Quantum chemical study on enantioselective reduction of keto oxime ether with borane catalyzed by oxazaborolidine. Part 2. Structures of catalyst‐alkoxyborane adduct with a four‐membered ring and succeeding reaction intermediates

Quantum chemical ab initio computations of the structures and properties of oxazaborolidine‐alkoxyborane adduct with a B? N? B? O four‐membered ring and succeeding reaction intermediates are carried out in the current work by means of the Hartree–Fock (HF) and the density functional methods. All the structures are optimized completely at the HF/6‐31G(d) and Becke's three‐parameter exchange functional and the gradient‐corrected functional of Lee, Yang, and Paar (B3LYP)/6‐31G(d) levels. As shown in the obtained results, the oxazaborolidine‐alkoxyborane adduct with a B? N? B? O four‐membered ring may be formed during the reduction of the carbonyl bond of the catalyst‐borane‐keto oxime ether adduct. The breakdown of the B? N? B? O four‐membered ring results in the formation of the adduct with a B? N? B? O? C? C? N seven‐membered ring and an oxime bond. The reduction of the oxime bond leads to the adduct with a chiral oxime carbon. The B(2)? N_{C? N} bond in the B? N? B? O? C? C? N seven‐membered ring of the adduct with a reduced oxime bond is weaker comparatively and thus may be more easily broken down. All the adducts have four stable structures. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 93: 294–306, 2003     

Modulation of Self-Separating Molecular Catalysts for Highly Efficient Biomass Transformations

The energetically viable fabrication of stable and highly efficient solid acid catalysts is one of the key steps in large-scale transformation processes of biomass resources. Herein, the covalent modification of the classical Dawson polyoxometalate (POMs) with sulfonic acids (-SO₃H) is reported by grafting sulfonic acid groups on the POM's surface followed by oxidation of (3-mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane. The acidity of TBA₆-P₂W₁₇-SO₃H (TBA=tetrabutyl ammonium) has been demonstrated by using ³¹P NMR spectroscopy, clearly indicating the presence of strong Brønsted acid sites. The presence of TBA counterions renders the solid acid catalyst as a promising candidate for phase transfer catalytic processes. The TBA₆-P₂W₁₇-SO₃H shows remarkable activity and selectivity, excellent stability, and great substrate compatibility for the esterification of free fatty acids (FFA) with methanol and conversion into biodiesel at 70 °C with >98 % conversion of oleic acid in 20 min. The excellent catalytic performance can be attributed to the formation of a catalytically active emulsion, which results in a uniform catalytic behavior during the reaction, leading to efficient interaction between the substrate and the active sites of the catalyst. Most importantly, the catalyst can be easily recovered and reused without any loss of its catalytic activity owing to its excellent phase transfer properties. This work offers an efficient and cost-effective strategy for large-scale biomass conversion applications.     

Si2分子基态和低激发态的电子结构

本文用abinitioSOCI／MCSCF／／HF／DH＋d方法计算得到了Si2分子的基态和八个激发态的平衡几何构型、总能量、谐振动频率、零点能以及各个态的势能曲线．讨论了各态键长随电子组态的变化关系，指出了成健轨道中。电子数的增加，是引起键长及谐振动频率变化的重要因素·其中3Πg，5∑；3△u，3∑，未见有关文献报导由于硅藻合物的重要应用价值，人们已对其进行了一些实验和理论研究h，’」．以前的研究主要是讨论其成键性质．由于St。分子结构的特殊性，要想全面了解其成键性质，不仅要研究其基态的电子结构，而且还要研究其激发态的电…     

虚轨道定域化

通过引入虚轨道定域化函数，扩展了集居数的定域化方法，在从头算STO－3G水平上用护展后的方法计算无机小分子、烷烃、卤代烷、醇、胺及共轭烃等，结果表明，定域占据轨道与定域虚轨道的系数和能级分布相似的规律。     

New Insight into the Hydrocarbon‐Pool Chemistry of the Methanol‐to‐Olefins Conversion over Zeolite H‐ZSM‐5 from GC‐MS,Solid‐State NMR Spectroscopy,and DFT Calculations

Over zeolite H‐ZSM‐5, the aromatics‐based hydrocarbon‐pool mechanism of methanol‐to‐olefins (MTO) reaction was studied by GC‐MS, solid‐state NMR spectroscopy, and theoretical calculations. Isotopic‐labeling experimental results demonstrated that polymethylbenzenes (MBs) are intimately correlated with the formation of olefin products in the initial stage. More importantly, three types of cyclopentenyl cations (1,3‐dimethylcyclopentenyl, 1,2,3‐trimethylcyclopentenyl, and 1,3,4‐trimethylcyclopentenyl cations) and a pentamethylbenzenium ion were for the first time identified by solid‐state NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations under both co‐feeding ([¹³C₆]benzene and methanol) conditions and typical MTO working (feeding [¹³C]methanol alone) conditions. The comparable reactivity of the MBs (from xylene to tetramethylbenzene) and the carbocations (trimethylcyclopentenyl and pentamethylbenzium ions) in the MTO reaction was revealed by ¹³C‐labeling experiments, evidencing that they work together through a paring mechanism to produce propene. The paring route in a full aromatics‐based catalytic cycle was also supported by theoretical DFT calculations.     

Discovery of singlet diradicals: theoretical study on the cage species C14N12-H6 and its six derivatives

In this work, the geometries, harmonic vibrational frequencies, and high-energy density material (HEDM) properties of a novel species and its six derivatives with the general formula C14N12-R6 (R = H, OH, F, CN, N3, NH2, and NO2) have been investigated at the restricted and unrestricted B3LYP/cc-pVDZ levels of theory. Natural bond orbital (NBO), natural orbital (NO), and atoms in molecules (AIM) analyses are applied to examine their electronic topologies. It is found that for the four species of R = H, CN, N3, and NO2, (1) there exist high LUMO occupation numbers, (2) there is considerable spin density congregated on the two central carbon atoms, (3) there exists through space interaction (or intramolecular interaction, which is one of the stabilizing factors of a diradicaloid) between the two central carbon atoms, (4) the distance (about 3 A) between the two central carbon atoms (as the apexes of two trigonal pyramids with their bases facing each other) is suitable and favorable for diradical formation. All the results support that these four species are diradicals or diradicaloids. Furthermore, the appreciable singlet-triplet energy gaps indicate that these four diradicals tend to have a singlet ground state. There is a moderate HOMO-LUMO gap (on the order of 1.5 to 2.1 eV) for these four species. These four singlet diradicals may be novel organic semiconductor materials or nonlinear optical materials. On the other hand, the remaining three species, with R = OH, F, and NH2, are not diradicaloids.     

Relationship between 1H chemical shifts of deuterated pyridinium ions and Brønsted acid strength of solid acids

Deuterated pyridine (pyridine-d5) is one of the NMR probe molecules widely used for determination of acid strength of solid catalysts. However, the correlation between the 1H chemical shift of adsorbed pyridine-d5 and the Br?nsted acid strength of solid acids has rarely been investigated. Here, an 8T zeolite model with different Si-H bond lengths is used to represent the Br?nsted acid sites with different strengths (from weak, strong, to superacid) and to predict the pyridine adsorption structure as well as the 1H chemical shift. The theoretical calculation suggests that a smaller 1H chemical shift of the pyridinium ions on the solid acids indicates a stronger acid strength. On the basis of the results of theoretical calculations, a linear correlation between the pyridine-d5 1H chemical shift and the proton affinity (PA) of the Br?nsted acid site has been derived. In combination with the available 1H MAS NMR experimental data, we conclude that pyridine-d5 can be used as a scale to characterize the solid acid strength.     

Quantum chemical studies on addition reactions of carbene with carbon monoxide and formaldehyde

MNDO method has been employed to study the reaction paths and to optimize the structures of the reactants, products and transition states of the addition reactions of carbene with carbon monoxide and formaldehyde available. Mechanisms have been obtained.     

Quantum chemical study on the mechanism of enantioselective reduction of prochiral ketones catalyzed by oxazaborolidines

The ab initio molecular orbital study on the mechanism of enantioselective reduction of 3,3-dimethyl butanone-2 with borane catalyzed by chiral oxazaborolidine is performed. As illustrated, this enantioselective reduction is exothermic and goes mainly through the formations of the catalyst-borane adduct, the catalyst-borane-3,3-dimethyl butanone-2 adduct, and the cata-lyst-alkoxyborane adduct with a B-O-B-N 4-member ring and through the decomposition of the catalyst-alkoxyborane adduct with the regeneration of the catalyst. During the hydride transfer in the catalyst-borane-3,3-dimethyl butanone-2 adduct to form the catalyst-alkoxyborane adduct, the hydride transfer and the formation of the B-O-B-N 4-member ring in the catalyst-alkoxyborane adduct happen simultaneously. The controlling step for the reduction is the transfer of hydride from the borane moiety to the carbonyl carbon of 3,3-dimethyl butanone-2. The transition state for the hydride transfer is a twisted chair structure and the reduction leads to     

单线态卡宾衍生物与臭氧反应机理的密度泛函数理论研究

用密度泛函理论中B3LYP方法,在6-31G(d)水平上优化了单线态卡宾衍生物(CX~2,X=F,Cl,Br)与臭氧反应过程中驻点的几何构型,通过振动分析对反应过渡态和中间体构型进行确认,对单点进行了CCSD(T)/6-31G(d)计算,并进行了零点能(ZPE)校正,同时对反应绝对速率常数进行了理论计算,研究结果表明：相对CF~2和CCl~2而言CBr~2对臭氧的损耗较大,卡宾衍生物与臭氧反应过程均为强放热反应。