEs in collision‐induced and photo‐induced reactions in the actual world.     

Test of variational transition state theory with multidimensional tunneling contributions against experimental kinetic isotope effects for the CHnD4−n + OH→P (n=0, 4) reactions

 Variational transition state theory including tunneling corrections (as implemented in Polyrate 8.7) and using multilevel energy calculations at the MCCM-CCSD(T)-1sc level for the CH₄ + OH reaction and at the MCCM-CCSD(T)-2m level for the CD₄ + OH process, reproduces very well the experimental rate constants. However, no single methodology was found that reproduces equally well the experimental rate constants for both title reactions. Received: 24 March 2002 / Accepted: 11 April 2002 / Published online: 4 July 2002     

NMR studies of double proton transfer in hydrogen bonded cyclic N,N'-diarylformamidine dimers: conformational control, kinetic HH/HD/DD isotope effects and tunneling

Using dynamic NMR spectroscopy, the kinetics of the degenerate double proton transfer in cyclic dimers of polycrystalline (15)N,(15)N'-di-(4-bromophenyl)-formamidine (DBrFA) have been studied including the kinetic HH/HD/DD isotope effects in a wide temperature range. This transfer is controlled by intermolecular interactions, which in turn are controlled by the molecular conformation and hence the molecular structure. At low temperatures, rate constants were determined by line shape analysis of (15)N NMR spectra obtained using cross-polarization (CP) and magic angle spinning (MAS). At higher temperatures, in the microsecond time scale, rate constants and kinetic isotope effects were obtained by a combination of longitudinal (15)N and (2)H relaxation measurements. (15)N CPMAS line shape analysis was also employed to study the non-degenerate double proton transfer of polycrystalline (15)N,(15)N'-diphenyl-formamidine (DPFA). The kinetic results are in excellent agreement with the kinetics of DPFA and (15)N,(15)N'-di-(4-fluorophenyl)-formamidine (DFFA) studied previously for solutions in tetrahydrofuran. Two large HH/HD and HD/DD isotope effects are observed in the whole temperature range which indicates a concerted double proton transfer mechanism in the domain of the reaction energy surface. The Arrhenius curves are non-linear indicating a tunneling mechanism. Arrhenius curve simulations were performed using the Bell-Limbach tunneling model. The role of the phenyl group conformation and hydrogen bond compression on the barrier of the proton transfer is discussed.     

Kinetic isotope effects on the dissolution kinetics of solid salicylic acid in aqueous solution: evidence for solubilisation via a proton dissociation-recombination mechanism

Quantitative Atomic Force Microscopy measurements made on the dissolving surface of solid salicylic acid in H2O and D2O reveal a kinetic isotope effect (kH/kD = 2.3 +/- 0.6) on the dissolution rate consistent with a transition state in which the proton is dissociated from the dissolving molecule.     

Rate constants and kinetic isotope effects for hydrogen/deuterium abstraction by chlorine atoms from the chloromethyl group in CH2ClCH2Cl,CD2ClCD2Cl,CH2ClCHCl2, and CH2ClCDCl2

The abstraction of hydrogen and deuterium from 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1,2-trichloroethane, and two of their deuterated analogs by photochemically generated ground state chlorine atoms has been investigatedin the temperature range 0–95°C using methane as a competitor. Rate constants and their temperature coefficients are reported for the following reactions Over the temperature range of this investigation an Arrhenius law temperature dependence was observed in all cases. Based on the adopted rate coefficient for the chlorination of methane [L.F. Keyser, J. Chem. Phys., 69 , 214 (1978)] which is commensurate with the present temperature range, the following rate constant values (cm³ s^?1) are obtained: The observed pure primary, and mixed primary plus α- and β3-secondary kinetic isotope effects at 298 K are k₃/k₆ = 2.73 ± 0.08, and k₁/k₂ = 4.26 ± 0.12, respectively. Both show a normal temperature dependence decreasing to k₃/k₆ = 2.39 ± 0.06 and k₁/k₂ = 3.56 ± 0.09 at 370 K. Contrary to some simple theoretical expectations, the kinetic isotope effect for H/D abstraction decreases with increasing number of chlorine substituents in the geminal group in a parallel manner to the trend established previously for C1-substitution in the adjacent group. The occurrence of a β-secondary isotope effect, k₄/k₅, is established; this effect suggests a slight inverse temperature dependence.     

Water as a solute in nitromethane: Effect of H2O–D2O isotope substitution on the solution volumetric properties between 278.15 K and 318.15 K

Densities of solutions of H₂O and D₂O in nitromethane, with the solute mole fractions ranging up to 0.03, were measured with an error of 1.5 · 10⁻⁵ cm³ · mol⁻¹ at (278.15, 288.15, 298.15, 308.15, and 318.15) K using a vibrating-tube densimeter. Apparent and partial volumes and isobaric expansibilities (down to the infinite dilution) of water isotopologues were calculated. The temperature-dependent behavior of D₂O–H₂O solute isotope effects on the molar quantities studied were described taking into account the structure- and interaction-related peculiarities of the dissolving medium in question.