Mechanism of TBD-catalyzed hydrolysis of acetonitrile

1,5,7-Triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene (TBD) has recently been shown to be an effective organocatalyst for the hydrolysis reaction of acetonitrile. This reaction involves the acetamide-forming reaction of acetonitrile hydrolysis and the further hydrolysis of acetamide to form acetic acid and NH₃. Density functional theory (DFT) and Hartree–Fock (HF) methods were employed to comprehensively investigate these two hydrolysis steps to elucidate the TBD-catalyzation mechanism. Structures and energies of the reactants, intermediates, transition states and products along the reaction path were presented. Charge population and bond orders were given by natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis to clarify the computed atomic and molecular behaviors. The results showed that compared with the noncatalyzed reaction, the TBD-catalyzed process had significantly lower energy barriers in both the hydration steps and the isomerization steps. As a result, the whole reaction process could be accelerated and the TBD-catalyzation mechanism was clarified.