Hydrogen-atom transfer from transition metal hydroperoxides, hydrogen peroxide, and alkyl hydroperoxides to superoxo and oxo metal complexes

Superoxochromium(III) complexes L(H2O)CrOO2+ (L = (H2O)4 and 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane) oxidize hydroperoxo complexes of rhodium and cobalt in an apparent hydrogen-atom transfer process, i.e., L(H2O)CrOO2+ + L(H2O)RhOOH2+ --> L(H2O)CrOOH2+ + L(H2O)RhOO2+. All of the measured rate constants fall in a narrow range, 17-135 M-1 s-1. These values are about 2.5-3.0 times smaller in D2O, where the hydroperoxo hydrogen is replaced by deuterium, and coordinated molecules of water by D2O. The failure of the back reaction to take place in the available concentration range places the O-H bond dissociation energy in RhOO-H2+ at or=80 kJ/mol) in the driving force for the two types of reactions. A chromyl ion, CrIVaqO2+, oxidizes L(H2O)RhOOH2+ and the cobalt analogs to the corresponding superoxo complexes. The rate constants are approximately 102-fold larger than those for the oxidation by CraqOO2+. The oxidation of tert-BuOOH by CrIVaqO2+ has k = 160 M-1 s-1 and exhibits an isotope effect kBuOOH/kBuOOD = 12. Hydrogen atom transfer from H2O2 to CraqOO2+ is slow, k approximately 10-3 M-1 s-1.