Search

Examines the density functional calculations on high-spin models for NiFe hydrogenase. Contrast between geometries and crystal structures; Use of saturation magnetization experiments; Accommodation of pseudo-tetrahedral cysteine-nickel structures.

Phosphine chalcogenides are useful reagents in chalcogen atom transfer reactions and nanocrystal syntheses. Understanding the strength and electronic structure of these bonds is key to optimizing their use, but a limited number of experimental and computational studies probe these issues. Using density functional theory (DFT), we computationally screen multiple series of trisubstituted phosphine chalcogenide molecules with a variety of phosphorus substituents and examine how these affect the strength of the phosphorus-chalcogen bond. DFT provides valuable data on these compounds including P-E bond dissociation energies, P-E bond order, Löwdin charge on phosphorus and chalcogen atoms, and molecular geometries. Experimentally monitoring the 31P and 77Se NMR chemical shifts and published Hammett constants provides good estimates and confirmation of the relative magnitude of electronic shielding around these nuclei and confirms the predictive value of the computational results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A green and biodegradable carbohydrate-derived alkylamine was designed and employed as ligand for Ullmann type C–N coupling catalyzed by copper in water. The coupling of aryl iodide and N-nucleophiles were examined and moderate to excellent yields were obtained. In addition, the in-water coupling strategy was expanded successfully to the reaction of indoles with 4-iodoanisole. By measuring the solubility, it is speculated that carbohydrate-derived alkylamine plays the role of chelating copper and promoting the dissolution of 4-iodoanisole in water. Remarkably, this methodology was environmentally friendly and economical because of the use of aqueous media in place of organic solvents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our previous work demonstrated that hydroxide ion (OH-) was able to catalyze aldol condensation reaction at room temperature between 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and levulinic acid (LA). This work identified three primary reaction steps in this condensation reaction using density functional theory (DFT): (1) deprotonation of LA to generate LA ions, (2) LA ions addition at hydroxymethyl site of HMF, and (3) internal dehydration to form the condensation product. The reaction pathway through the C5 of LA forms a linear product that is favored with respect to both energy and configuration in all three elementary reaction steps. This is qualitatively consistent with the phenomenon observed in our previous experiment where the linear form is a main product. Further confirmation comes from the frontier orbital analysis of the transition states in the linear reaction route and explains the regioselectivity of product formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A better understanding of the chemistry of molecular precursors is useful in achieving more predictable and reproducible nanocrystal preparations. Recently, an efficient approach was introduced that consists of fine-tuning the chemical reactivity of the synthetic molecular precursors used, while keeping all other reaction conditions constant. Using nickel phosphides as a research platform, we have studied how the chemical structure and reactivity of a family of commercially available organophosphite precursors (P(OR)3, R = alkyl or aryl) alter the preparation of metallic and metal phosphide nanocrystals. Organophosphites are a versatile addition to the pnictide synthetic toolbox, nicely complementing other available precursors such as elemental phosphorus or trioctylphosphine (TOP). Experimental and computational data show that different organophosphite precursors selectively yield Ni, Ni12P5, and Ni2P and that these phases evolve over time through separate mechanistic pathways. Based on our observations, we propose that nickel phosphide formation requires organophosphite coordination to a nickel precursor, followed by intramolecular rearrangement. We also propose that metallic nickel formation involves outer sphere reduction by uncoordinated organophosphite. These two independent pathways are supported by the fact that preformed Ni nanocrystals do not react with some of the most reactive phosphide-forming organophosphites, failing to evolve into nickel phosphide nanocrystals. Overall, the rate at which organophosphites react with nickel(II) chloride or acetate to form nickel phosphides increases in the order P(OMe)3 < P(OEt)3 < P(OnBu)3 < P(OCH2tBu)3 < P(OiPr)3 < P(OPh)3. Some organophosphites, such as P(OMe)3 or P(OiPr)3, transiently form zerovalent, metallic nickel, while this is the only persistent product observed with the bulky organophosphite P(O-2,4-tBu2C6H4)3. We expect that these results will alleviate the need for time-consuming testing and random optimization of several different reaction conditions, thus enabling a faster development of these and similar pnictide nanomaterials for practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of recent experiments suggesting high-spin (HS) Ni(II) species in the catalytic cycle of [NiFe] hydrogenase, a series of models of the Ni(II) forms Ni-SI(I,II), SI-CO and Ni-R(I,II,III) were examined in their high-spin states via density functional calculations. Because of its importance in the catalytic cycle, the Ni–C form was also included in this study. Unlike the Ni(II) forms in previous studies, in which a low-spin (LS) state was assumed and a square–planar structure found, the optimized geometries of these HS Ni(II) forms resemble those observed in the crystal structures: a distorted tetrahedral to distorted pyramidal coordination for the NiS4. This resemblance is particularly significant because the LS state is 20–30 kcal/mol less stable than the HS state for the geometry of the crystal structure. If these Ni(II) forms in the enzyme are not high spin, a large change in geometry at the active site is required during the catalytic cycle. Furthermore, only the HS state for the CO-inhibited form SI-CO has CO stretching frequencies that match the experimental results. As in the previous work, these new results show that the heterolytic cleavage reaction of dihydrogen (where H2 is cleaved with the metal acting as a hydride acceptor and a cysteine as the proton acceptor) has a lower energy barrier and is more exothermic when the active site is oxidized to Ni(III). The enzyme models described here are supported by a calibrated correlation of the calculated and measured CO stretching frequencies of the forms of the enzyme. The correlation coefficient for the final set of models of the forms of [NiFe] hydrogenase is 0.8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]