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This density functional theory (DFT) study explores the efficacy of cooperative catalytic systems in enabling the ionic hydrogenation of N2 with H2, leading to NH3 formation. A set of N-heterocyclic carbene-based pincer tungsten/molybdenum metal complexes of the form [(PCP)M1(H)2] (M1 = W/Mo) were chosen to bind N2 at the respective metal centres. Simultaneously, cationic rhodium/iridium complexes of type [Cp*M2{2-(2-pyridyl)phenyl}(CH3CN)]+ (Cp* = C5(CH3)5 and M2 = Rh/Ir), are employed as cooperative coordination partners for heterolytic H2 splitting. The stepwise transfer of protons and hydrides to the bound N2 and intermediate NxHy units results in the formation of NH3. Interestingly, the calculated results reveal an encouraging low range of energy spans ranging from ∼30 to 42 kcal mol−1 depending on different combinations of ligands and metal complexes. The optimal combination of pincer ligand and metal center allowed for an energy span of unprecedented 29.7 kcal mol−1 demonstrating significant potential for molecular catalysts for the N2/H2 reaction system. While exploring obvious potential off-cycle reactions leading to catalyst deactivation, the computed results indicate that no increase in energy span would need to be expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential of Pd/Pt complexes for catalytic carboxylation of arenes with CO2 is investigated by means of computational chemistry. Recently we reported that the bis[(2‐methoxyphenyl)phosphino]‐benzenesulfonamido palladium complex 1 inserts CO2 reversibly in its Pd−C(aryl) bond generating carboxylato complex 2. In the present work we study how geometric and electronic factors of various ligands and substrates influence the overall activation barrier (energy span, ES) of a potential catalytic cycle for arene carboxylation comprising this elementary step. The tendency of the key intermediates to dimerize and thus deactivating the potential catalysts is examined as well as the role of the base, which inevitably is needed to stabilize the reaction product. We show that Pd and Pt complexes I(Pd)‐L16‐S1 and I(Pt)‐L16‐S1 do not dimerize, enable the computation of complete catalytic cycles, and show interestingly low ES values of 26.8 and 24.5 kcal/mol, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol was achieved using a catalytic system comprising metal complexes of the form [Mn(CO)2[N(C2H4PR2)] (R=iPr/Ph, [HN(C2H4PPh2)2]=MACHO−Ph) together with Lewis acid additives. Mechanistic studies suggest initial CO2 insertion into a Mn−H bond leads to a formate complex as resting state. By systematically balancing the interaction between the acidic additive and the catalyst, the formate ligand could be removed through esterification to unleash the full catalytic potential. The reaction conditions were optimized on basis of the partial reaction order of relevant compounds. The combination of MACHO−Ph and Ti(OiPr)4 was identified as the most active system with a TON of 160 (p(CO2)=5 bar, p(H2)=160 bar, T=150 °C). Using methanol as solvent and co‐reagent allows the catalytic conversion of CO2/H2 in a liquid phase process comprising only the substrates and products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly selective β‐methylation of alcohols was achieved using an earth‐abundant first row transition metal in the air stable molecular manganese complex [Mn(CO)2Br[HN(C2H4PiPr2)2]] 1 ([HN(C2H4PiPr2)2]=MACHO‐iPr). The reaction requires only low loadings of 1 (0.5 mol %), methanolate as base and MeOH as methylation reagent as well as solvent. Various alcohols were β‐methylated with very good selectivity (>99 %) and excellent yield (up to 94 %). Biomass derived aliphatic alcohols and diols were also selectively methylated on the β‐position, opening a pathway to "biohybrid" molecules constructed entirely from non‐fossil carbon. Mechanistic studies indicate that the reaction proceeds through a borrowing hydrogen pathway involving metal–ligand cooperation at the Mn‐pincer complex. This transformation provides a convenient, economical, and environmentally benign pathway for the selective C−C bond formation with potential applications for the preparation of advanced biofuels, fine chemicals, and biologically active molecules [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective introduction of methyl branches into the carbon chains of alcohols can be achieved with low loadings of ruthenium precatalyst [RuH(CO)(BH4)(HN(C2H4PPh2)2)] (Ru‐MACHO‐BH) using methanol both as methylating reagent and as reaction medium. A wide range of structurally divers alcohols was β‐methylated with excellent selectivity (>99 %) in fair to high yields (up to 94 %) under standard conditions, and turnover numbers up to 18,000 could be established. The overall reaction rate of the complex catalytic network appears to be governed by interconnection of the individual subcycles through availability of the reactive intermediates. The synthetic procedure opens pathways to important structural motifs following the Green Chemistry principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This density functional theory (DFT) study explores the efficacy of cooperative catalytic systems in enabling the ionic hydrogenation of N2 with H2, leading to NH3 formation. A set of N-heterocyclic carbene-based pincer tungsten/molybdenum metal complexes of the form [(PCP)M1(H)2] (M1 = W/Mo) were chosen to bind N2 at the respective metal centres. Simultaneously, cationic rhodium/iridium complexes of type [Cp*M2{2-(2-pyridyl)phenyl}(CH3CN)]+ (Cp* = C5(CH3)5 and M2 = Rh/Ir), are employed as cooperative coordination partners for heterolytic H2 splitting. The stepwise transfer of protons and hydrides to the bound N2 and intermediate NxHy units results in the formation of NH3. Interestingly, the calculated results reveal an encouraging low range of energy spans ranging from ∼30 to 42 kcal mol−1 depending on different combinations of ligands and metal complexes. The optimal combination of pincer ligand and metal center allowed for an energy span of unprecedented 29.7 kcal mol−1 demonstrating significant potential for molecular catalysts for the N2/H2 reaction system. While exploring obvious potential off-cycle reactions leading to catalyst deactivation, the computed results indicate that no increase in energy span would need to be expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bis-imidazolium salt, 1,1-bis(N-methylimidazolium) acetate bromide, is a convenient precursor for the synthesis of zwitterionic iridium(I) [Ir(cod){(MeIm)2CHCOO}] and cationic iridium(III) [IrH(cod){(MeIm)2CHCOO}]+ compounds (MeIm = 3-methylimidazol-2-yliden-1-yl) having a carboxylate-functionalized bis(NHC) ligand. The [Ir(cod){(MeIm)2CHCOO}] compound catalyzes the hydrogenation of CO2 to formate in water using NEt3 as base, reaching turnover numbers of approximately 1500. Reactivity studies have shown that activation of the catalyst precursor involves the reaction with H2 in a multistep process that under catalytic conditions results in the formation of a dihydrido iridium(III) octahedral [IrH2(H2O){(MeIm)2CHCOO}] species stabilized by the κ³-C,C',O coordination of the ligand. DFT studies on the mechanism were carried out to elucidate two possible roles of the base. In the first one, NEt3 neutralizes only the produced formic acid, whereas in the second it assists the proton transfer in heterolytic cleavage of the H2 molecule. Although this base-involved mechanism is more favorable in that it exhibits a lower energy span for the overall reaction, the energy barrier obtained from kinetic experiments suggests that both mechanisms could be operative under the experimental reaction conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While industrial NH3 synthesis based on the Haber-Bosch-process was invented more than a century ago, there is still no molecular catalyst available which reduces N2 in the reaction system N2/H2 to NH3. As the many efforts of experimentally working research groups to develop a molecular catalyst for NH3 synthesis from N2/H2 have led to a variety of stoichiometric reductions it seems justified to undertake the attempt of systematizing the various approaches of how the N2 molecule might be reduced to NH3 with H2 at a transition metal complex. In this contribution therefore a variety of intuition-based concepts are presented with the intention to show how the problem can be approached. While no claim for completeness is made, these concepts intend to generate a working plan for future research. Beyond this, it is suggested that these concepts should be evaluated with regard to experimental feasibility by checking barrier heights of single reaction steps and also by computation of whole catalytic cycles employing density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This serves as a tool which extends the empirically driven search process and expands it by computed insights which can be used to rationalize the various challenges which must be met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]