Selective reagent ionisation‐time of flight‐mass spectrometry: a rapid technology for the novel analysis of blends of new psychoactive substances

In this study we demonstrate the potential of selective reagent ionisation‐time of flight‐mass spectrometry for the rapid and selective identification of a popular new psychoactive substance blend called ‘synthacaine’, a mixture that is supposed to imitate the sensory and intoxicating effects of cocaine. Reactions with H₃O⁺ result in protonated parent molecules which can be tentatively assigned to benzocaine and methiopropamine. However, by comparing the product ion branching ratios obtained at two reduced electric field values (90 and 170 Td) for two reagent ions (H₃O⁺ and NO⁺) to those of the pure chemicals, we show that identification is possible with a much higher level of confidence then when relying solely on the m/z of protonated parent molecules. A rapid and highly selective analytical identification of the constituents of a recreational drug is particularly crucial to medical personnel for the prompt medical treatment of overdoses, toxic effects or allergic reactions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shock Tube Measurements of the Rate Constant of the Reaction NCN + O2

The rate constant of the comparably slow bimolecular NCN radical reaction NCN + O₂ has been measured for the first time under combustion relevant conditions using the shock tube method. The thermal decomposition of cyanogen azide (NCN₃) served as a clean high‐temperature source of NCN radicals. NCN concentration–time profiles have been detected by narrow‐bandwidth laser absorption at cm^?1. The experiments behind incident shock waves have been performed with up to 17% O₂ in the reaction gas mixture. At such high O₂ mole fractions, it was necessary to take O₂ relaxation into account that caused a gradual decrease of the temperature during the experiment. Moreover, following fast decomposition of NCN₃ and collision‐induced intersystem crossing of the initially formed singlet NCN to its triplet ground state, an unexpected and slow additional formation of triplet NCN has been observed on a 100‐μs timescale. This delayed NCN formation was attributed to a fast recombination of ¹NCN with O₂ forming a ³NCNOO adduct acting as a reservoir species for NCN. Rate constant data for the reaction NCN + O₂ have been measured at temperatures between 1674 and 2308 K. They are best represented by the Arrhenius expression . No pressure dependence has been observed at pressures between 216 and 706 mbar.     

Aromaticity in Group 14 homologues of the cyclopropenylium cation

The nature of the bonding and the aromaticity of the heavy Group 14 homologues of cyclopropenylium cations E₃H₃⁺ and E₂H₂E′H⁺ (E, E′=C–Pb) have been investigated systematically at the BP86/TZ2P DFT level by using several methods. Aromatic stabilization energies (ASE) were evaluated from the values obtained from energy decomposition analysis (EDA) of charged acyclic reference molecules. The EDA‐ASE results compare well with the extra cyclic resonance energy (ECRE) values given by the block localized wavefunction (BLW) method. Although all compounds investigated are Hückel 4n+2 π electron species, their ASEs indicate that the inclusion of Group 14 elements heavier than carbon reduces the aromaticity; the parent C₃H₃⁺ ion and Si₂H₂CH⁺ are the most aromatic, and Pb₃H₃⁺ is the least so. The higher energies for the cyclopropenium analogues reported in 1995 employed an isodesmic scheme, and are reinterpreted by using the BLW method. The decrease in the strength of both the π cyclic conjugation and the aromaticity in the order C?Si>Ge>Sn>Pb agrees reasonably well with the trends given by the refined nucleus‐independent chemical shift NICS(0)_πzz index.     

When does carbonylation of carbenes yield ketenes? A theoretical study with implications for synthesis

Quantum-chemical calculations using DFT and ab initio methods have been carried out for 32 carbenes RR'C which comprise different classes of compounds and the associated ketenes RR'C═C═O. The calculated singlet-triplet gaps ΔE(S-T) of the carbenes exhibit a very high correlation with the bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of the ketenes. An energy decomposition analysis of the RR'C-CO bond using the triplet states of the carbene and CO as interacting fragments supports the assignment of ΔE(S-T) as the dominant factor for the BDE but also shows that the specific interactions of the carbene may sometimes compensate for the S/T gap. The trend of the interaction energy ΔE(int) values is mainly determined by the Pauli repulsion between the carbene and CO. The stability of amino-substituted ketenes strongly depends on the destabilizing conjugation between the nitrogen lone-pair orbital and the ketene double bonds. There is a ketene structure of the unsaturated N-heterocyclic carbene parent compound NHC1 with CO as a local energy minimum on the potential-energy surface. However, the compound NHC1-CO is thermodynamically unstable toward dissociation. The saturated homologue NHC2-CO has only a very small bond dissociation energy of D(e) = 3.2 kcal/mol. The [3]ferrocenophane-type compound FeNHC-CO has a BDE of D(e) = 16.0 kcal/mol.     

The rich chemistry of [Zn2Cp*2]: trapping three different types of zinc ligands in the PdZn7 complex [Pd(ZnCp*)4(ZnMe)2{Zn(tmeda)}

The synthesis, structural characterization, and bonding situation analysis of a novel, all-zinc, hepta-coordinated palladium complex [Pd(ZnCp*)(4)(ZnMe)(2){Zn(tmeda)}] (1) is reported. The reaction of the substitution labile d(10) metal starting complex [Pd(CH(3))(2)(tmeda)] (tmeda = N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-ethane-1,2-diamine) with stoichiometric amounts of [Zn(2)Cp*(2)] (Cp* = pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) results in the formation of [Pd(ZnCp*)(4)(ZnMe)(2){Zn(tmeda)}] (1) in 35% yield. Compound 1 has been fully characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, and liquid injection field desorption ionization mass spectrometry. It consists of an unusual [PdZn(7)] metal core and exhibits a terminal {Zn(tmeda)} unit. The bonding situation of 1 with respect to the properties of the three different types of Zn ligands Zn(R,L) (R = CH(3), Cp*; L = tmeda) bonded to the Pd center was studied by density functional theory quantum chemical calculations. The results of energy decomposition and atoms in molecules analysis clearly point out significant differences according to R vs L. While Zn(CH(3)) and ZnCp* can be viewed as 1e donor Zn(I) ligands, {Zn(tmeda)} is best described as a strong 2e Zn(0) donor ligand. Thus, the 18 valence electron complex 1 nicely fits to the family of metal-rich molecules of the general formula [M(ZnR)(a)(GaR)(b)] (a + 2b = n ≥ 8; M = Mo, Ru, Rh; Ni, Pd, Pt; R = Me, Et, Cp*).     

Pyridazine based scorpionate ligand in a copper boratrane compound

Reaction of potassium tris(mercapto-tert-butylpyridazinyl)borate K[Tn(tBu)] with copper(II) chloride in dichloromethane at room temperature led to the diamagnetic copper boratrane compound [Cu{B(Pn(tBu))(3)}Cl] (Pn = pyridazine-3-thionyl) (1) under activation of the B-H bond and formation of a Cu-B dative bond. In contrast to this, stirring of the same ligand with copper(I) chloride in tetrahydrofuran (THF) gave the dimeric compound [Cu{Tn(tBu)}](2) (2) where one copper atom is coordinated by two sulfur atoms and one hydrogen atom of one ligand and one sulfur of the other ligand. Hereby, no activation of the B-H bond occurred but a 3-center-2-electron B-H···Cu bond is formed. The reaction of copper(II) chloride with K[Tn(tBu)] in water gave the same product 2, but a formal reduction of the metal center from Cu(II) to Cu(I) occurred. When adding tricyclohexyl phosphine to the reaction mixture of K[Tn(R)] (R = tBu, Me) and copper(I) chloride in MeOH, the distorted tetrahedral Cu complexes [Cu{Tn(R)}(PCy(3))] (R = tBu 3, Me 4) were formed. Compound 4 is exhibiting an "inverted" κ(3)-H,S,S, coordination mode. The copper boratrane 1 was further investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations for a better understanding of the M→B interaction involving the d(8) electron configuration of Cu.     

Cationic gold carbonyl complex on a phosphine support

A cationic gold carbonyl complex has been synthesized and characterized using several techniques including X-ray crystallography. [(Mes(3)P)Au(CO)][SbF(6)] (Mes = 2,4,6-Me(3)C(6)H(2)) has a linear, two-coordinate gold atom. This compound displays the CO stretching frequency at 2185 cm(-1). The (13)C NMR signal of the gold-bound (13)CO appears as a doublet centered at δ 182.6 ((2)J(C,P) = 115 Hz). A computational study shows that the Au-CO bond consists of electrostatic attraction, Au ← CO donation, and significant Au → CO π-back-bonding components. Polarization of the CO bond caused by the electrostatic effect of the cationic gold center is mainly responsible for the large blue shift in the CO stretching frequency.