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A variety of new dinuclear zinc catalysts was developed and tested for the copolymerization of cyclohexene oxide and carbon dioxide. Electron-withdrawing groups thereby led to unprecedented activities with turnover frequencies up to 155 000 h−1. These are by far the highest polymerization rates ever reported for the copolymerization of cyclohexene oxide and CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anilines are ubiquitous in bio-active compounds and their synthesis can be achieved via metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions involving aryl halides. We describe an unusual, yet simple, Cu II -catalyzed system for the amination of aryl chlorides in pure aqueous ammonia with 2.5 mol % catalyst loading under non-inert conditions. Different from previous systems, the reaction proceeds even without an additional organic solvent. Copper(II) sulfate in combination with 4,7-dimethoxy-1,10-phenanthroline enabled the amination of several aryl chlorides containing electron-neutral, -donating and -withdrawing groups to the corresponding anilines with good to excellent yields. The upscaling potential of the procedure has been shown by the synthesis at 50 mmol scale. The reaction proceeds as one of the rare cases of a Cu II -assisted coupling, in contrast to the typical Cu I -Cu III intermediates postulated for most Ullmann-type coupling reactions. The copper(II) center allows for a nucleophilic substitution pathway, enabled by the deprotonation of coordinated ammonia., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Elemental sulfur, a waste product of the oil refinement process, represents a promising raw material for the synthesis of degradable polymers. We show that simple lithium alkoxides facilitate the polymerisation of elemental sulfur S 8 with industrially relevant propylene oxide (PO) and CS 2 (a base chemical sourced from waste S 8 itself) to give poly(monothiocarbonate-alt-S x ) in which x can be controlled by the amount of supplied sulfur. The in situ generation of thiolate intermediates obtained by a rearrangement, which follows CS 2 and PO incorporation, allows to combine S 8 and epoxides into one polymer sequence that would otherwise not be possible. Mechanistic investigations reveal that alkyl oligosulfide intermediates from S 8 ring opening and sulfur chain length equilibration represent the better nucleophiles for inserting the next PO if compared to the trithiocarbonates obtained from the competing CS 2 addition, which causes the sequence selectivity. The polymers can be crosslinked in situ with multifunctional thiols to yield reprocessable and degradable networks. Our report demonstrates how mechanistic understanding allows to combine intrinsically incompatible building blocks for sulfur waste utilisation., (© 2024 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

In this work, we test a recently developed method to enhance classical auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC) calculations with quantum computers against examples from chemistry and material science, representative of classes of industry-relevant systems. As molecular test cases, we calculate the energy curve of H4 and the relative energies of ozone and singlet molecular oxygen with respect to triplet molecular oxygen, which is industrially relevant in organic oxidation reactions. We find that trial wave functions beyond single Slater determinants improve the performance of AFQMC and allow it to generate energies close to chemical accuracy compared to full configuration interaction or experimental results. In the field of material science, we study the electronic structure properties of cuprates through the quasi-1D Fermi-Hubbard model derived from CuBr2, where we find that trial wave functions with both significantly larger fidelities and lower energies over a mean-field solution do not necessarily lead to AFQMC results closer to the exact ground state energy., (© 2023 Author(s). Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.)

The exploration of a reaction network requires highly automated workflows to avoid error-prone and time-consuming manual steps. In this respect, a major bottleneck is the search for transition-state (TS) structures, which frequently fails and, therefore, makes (manual) revision necessary. In this work, we present a technique for obtaining suitable input structures for automated TS searches based on single-ended reaction path optimization algorithms, which makes subsequent TS searches via this method significantly more robust. First, possible input structures are generated based on the spatial alignment of the reactants. The appropriate orientation of reacting groups is achieved via stepwise rotations along selected torsional degrees of freedom. Second, a ranking of the obtained structures is performed according to selected geometric criteria. The main goals are to properly align the reactive atoms, to avoid hindrance within the reaction channel and to resolve steric clashes between the reactants. The developed procedure has been carefully tested on a variety of examples and provides suitable input structures for TS searches within seconds. The method is in daily use in an industrial setting., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Recent studies of low-valent main group species underscore their resemblance to transition metal complexes with regards to the ability to activate small molecules. Here, we report synthesis and full characterisation of the persistent (hypersilyl)(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)silylene Cp*[(Me3Si)3Si]Si: as well as its unique reactivity. Silylene Cp*[(Me3Si)3Si]Si: activates dihydrogen to give the corresponding dihydrosilane Cp*[(Me3Si)3Si]SiH2 at particularly mild conditions as well as ethylene to afford the three-membered cyclic silirane c-Cp*[(Me3Si)3Si]Si(H2CCH2). The addition of N-heterocyclic carbene NHC (NHC = 1,3,4,5-tetramethyl-imidazol-2-ylidene) to dihydrosilane Cp*[(Me3Si)3Si]SiH2 induces the reductive elimination of Cp*H, which according to DFT calculations is thermodynamically preferred over H2 elimination. With NHC, Cp*[(Me3Si)3Si]Si: forms a typical donor-acceptor complex with concomitant change in hapticity of the Cp* ligand from η2 to η1 (σ). In contrast, the reaction with the N-heterocyclic silylene c-[(CH[double bond, length as m-dash]CH(tBuN)2]Si: leads to an unusual "masked" disilene with the former Cp* ligand bridging the two silicon centres. The heterodimer is stable in the solid state, but dissociates reversibly to the constituting silylene fragments in solution.

CeO 2- x nanorods are functional mimics of natural haloperoxidases. They catalyze the oxidative bromination of phenol red to bromophenol blue and of natural signaling molecules involved in bacterial quorum sensing. Laboratory and field tests with paint formulations containing 2 wt% of CeO 2- x nanorods show a reduction in biofouling comparable to Cu 2 O, the most typical biocidal pigment., (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

A kinetic model for flame inhibition by antimony-halogen compounds in hydrocarbon flames is developed. Thermodynamic data for the relevant species are assembled from the literature, and calculations are performed for a large set of additional species of Sb-Br-C-H-O system. The main Sb- and Br-containing species in the combustion products and reaction zone are determined using flame equilibrium calculations with a set of possible Sb-Br-C-H-O species, and these are used to develop the species and reactions in a detailed kinetic model for antimony flame inhibition. The complete thermodynamic data set and kinetic mechanism are presented. Laminar burning velocity simulations are used to validate the mechanism against available data in the literature, as well as to explore the relative performance of the antimony-halogen compounds. Further analysis of the premixed flame simulations has unraveled the catalytic radical recombination cycle of antimony. It includes (primarily) the species Sb, SbO, SbO 2 , and HOSbO, and the reactions: Sb+O+M=SbO+M; Sb+O 2 +M=SbO 2 +M; SbO+H=Sb+OH; SbO+O=Sb+O 2 ; SbO+OH+M=HOSbO+M; SbO 2 +H 2 O=HOSbO+OH; HOSbO+H=SbO+H 2 O; SbO+O+M=SbO 2 +M. The inhibition cycles of antimony are shown to be more effective than those of bromine, and intermediate between the highly effective agents CF 3 Br and trimethylphosphate. Preliminary examination of a Sb/Br gas-phase system did not show synergism in the gas-phase catalytic cycles (i.e., they acted essentially independently).

In this review, we sketch the materials modeling process in industry. We show that predictive and fast modeling is a prerequisite for successful participation in research and development processes in the chemical industry. Stable and highly automated workflows suitable for handling complex systems are a must. In particular, we review approaches to build and parameterize soft matter systems. By satisfying these prerequisites, efficiency for the development of new materials can be significantly improved, as exemplified here for formulation polymer development. This is in fact in line with recent Materials Genome Initiative efforts sponsored by the US government. Valuable contributions to product development are possible today by combining existing modeling techniques in an intelligent fashion, provided modeling and experiment work hand in hand.

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) is produced by numerous bacteria as carbon and energy reserve storage material. Whereas nature only produces PHB in its strictly isotactic (R) form, homogeneous catalysis, when starting from racemic (rac) β-butyrolactone (BL) as monomer, can in fact produce a wide variety of tacticities. The variation of the metal center and the surrounding ligand structure enable activity as well as tacticity tuning. However, no homogeneous catalyst exists to date that is easy to modify, highly active, and able to produce PHB with high isotacticities from rac-β-BL. Therefore, in this work, the reaction kinetics of various 2-methoxyethylamino-bis(phenolate) lanthanide (Ln=Sm, Tb, Y, Lu) catalysts are examined in detail. The order in monomer and catalyst are determined to elucidate the reaction mechanism and the results are correlated with DFT calculations of the catalytic cycle. Furthermore, the enthalpies and entropies of the rate-determining steps are determined through temperature-dependent in situ IR measurements. Experimental and computational results converge in one specific mechanism for the ring-opening polymerization of BL and even allow us to rationalize the preference for syndiotactic PHB., (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The dinuclear zinc complex reported by us is to date the most active zinc catalyst for the co-polymerization of cyclohexene oxide (CHO) and carbon dioxide. However, co-polymerization experiments with propylene oxide (PO) and CO2 revealed surprisingly low conversions. Within this work, we focused on clarification of this behavior through experimental results and quantum chemical studies. The combination of both results indicated the formation of an energetically highly stable intermediate in the presence of propylene oxide and carbon dioxide. A similar species in the case of cyclohexene oxide/CO2 co-polymerization was not stable enough to deactivate the catalyst due to steric repulsion., (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Many technically relevant chemical processes in the condensed phase involve as elementary reactive steps the formation of ions from neutral species or, as the opposite, recombination of ions. Such reactions that generate or annihilate charge defy the standard gas phase quantum chemical treatment, and also continuum solvation models are only partially able to account for the right amount of stabilization in solution. In this work, for such types of reaction, a solvation treatment involving the COSMO-RS method is assessed, which leads to improved results, i.e., errors of only around 10 kJ/mol for both protic and aprotic solvents. The examples discussed here comprise protolysis reactions and organo halide heterolysis, for both of which a comparison with reliable experimental data is possible. It is observed that for protolysis, the quality of results does not strongly depend on the quantum chemical method used for energy calculation. In contrast, in the case of heterolytic carbon-chlorine bond cleavage, clearly better results are obtained for higher correlated (coupled cluster) methods or the density functional M06-2X, which is well known for its accuracy if applied to organic chemistry. This hints at least that the right answer is obtained for the right reason and not due to a compensation of errors from gas phase thermodynamics with those from the solvation treatment. Problems encountered with certain critical solvents or upon decomposing Gibbs free energies into heats or entropies of reaction are found to relate mostly to the parameterization of the H-bonding term within COSMO-RS., (Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Copolymerization of epoxides and CO(2) with heterogeneous zinc dicarboxylates is prominent since the early days of this area of chemistry. However, in over 30 years of research, the efficiency of this catalyst system could not be improved significantly. Furthermore, a huge activity difference between zinc glutarate and its lower homologue zinc succinate exists, which could not be explained so far. A detailed investigation of the underlying copolymerization mechanisms on heterogeneous catalysts is therefore necessary. Such investigations are so far lacking, which renders logical improvements of the catalysts difficult. We therefore decided to conduct a detailed investigation on the different zinc-dicarboxylic catalysts, their copolymerization efficiency, solid state structure and supplemented the results with theoretical calculations. The results imply that the widely discussed bimetallic mechanism (for homogeneous catalysts) is in place for heterogeneous zinc dicarboxylates as well. Theoretical calculations conducted to identify an "ideal" Zn-Zn distance suggest an optimal separation of Zn atoms in the range of 4.3-5.0 Å. The combined copolymerization experiments and calculated models give a consistent explanation for the difference in activity of the different zinc-dicarboxylate catalysts and give a hint why the activity of the heterogeneous zinc-dicarboxylate system is limited.

The homogeneous dinuclear zinc catalyst going back to the work of Williams et al. is to date the most active catalyst for the copolymerisation of cyclohexene oxide and CO(2) at one atmosphere of carbon dioxide. However, this catalyst shows no copolymer formation in the copolymerisation reaction of propylene oxide and carbon dioxide, instead only cyclic carbonate is found. This behaviour is known for many zinc-based catalysts, although the reasons are still unidentified. Within our studies, we focus on the parameters that are responsible for this typical behaviour. A deactivation of the catalyst due to a reaction with propylene oxide turns out to be negligible. Furthermore, the catalyst still shows poly(cyclohexene carbonate) formation in the presence of cyclic propylene carbonate, but the catalyst activity is dramatically reduced. In terpolymerisation reactions of CO(2) with different ratios of cyclohexene oxide to propylene oxide, no incorporation of propylene oxide can be detected, which can only be explained by a very fast back-biting reaction. Kinetic investigations indicate a complex reaction network, which can be manifested by theoretical investigations. DFT calculations show that the ring strains of both epoxides are comparable and the kinetic barriers for the chain propagation even favour the poly(propylene carbonate) over the poly(cyclohexene carbonate) formation. Therefore, the crucial step in the copolymerisation of propylene oxide and carbon dioxide is the back-biting reaction in the case of the studied zinc catalyst. The depolymerisation is several orders of magnitude faster for poly(propylene carbonate) than for poly(cyclohexene carbonate)., (Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Heterodinuclear silyl complexes of the type [(OC)3(R3Si)[Fe(mu-PPh2)Pt](CO)(PPh3)], which contain a [Fe(mu-P)Pt] triangular core, were previously reported to undergo an unprecedented dyotropic-type rearrangement involving migration of the silyl group from iron to platinum with concomitant 1,2 migration of CO from Pt to Fe. In the resulting complexes of formula [(OC)4[Fe(mu-PPh2)Pt](SiR3)(PPh3)], the Si atom occupies a cis position at the planar Pt center with respect to the phosphido bridge. DFT calculations were employed to elucidate the mechanism of this intramolecular silyl migration reaction. When the Fe-Pt precursor complex is [(OC)3(R3Si)[Fe(mu-PPh2)Pt](PPh3)2], the reaction sequence involves (i) the substitution of PPh3 by CO at Pt, (ii) the concerted migration of CO and SiR3, and (iii) the cis-trans isomerization at Pt. The calculations support the exergonic character of the overall process. An explanation for the experimental observation of only one product isomer being formed is possible via frontier molecular orbital analysis. Consistent with the experimental findings, the transition states of the migration (a species with a triply bridged intermetallic bond) and isomerization steps were found to be energetically within reach at room temperature. Additional support for the suggested mechanism also comes from the fact that relative silyl migration activities could be rationalized by the means of quantum chemistry.

Ruthenium complexes, mer-[RuX(3)(MeCN)(3)] and cis/trans-[RuX(2)(MeCN)(4)] with X=Br, Cl, were investigated as precatalysts in homogeneously catalyzed hydrosilylation of CO(2). The oxidation state of ruthenium and nature of the halide in the precatalysts were found to influence the catalytic activity in the conversion of Me(2)PhSiH to the formoxysilane Me(2)PhSiOCHO, with Ru(III) having chloride ligands being most active. Monitoring the reactions by in-situ IR spectroscopy in MeCN as the solvent indicates an interaction of the precatalyst with the silane prior to activation of CO(2). In the absence of CO(2), hydrosilylation of the MeCN solvent occurs. Catalytic activity in CO(2) hydrosilylation is enhanced by Me(2)PhSiCl, generated during reduction of Ru(III) in mer-[RuX(3)(MeCN)(3)] to Ru(II) or, when added as promoter to Ru(II) precatalysts. The reaction mechanism for the catalytic cycle has been calculated by DFT methods for the reaction of Me(3)SiH. The key steps are: Transfer of the Me(3)Si moiety to a coordinated halide ligand, resulting in an L(n)RuH(XSiMe(3)) intermediate --> CO(2) coordination --> Me(3)Si transfer to CO(2) --> reductive elimination of formoxysilane product. This reaction sequence is more favorable energetically for chloride complexes than for the analogous bromide complexes, which accounts for their differences in catalytic activity. Calculations also explain the rate increase observed experimentally in the presence of Me(2)PhSiCl. A parallel reaction pathway leads to (Me(3)Si)(2)O as a minor byproduct which arises from the condensation of two initially formed Me(3)SiOH molecules.

Kohn-Sham orbital energy patterns were used to rationalize valence electron counts for stable face-capped octahedral clusters [M(6)E(8)L(6)] (E=S, Se, Te, Cl; L=CO, PMe(3), Cl(-)). When L is a pi acceptor such as CO or PMe(3), stable closed-shell clusters are found for 80, 84, and 98 electrons. For L=Cl(-) (i.e. a pi-electron donor), only a count of 84 electrons appears favorable, as is found in [Mo(6)Cl(14)](2-). These counting rules apply to fivefold coordination of M, which becomes unstable if the electron count exceeds 98, for example, for M=Ni. In this case structures with tetrahedrally coordinated M are energetically favored, and this leads to different cluster structures.