Two fluoro compounds of main group elements: Synthesis,characterization, theoretical and spectroscopic study

Two new compounds of fluorine: (C₂H₅)₄N[I₂F] and (C₂H₅)₄N[Br₂F], have been easily synthesized in a nearly quantitative by a direct reaction of (C₂H₅)₄NF, I₂ and Br₂. The products were isolated and characterized by elemental analysis and spectroscopic methods such as: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis). These compounds have been studied computationally with the Scalar ZORA relativistic level of theory using the ADF program package. The molecular parameters, and vibrational spectra were calculated. The excitation energies were found by timedependent perturbation density functional theory (TD-DFT). Molecule optimization, frequencies and excitation energies were calculated with standard Slatertype-orbital (STO) basis sets with triple-zeta quality double plus polarization functions (TZ2P) for all atoms. The FTIR, UV-Vis spectra and assignment of principal transitions and total density of state (TDOS) were extracted using the GaussSum 2.2 program. The comparison between experimental and calculated values showes that the experimental results correlate well with the predicted data.     

Mechanistic Aspects of a Highly Active Dinuclear Zinc Catalyst for the Co‐polymerization of Epoxides and CO2

The dinuclear zinc complex reported by us is to date the most active zinc catalyst for the co‐polymerization of cyclohexene oxide (CHO) and carbon dioxide. However, co‐polymerization experiments with propylene oxide (PO) and CO₂ revealed surprisingly low conversions. Within this work, we focused on clarification of this behavior through experimental results and quantum chemical studies. The combination of both results indicated the formation of an energetically highly stable intermediate in the presence of propylene oxide and carbon dioxide. A similar species in the case of cyclohexene oxide/CO₂ co‐polymerization was not stable enough to deactivate the catalyst due to steric repulsion.