An alternative interpretation of the C-H bond strengths of alkanes

A new model based on 1,3 repulsive steric interactions (geminal repulsion) is proposed for explaining the variation in the C-H bond strengths of the alkanes. The model builds from the assumption that 1,3 repulsive interactions are the major factor in determining the stability of a C-C or C-H bond in an alkane. From this simple premise, the model successfully reproduces the effect of branching on the stability of alkanes, alkyl radicals, and alkenes. The results suggest that geminal repulsion can provide a simple, unified explanation for these fundamental stability trends. Although previous explanations have been widely accepted, it is shown that the theoretical support for them is relatively shallow and that the current hyperconjugative stabilization model is inconsistent with several experimental and computational results concerning alkyl radicals. In contrast, an explanation based on geminal repulsion provides a general conceptual framework for rationalizing each of these stability trends and is based on a physical effect that is known to play a role in the stability of alkanes and related species.     

Comment on “The Interplay between Steric and Electronic Effects in SN2 Reactions”

We respond to a paper by Fernández, Frenking, and Uggerud (FFU: Chem. Eur. J. 2009 , 15, 2166) in which they conclude that not steric hindrance but reduced electrostatic attraction and reduced orbital interactions are responsible for the S_N2 barrier, in particular in the case of more highly substituted substrates, for example, F^? + C(CH₃)₃F. We disagree with this conclusion, which we show is the result of neglecting geometry relaxation processes that are induced by increased Pauli repulsion in the sterically congested S_N2 transition state.     

Calculation of the kinetic energy release of charge separation processes

Kinetic energy release (KER) was studied by experimental methods and semiempirical (MNDO and AM1) molecular orbital calculations in the case of various charge separation processes: loss of a methyl ion from [CH₃? C₄? CH₃]²⁺, [CH₃? C₃? CH₃]²⁺ and [N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine]²⁺. It was found that the KER corresponding to the width of a dish-topped peak at half-height is very close to the mean KER of the process. The calculated potential energy curves of these reactions show significant reverse critical energies, a large part of which was found to be due, in agreement with conventional assumptions, to electric repulsion between the two separating singly charged products. The bond order between the two separating ions is nearly zero in the transition state, so exchange of internal energy between them is unlikely. These explain the good agreement between the (calculated) reverse critical energy and the measured kinetic energy release.     

The methylamine radical cation [CH3NH2]+˙ and its stable isomer the methylenammonium radical cation [CH2NH3]+˙

The potential energy surface for the [CH₅N]^+˙ system has been investigated using ab initio molecular orbital calculations with large, polarization basis sets and incorporating valence-electron correlation. Two [CH₅N]^+˙ isomers can be distinguished: the well known methylamine radical cation, [CH₃NH₂]^+˙, and the less familiar methylenammonium radical cation, [CH₂NH₃]^+˙. The latter is calculated to lie 8 kJ mol^?1 lower in energy. A substantial barrier (176 kJ mol^?1) is predicted for rearrangement of [CH₂NH₃]^+˙ to [CH₃NH₂]^+˙. In addition, a large barrier (202 kJ mol^?1) is found for loss of a hydrogen radical from [CH₂NH₃]^+˙ via direct N—H bond cleavage to give the aminomethyl cation [CH₂NH₂]⁺. These results are consistent with the existence of the methylenammonium ion [CH₂NH₃]^+˙ as a stable observable species. The barrier to loss of a hydrogen radical from [CH₃NH₂]^+˙ is calculated to be 140 kJ mol^?1.     

Self- and cross-termination rate constants for the isopropylol radical and its anion in aqueous solution

Rate constants for the self- and cross-termination of the isopropylol radical [(CH₃)₂?OH] and its anion [(CH₃)₂?O^?] in aqueous solution are determined by kinetic electron spin resonance. Whereas the self-termination of the neutral radical occurs close to the diffusion-controlled limit, the cross- and self-terminations involving the anion are slower and reflect effects of charge repulsion and steric constraints by solvation.     

Kinetic energy release distributions (KERDs) for the dissociation of metastable enol ions

Bimodal kinetic energy release distributions (KERDs) were obtained for the metastable ion reactions: CH₃C(OH) = ^*CH₂?⁺ → CH₃ + ^*CH₃CO⁺ and CH₃CH₂C(OH)=CH₂?⁺ → C₂H₅ + CH₃CO⁺. The bimodality is attributed to incomplete intramolecular energy redistribution in the short-lived intermediate keto ions, CH₃COCH₃?⁺ and CH₃CH₂COCH₃?⁺, respectivley, formed en route to the dissociation products.     

Computational insight into the effect of C(19) substituents on [1,7]-hydrogen shift in previtamin D

 B3LYP calculations in conjunction with natural bond orbital population analysis have been performed for a previtamin D model and corresponding transition structures for the [1,7]-hydrogen migration. In addition the 19,19-difluoro, 19-methoxy and 19-fluoro substituted analogs were investigated. The calculated activation barriers decrease in the following order: CHF₂>CH₃>CH₂OCH₃ (24.8, 23.5 and 20.1 kcal/mol). This is in qualitative agreement with experiments. It has been suggested that a decrease of the barrier by a 19-methoxy substituent and its increase by a 19,19-difluoro substituent are phenomena of different origin. In the case of 19-methoxy substitution, the effect is due to the charge redistribution in the triene system and the decrease of the C(19)–H bond energy. The effect of two fluorine substituents at C-19 on the activation barrier is suggested to originate from the combination and balance of several factors: electrostatic repulsion between the negative fluorine atom and the π-electron cloud over the conjugated system, an increase of the HOMO–LUMO gap, and geminal difluoro substitution affecting C–F and C–C bond energies. Received: 17 May 2002 / Accepted: 11 September 2002 / Published online: 14 February 2003     

Chiral Transformation in Protonated and Deprotonated Adipic Acids through Multistep Internal Proton Transfer

Protonated and deprotonated adipic acids (PAA: HOOC? (CH₂)₄? COOH₂⁺ and DAA: HOOC? (CH₂)₄? COO^?) have a charged hydrogen bond under the influence of steric constraint due to the molecular skeleton of a circular ring. Despite the similarity between PAA and DAA, it is surprising that the lowest energy structure of PAA is predicted to have (H₂O???H???OH₂)⁺ Zundel‐like symmetric hydrogen bonding, whereas that of DAA has H₃O⁺ Eigen‐like asymmetric hydrogen bonding. The energy profiles show that direct proton transfer between mirror image structures is unfavorable. Instead, the chiral transformation is possible by subsequent backbone twistings through stepwise proton transfer along multistep intermediate structures, which are Zundel‐like ions for PAA and Eigen‐like ions for DAA. This type of chiral transformation by multistep intramolecular proton transfers is unprecedented. Several prominent OH???O short hydrogen‐bond stretching peaks are predicted in the range of 1000–1700 cm^?1 in the Car–Parrinello molecular dynamics (CPMD) simulations, which show distinctive signatures different from ordinary hydrogen‐bond peaks. The O? H? O stretching peaks in the range of 1800–2700 cm^?1 become insignificant above around 150 K and are almost washed out at about 300 K.     

The [CH5NO]+ ˙ potential energy surface: Distonic ions,lon-dipole complexes and hydrogen-bridged radical cations

By combining results from a variety of mass spectrometric techniques (metastable ion, collisional activation, collision-induced dissociative ionization, neutralization-reionization spectrometry, ²H, ¹³C and ¹⁸O isotopic labelling and appearance energy measurements) and high-level ab initio molecular orbital calculations, the potential energy surface of the [CH₅NO]^{+ ˙} system has been explored. The calculations show that at least nine stable isomers exist. These include the conventional species [CH₃ONH₂]^{+ ˙} and [HO? CH₂? NH₂]^{+ ˙}, the distonic ions [O? CH₂? NH₃]^{+ ˙}, [O? NH₂? CH₃]^{+ ˙}, [CH₂? O(H)? NH₂]^{+ ˙}, [HO? NH₂? CH₂]^{+ ˙}, and the ion-dipole complex CH₂?NH₂⁺ …? OH˙. Surprisingly the distonic ion [CH₂? O? NH₃]^{+ ˙} was found not to be a stable species but to dissociate spontaneously to CH₂?O + NH₃^{+ ˙}. The most stable isomer is the hydrogen-bridged radical cation [H? C?O …? H …? NH₃]^{+ ˙} which is best viewed as an immonium cation interacting with the formyl dipole. The related species [CH₂?O …? H …? NH₂]^{+ ˙}, in which an ammonium radical cation interacts with the formaldehyde dipole is also a very stable ion. It is generated by loss of CO from ionized methyl carbamate, H₂N? C(?O)? OCH₃ and the proposed mechanism involves a 1,4-H shift followed by intramolecular ‘dictation’ and CO extrusion. The [CH₂?O …? H …? NH₂]^{+ ˙} product ions fragment exothermically, but via a barrier, to NH₄^{+ ˙} HCO^…? and to H₃N? C(H)?O^{+ ˙} H˙. Metastable ions [CH₃ONH₂]^+…? dissociate, via a large barrier, to CH₂?O + NH₃⁺ + and to [CH₂NH₂]⁺ + OH˙ but not to CH₂?O^{+ ˙} + NH₃. The former reaction proceeds via a 1,3-H shift after which dissociation takes place immediately. Loss of OH˙ proceeds formally via a 1,2-CH₃ shift to produce excited [O? NH₂? CH₃]^{+ ˙}, which rearranges to excited [HO? NH₂? CH₂]^{+ ˙} via a 1,3-H shift after which dissociation follows.     

Theoretical study of the gas-phase ethane C–H and C–C bonds activation by bare niobium cation

The potential energy surfaces for the reaction of bare niobium cation with ethane, as a prototype of the C–H and C–C bonds activation in alkanes by transition metal cations, have been investigated employing the Density Functional Theory in its B3LYP formulation. All the minima and key transition states have been examined along both high- and low-spin surfaces. For both the C–H and C–C activation pathways the rate determining step is that corresponding to the insertion of the Nb cation into C–H and C–C bond, respectively. However, along the C–H activation reaction coordinate the barrier that is necessary to overcome is 0.13 eV below the energy of the ground state reactants asymptote, while in the C–C activation branch the corresponding barrier is about 0.58 eV above the energy of reactants in their ground state. The overall calculated reaction exothermicities are comparable. Since the spin of the ground state reactants is different from that of both H–Nb⁺–C₂H₅ and CH₃–Nb⁺–CH₃ insertion intermediates and products, spin multiplicity has to change along the reaction paths. All the obtained results, including Nb⁺–R binding energies for R fragments relevant to the examined PESs, have been compared with existing experimental and theoretical data.     

The anomeric effect: Ab-initio studies on molecules of the type X?CH2?O?CH3

The anomeric effect of the functional groups X = C?N, C?CH, COOH, COO^?, O? CH₃, NH₂, and NH⁺₃ has been studied with ab initio techniques. Geometry effects upon rotation around the central C? O bond in X? CH₂? O? CH₃ have been compared in the various compounds. The energy differences between the conformers with a gauche and trans (X? C? O? C) arrangement were calculated at the 6-31G* level in the fully optimized 4-21G geometries. Energy differences calculated at the 4-21G level appeared not to be reliable, especially for the groups X that contain non-sp³ hybridized atoms. The 6-31G* energy differences indicate a normal anomeric effect for X = COO^?, O? CH₃, and NH₂(g⁺) (ca. 13 kJ/mol) and a small anomeric effect for X = COOH, C?N, and C?CH (ca. 6 kJ/mol). For X = NH₂(t) and NH⁺₃ a reverse anomeric effect occurs. These observations are in line with experimental results and evidence is given for a competition among various stereoelectronic interactions that occur at the same anomeric center. Geometry variations can be understood in terms of simple rules associated with anomeric orbital interactions. Trends followed when the group X is varied cannot be related in a straightforward way to the energy differences between the trans and the gauche forms in these compounds. Only the variation in the gauche torsion angle X? C? O? C follows roughly the same trend.     

Enthalpies Estimation of Formation of Monosubstituted Alkanes by Interaction Potential Index

The interaction potential index IPI(X) of 16 kinds of substituents X (X=OH, SH, NH₂, Br, Cl, I, NO₂, CN, CHO, COOH, CH₃, CH=CH₂, C≡CH, Ph, COCH₃, COOCH₃) were proposed, which are derived from the experimental enthalpies of formation Δ_fH^?(g) values of monosubstituted straight-chain alkanes. Based on the IPI(X) and polarizability effect index, a simple and effective model was constructed to estimate the Δ_fH^?(g) values of monosubstituted alkanes RX (including the branched derivatives). The present model takes into account not only the contributions of the alkyl R and the substituent X, but also the contribution of the interaction between R and X. Its stability and prediction ability was confirmed by the results of leave-one-out method. Compared with previous reported studies, the obtained equation can be used to estimate enthalpies of formation for much more kinds of monosubstituted alkanes with less parameters. Thus, it is recommended for the calculation of the Δ_fH^?(g) for the RX.     

C−X Bond Activation by Palladium: Steric Shielding versus Steric Attraction

The C−X bond activation (X = H, C) of a series of substituted C(n°)−H and C(n°)−C(m°) bonds with C(n°) and C(m°) = H₃C− (methyl, 0°), CH₃H₂C− (primary, 1°), (CH₃)₂HC− (secondary, 2°), (CH₃)₃C− (tertiary, 3°) by palladium were investigated using relativistic dispersion-corrected density functional theory at ZORA-BLYP-D3(BJ)/TZ2P. The effect of the stepwise introduction of substituents was pinpointed at the C−X bond on the bond activation process. The C(n°)−X bonds become substantially weaker going from C(0°)−X, to C(1°)−X, to C(2°)−X, to C(3°)−X because of the increasing steric repulsion between the C(n°)- and X-group. Interestingly, this often does not lead to a lower barrier for the C(n°)−X bond activation. The C−H activation barrier, for example, decreases from C(0°)−X, to C(1°)−X, to C(2°)−X and then increases again for the very crowded C(3°)−X bond. For the more congested C−C bond, in contrast, the activation barrier always increases as the degree of substitution is increased. Our activation strain and matching energy decomposition analyses reveal that these differences in C−H and C−C bond activation can be traced back to the opposing interplay between steric repulsion across the C−X bond versus that between the catalyst and substrate.     

The ions [CH3S]+, [C2H5S]+ and [CH3O]+ formed by electron-impact

The mass spectra of deuterated species shows that both the isomeric ions [CH₂?SH]⁺ and [CH₃? S]⁺ are formed in the ratio 2:1 from CH₃SH; the ions [CH₃CH?SH]⁺ and [CH₃CH₂S]⁺ in the ratio 0·8:1 from CH₃CH₂SH; and [CH₂?OH]⁺ and [CH₃? O]⁺ in the ratio 6·7:1 from methanol. The heats of formation of [CH₃S]⁺ and [C₂H₅S]⁺ are of the order of 222 and 203 Kcal.mole^?1 respectively. The isomeric ions cannot be distinguished on thermodynamic grounds.     

Structures and stabilities of [C3H3O]+ ions in the gas phase: A molecular orbital study

The relative energies of 11 [C₃H₃O]⁺ ions are calculated by different molecular orbital methods (MINDO/3, MNDO, ab initio with 3-21G and 4-31G* basis set and configuration interaction). The four most stable structures are: a ([CH₂?CH? CO]⁺), b c ([CH?C? CHOH]⁺) and d ([CH₂?C?COH]⁺); their relative energies at the CI/4-31G*//3-21G level are 0, 117, 171 and 218 kJ mol^?1, respectively. The isomerizations c→[CH?CH? CHO]⁺→[CH₂?C? CHO]⁺→ a and dissociations into [C₂H₃]⁺+CO and [HCO]⁺+C₂H₂ are explored. The calculated potential energy profile reveals that the energy-determining step is the 1,3-H migration c→[CH?CH? CHO]⁺. This explains the value of unity of the branching ratio and the spread of kinetic energy released for the two dissociation channels.     

Ab Initio and MNDO Calculations Comparison with the VSEPR Model

Ab initio and MNDO calculations of VSEPR model were carried out on CH₂, CH₂⁺, CH₂^?, SiH₂, SiH₂⁺ and SiH₂^?. Comparisons between the second row carbon and its third row silicon analogue as unshared electron pair contributors are considered. The repulsion effects as well as the volume requirement of the unshared electron pair on several structural and energetic properties arc investigated.     

The distonic ion ˙CH2CH2CO+ and its formation from ionized cyclopentanone

Collisional activation decomposition (CAD) spectra are interpreted as indicating that formation of ˙CH₂CH₂CO⁺ (1) from ionized cyclopentanone, succinic anhydride arid butyrolactone is important at 70 eV electron energy. However, photoionization appearance energy measurements and CAD spectra demonstrate that CH₃CH?C?O^+· (3) is formed from ionized cyclopentanone near threshold. Ab initio molecular orbital calculations place ΔH _f (1) about 36 kJ mol^?1 above ΔH _f (3).     

Theory-enforced Re-investigation of the Origin of the Large Metal–Carbon Bond Strength in PdCH2I+ and its reactions with unsaturated hydrocarbons

State-of-the-art ab initio studies demonstrate that the reaction Pd⁺ + CH₃I → PdCH₂I⁺ + H^. is endothermic by ca. 20 kcal/mol, which translates into a bond dissociation energy (BDE) of ca. 83 kcal/mol for the Pd⁺? CH₂I bond. This figure is in agreement with an experimental bracket of 68 kcal/mol < BDE(Pd⁺? CH₂I) < 92 kcal/mol. Based on these findings, the previously studied Pd⁺/CH₃I system was re-investigated, and double-resonance experiments demonstrate that the formation of PdCH₂I⁺ occurs stepwise via PdCH as a reactive intermediate. Further, ion/molecule reactions of PdCH₂I⁺ with unsaturated hydrocarbons are studied, which reveal the formation of carbon–carbon bonds in the gas phase.