A study on the stability of O2 on oxometalloporphyrins by the first principles calculations

The authors investigated the interaction of oxometalloporphyrins (MO(por))--specifically, MoO(por), WO(por), TiO(por), VO(por), and CrO(por)--with O(2) by using first principles calculations. MoO(por) and WO(por) undergo reactions with O(2); on the other hand, TiO(por), VO(por), and CrO(por) do not. Next, they compared the interaction of MoO(por) and WO(por) with O(2). Activation barriers for the reactions of MoO(por) and WO(por) with a side-on O(2) are small. For MoO(por)(O(2)), the activation barrier for the reverse reaction that liberates O(2) is also small; however, that for WO(por)(O(2)) is large. The experimental results that photoirradiation with visible light or heating of Mo (VI)O(tmp)(O(2)) regenerates Mo (VI)O(tmp) by liberating O(2) while W (VI)O(tmp)(O(2)) does not [J. Tachibana, T. Imamura, and Y. Sasaki, Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn. 71, 363 (1998)] are explained by the difference in activation barriers of the reverse reactions. This means that bonds formed between the W atom and O(2) are stronger than those between the Mo atom and O(2). The bond strengths can be explained by differences in the energy levels between the highest occupied molecular orbital of MoO(por) and WO(por), which are mainly formed from the a orbitals of the central metal atom and pi(*) orbitals of O(2).