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Isocyanates are highly relevant industrial intermediates for polyurethane production. In this work, we used quantum chemistry and transition state theory (TST) to investigate the gas-phase reaction of isocyanates with the OH radical, which is likely one of the most significant chemical sinks for these compounds in the troposphere.

A major part of chemical conversions is carried out in the fluid phase, where an accurate modeling of the involved reactions requires to also take into account solvation effects. Implicit solvation models often cover these effects with sufficient accuracy but can fail drastically when specific solvent–solute interactions are important. In those cases, microsolvation, i.e., the explicit inclusion of one or more solvent molecules, is a commonly used strategy. Nevertheless, microsolvation also introduces new challenges—a consistent workflow as well as strategies how to systematically improve prediction performance are not evident. For the COSMO and COSMO-RS solvation models, this work proposes a simple protocol to decide if microsolvation is needed and how the corresponding molecular model has to look like. To demonstrate the improved accuracy of the approach, specific application examples are presented and discussed, i.e., the computation of aqueous pKa values and a mechanistic study of the methanol mediated Morita–Baylis–Hillman reaction.

The acetate-initiated aliphatic isocyanate trimerization to isocyanurate was investigated by state-of-the-art analytical and computational methods. Although the common cyclotrimerization mechanism assumes the consecutive addition of three equivalents of isocyanate to acetate prior to product formation, we found that the underlying mechanism is more complex. In this work, we demonstrate that the product, in fact, is formed via the connection of two unexpected catalytic cycles, with acetate being only the precatalyst. The initial discovery of a precatalyst activation by quantum chemical computations and the resulting first catalysis cycle were corroborated by mass spectrometric and NMR experiments, thereby additionally revealing a catalyst migration to the second catalytic cycle. These results were further confirmed by computations, completing the full mechanistic understanding of this catalytic system. Identification of a side product with undesired properties for final coating applications allows for process optimization in the chemical industry.

Coordination polymers (CPs) with bismuth(III) as a connectivity centre have been prepared from BiX3 (X = Cl–I) and 4,4′-bipyridine (bipy) in order to implement Bi-based luminescence. The products were obtained via different synthetic routes such as solution chemistry, melt syntheses or mechanochemical reactions. Five neutral and anionic 1D-CPs are presented that show a chemical parallel to trivalent lanthanides forming isostructural or closely related 1D-CPs, of which five additional compounds are described. Bi3+ proves to be a versatile cation for luminescence resulting from energy transfer processes between a metal and a ligand in the presented CPs. Quantum chemical calculations were carried out to investigate Bi3+-participation in the luminescence processes. The calculated results allow an assignment of the bright transitions composed of mainly metal-to-ligand-charge transfer (MLCT) character. These results show that Bi3+ can form strongly luminescent coordination compounds with N-donor ligands.

A supramolecular arrangement comprising a bridged triarylphoshine oxide and an aryl iodide is reported, featuring the shortest ever reported P=O⋅⋅⋅I halogen bond of 2.683(5) Å in the solid state. X-ray crystallographic analysis together with modern quantum chemical methods were enlisted to dissect the individual contributions that compelled this exceptionally short halogen bond, pointing out the decisive role of crystal packing effects.

We investigate all 1812 isomers of the fullerene C60 consistently with high-accuracy quantum chemistry methods. The isomers are optimized at the PBE-D3/def2-TZVP level of theory and their relative energies are obtained at the affordable and accurate hybrid-DFT level PW6B95-D3ATM/def2-QZVP. For the first time reliable values for the relative energy distribution among the 1812 isomers (maximum value of 549.1 kcal mol−1, average value of 189.8 ± 46.8 kcal mol−1, 1267 isomers in an energy window of 150–250 kcal mol−1) are given. The quality of the DFT energies is verified by comparison with highly accurate DLPNO-CCSD(T)/CBS* results for ten selected C60 isomers, and the DFT results are further used to benchmark several semiempirical methods. Our findings yield methodological insight into future multi-level modelling of larger carbon nano-structures. We correlate the best relative energies of the isomers to a number of topological indices, electronic properties, and geometrical measures in order to rationalize the isomeric stability aside from the common isolated pentagon rule minimizing the number of pentagon fusions. The information from the best qualitative measures can be condensed to the statement, that a small pentagon signature P1, a large volume, and a more spherical cage lead to a relatively stable isomer. In addition, the best semiempirical method was applied to all 31 924 isomers of C80.

Die einfache Erzeugung von Titanocen(III)-Hydriden ermoglicht Epoxid-Hydrosilylierungen mit geringen Katalysatormengen, hohen Ausbeuten und Selektivitaten in der Radikalreduktion. Die Untersuchung des Mechanismus mittels kinetischer, EPR-spektroskopischer und theoretischer Methoden legt einen ungewohnlichen Ruhezustand des Katalysators nahe, der zu einer inversen Reaktionsordnung im Epoxid fuhrt.

Coordination polymers (CPs) with bismuth(iii) as a connectivity centre have been prepared from BiX3 (X = Cl-I) and 4,4'-bipyridine (bipy) in order to implement Bi-based luminescence. The products were obtained via different synthetic routes such as solution chemistry, melt syntheses or mechanochemical reactions. Five neutral and anionic 1D-CPs are presented that show a chemical parallel to trivalent lanthanides forming isostructural or closely related 1D-CPs, of which five additional compounds are described. Bi3+ proves to be a versatile cation for luminescence resulting from energy transfer processes between a metal and a ligand in the presented CPs. Quantum chemical calculations were carried out to investigate Bi3+-participation in the luminescence processes. The calculated results allow an assignment of the bright transitions composed of mainly metal-to-ligand-charge transfer (MLCT) character. These results show that Bi3+ can form strongly luminescent coordination compounds with N-donor ligands.

The host-guest complexation of hydrocarbons (22 guest molecules) with cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) was investigated in aqueous solution. Association constants were determined by using the indicator displacement strategy, which allows binding constant determinations also for poorly water-soluble (hydrophobic) guests. The binding constants (103–109 M−1) increased with the size of the hydrocarbon, pointing to the hydrophobic effect and dispersion interactions as driving forces. Besides potential applications for the sensing and separation of hydrocarbons, the measured affinities provide unique benchmark data for the binding of neutral guest molecules. Consequently, a computational blind challenge, the HYDROPHOBE challenge, was conducted in order to allow a comparison with state-of-the-art computational methods for predicting host-guest affinity constants. In total, 5 computational data sets were submitted, which allowed the comparison of experimental binding constants with those predicted by coupled-cluster theory (DLPNO-CCSD(T)), dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT), and explicit solvent molecular dynamics (MD) simulations parameterized with two different force field combinations from the AMBER simulation package. All submissions were capable of predicting the general binding trend, with a slightly better correlation for the MD compared to the quantum-chemical (QM) data sets (R2MD = 0.80 vs R2QM = 0.66, average values for the submitted data sets). On the other hand, QM calculations showed better predictions for the absolute values of the binding affinities as reflected by the mean signed errors (4.3 kcal mol−1 for MD vs 1.8 kcal mol−1 for QM). When searching for sources of uncertainty in predicting the host-guest affinities, the experimentally known hydration energies of the investigated hydrocarbons could be employed, which provided a distinct advantage of the HYDROPHOBE challenge. The comparison with the employed solvation models (explicit solvent for MD and COSMO-RS for QM) confirmed a good correlation for both methods, but revealed a rather constant offset of the COSMO data, by ca. +2 kcal mol−1, which was traced back to a required reference-state correction in the QM submissions (2.38 kcal mol−1). Introduction of the reference-state correction improved the predictive power of the QM methods, particularly for small hydrocarbons up to C5. The correlations of both QM and MD submissions also exposed specific outliers, which could be due to peculiarities of the investigated guests, for example, different degrees of conformational changes upon complexation, such as helical structures of the longer n-alkyl chains within the cavity. The latter was confirmed by 2D NMR experiments and both the MD as well as QM calculations.

We investigate all 1812 isomers of the fullerene C

The most stable fullerene structures from C20 to C60 are chosen to study the energetics and geometrical consequences of encapsulating the rare gas elements He, Ne, or Ar inside the fullerene cage using dispersion corrected density functional theory. An exponential increase in stability is found with increasing number of carbon atoms. A similar exponential law is found for the volume expansion of the cage due to rare gas encapsulation with decreasing number of carbon atoms. We show that dispersion interactions become important with increasing size of the fullerene cage, where Van der Waals forces between the rare gas atom and the fullerene cage start to dominate over repulsive interactions. The smallest fullerenes where encapsulation of a rare gas element is energetically still favorable are He@C48, Ne@C52, and Ar@C58. While dispersion interactions follow the trend Ar > Ne > He inside C60 due to the trend in the rare gas dipole polarizabilities, repulsive forces become soon dominant with smaller cage size and we have a complete reversal for the energetics of rare gas encapsulation at C50.

Despite the fact that functionalized planar chiral [2.2]paracyclophanes have received a lot of attention, the chemistry of pseudo-meta 4,15-distubstituted [2.2]paracyclophanes is largely unexplored. This is mainly due to the fact that the 4,5-dibromo-functionalized [2.2]paracyclophane is much less prone to halogen-metal exchange reactions than its constitutional pseudo-ortho or pseudo-para isomers. Here, we give an account of an efficient protocol to achieve this, which allows the synthesis of a broad variety of 4,15-disubstituted [2.2]paracyclophanes. Furthermore, we were able to resolve several of the racemic compounds via chiral HPLC and assign the absolute configurations of the isolated enantiomers by X-ray diffraction and/or by the comparison of calculated and measured CD-spectra.

Association free energies ΔGa are calculated for two different types of host-guest systems, the rigid cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) and the basket shaped octa-acid (OA), and a number of charged guest molecules each by quantum chemical methods from first principles in the context of a recent blind test challenge (SAMPL4). For CB7, the overall agreement between theory and experiment is excellent. In comparison with all other submitted calculated relative ΔGa,rel values for this part of the blind test, our results ranked on top. Modeling the binding free energy in the case of the OA host mainly suffers from the problem that the binding situation is undefined with respect to the charge state and due to its intrinsic flexibility the host-guest complex is not represented well by a single configuration, but qualitative features of the binding process such as the proper binding orientation and the order of magnitude of ΔGa are represented in accord with the experimental expectations even though an accurate ranking is not possible.

The electrochemical properties of titanocene(III) complexes and their stability in THF in the presence and absence of chloride additives were studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and computational methods. The anodic peak potentials of the titanocenes can be decreased by as much as 0.47 V through the addition of an electron-withdrawing substituent (CO2Me or CN) to the cyclopentadienyl ring when compared with Cp2TiCl. For the first time, it is demonstrated that under the conditions of catalytic applications low-valent titanocenes can decompose by loss of the substituted ligand. The recently discovered effect of stabilizing titanocene(III) catalysts by chloride additives was analyzed by CV, kinetic, and computational studies. An unprecedented supramolecular interaction between [(C5H4R)(2)TiCl2](-) and hydrochloride cations through reversible hydrogen bonding is proposed as a mechanism for the action of the additives. This study provides the critical information required for the rational design of titanocene-catalyzed reactions in single electron steps.

The ground electronic state of C(BH)2 exhibits both a linear minimum and a peculiar angle-deformation isomer with a central B-C-B angle near 90°. Definitive computations on these species and the intervening transition state have been executed by means of coupled-cluster theory including single and double excitations (CCSD), perturbative triples (CCSD(T)), and full triples with perturbative quadruples (CCSDT(Q)), in concert with series of correlation-consistent basis sets (cc-pVXZ, X=D, T, Q, 5, 6; cc-pCVXZ, X=T, Q). Final energies were pinpointed by focal-point analyses (FPA) targeting the complete basis-set limit of CCSDT(Q) theory with auxiliary core correlation, relativistic, and non-Born-Oppenheimer corrections. Isomerization of the linear species to the bent form has a minuscule FPA reaction energy of 0.02 kcal mol(-1) and a corresponding barrier of only 1.89 kcal mol(-1). Quantum tunneling computations reveal interconversion of the two isomers on a timescale much less than 1 s even at 0 K. Highly accurate CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ and composite c~CCSDT(Q)/cc-pCVQZ anharmonic vibrational frequencies confirm matrix-isolation infrared bands previously assigned to linear C(BH)2 and provide excellent predictions for the heretofore unobserved bent isomer. Chemical bonding in the C(BH)2 species was exhaustively investigated by the atoms-in-molecules (AIM) approach, molecular orbital plots, various population analyses, local mode vibrations and force constants, unified reaction valley analysis (URVA), and other methods. Linear C(BH)2 is a cumulene, whereas bent C(BH)2 is best characterized as a carbene with little carbone character. Weak B-B attraction is clearly present in the unusual bent isomer, but its strength is insufficient to form a CB2 ring with a genuine boron-boron bond and attendant AIM bond path.

Recently, Diederich et al. synthesized the first supramolecular capsule with a well-defined four-point halogen bonding interaction [Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2015, 54, 12339]. This interesting system comprising about 400 atoms represents a challenging test case for accurate quantum chemical methods. We investigate it with our new density functional based composite method for structures and noncovalent interactions (PBEh-3c) as well as our standard protocol for supramolecular thermochemistry and give predictions for chemical modifications to improve the binding strength.

In quantum chemical computations the combination of Hartree–Fock or a density functional theory (DFT) approximation with relatively small atomic orbital basis sets of double-zeta quality is still widely used, for example, in the popular B3LYP/6-31G* approach. In this Review, we critically analyze the two main sources of error in such computations, that is, the basis set superposition error on the one hand and the missing London dispersion interactions on the other. We review various strategies to correct those errors and present exemplary calculations on mainly noncovalently bound systems of widely varying size. Energies and geometries of small dimers, large supramolecular complexes, and molecular crystals are covered. We conclude that it is not justified to rely on fortunate error compensation, as the main inconsistencies can be cured by modern correction schemes which clearly outperform the plain mean-field methods.

A catalytic system for titanocene-catalyzed epoxide hydrosilylation is described. It features a straightforward preparation of titanocene hydrides that leads to a reaction with low catalyst loading, high yields, and high selectivity of radical reduction. The mechanism was studied by a suite of methods, including kinetic studies, EPR spectroscopy, and computational methods. An unusual resting state leads to the observation of an inverse rate order with respect to the epoxide.

Quantum chemical calculations using DFT (BP86, M05-2X) and ab initio methods (CCSD(T), SCS-MP2) have been carried out on the borylene complexes (BH)L(2) and nitrogen cation complexes (N(+))L(2) with the ligands L=CO, N(2), PPh(3), NHC(Me), CAAC, and CAAC(model). The results are compared with those obtained for the isoelectronic carbones CL(2). The geometries and bond dissociation energies of the ligands, the proton affinities, and adducts with the Lewis acids BH(3) and AuCl were calculated. The nature of the bonding has been analyzed with charge and energy partitioning methods. The calculated borylene complexes (BH)L(2) have trigonal planar coordinated boron atoms which possess rather short B-L bonds. The calculated bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of the ligands for complexes where L is a carbene (NHC or CAAC) are very large (D(e) =141.6-177.3 kcal mol(-1)) which suggest that such species might become isolated in a condensed phase. The borylene complexes (BH)(PPh(3))(2) and (BH)(CO)(2) have intermediate bond strengths (D(e) =90.1 and 92.6 kcal mol(-1)). Substituted homologues with bulky groups at boron which protect the boron atom from electrophilic attack might also be stable enough to become isolated. The BDE of (BH)(N(2))(2) is much smaller (D(e) =31.9 kcal mol(-1)), but could become observable in a low-temperature matrix. The proton affinities of the borylene complexes are very large, particularly for the bulky adducts with L=PPh(3), NHC(Me), CAAC(model) and CAAC and thus, they are superbases. All (BH)L(2) molecules bind strongly AuCl either η(1) (L=N(2), PPh(3), NHC(Me), CAAC) or η(2) (L=CO, CAAC(model)). The BDEs of H(3)B-(BH)L(2) adducts which possess a hitherto unknown boron→boron donor-acceptor bond are smaller than for the AuCl complexes. The strongest bonded BH(3) adduct that might be isolable is (BH)(PPh(3))(2)-BH(3) (D(e) =36.2 kcal mol(-1)). The analysis of the bonding situation reveals that (BH)-L(2) bonding comes mainly from the orbital interactions which has three major contributions, that is, the donation from the symmetric (σ) and antisymmetric (π(||)) combination of the ligand lone-pair orbitals into the vacant MOs of BH L→(BH)←L and the L←(BH)→L π backdonation from the boron lone-pair orbital. The nitrogen cation complexes (N(+))L(2) have strongly bent L-N-L geometries, in which the calculated bending angle varies between 113.9° (L=N(2)) and 146.9° (L=CAAC). The BDEs for (N(+))L(2) are much larger than those of the borylene complexes. The carbene ligands NHC and CAAC but also the phosphane ligands PPh(3) bind very strongly between D(e) =358.4 kcal mol(-1) (L=PPh(3)) and D(e) =412.5 kcal mol(-1) (L=CAAC(model)). The proton affinities (PA) of (N(+))L(2) are much smaller and they bind AuCl and BH(3) less strongly compared with (BH)L(2). However, the PAs (N(+))L(2) for complexes with bulky ligands L are still between 139.9 kcal mol(-1) (L=CAAC(model)) and 168.5 kcal mol(-1) (L=CAAC). The analysis of the (N(+))-L(2) bonding situation reveals that the binding interactions come mainly from the L→(N(+))←L donation while L←(N(+) )→L π backdonation is rather weak.

The S12L test set for supramolecular Gibbs free energies of association ΔGa (Grimme, S. Chem. Eur. J. 2012, 18, 9955-9964) is extended to 30 complexes (S30L), featuring more diverse interaction motifs, anions, and higher charges (-1 up to +4) as well as larger systems with up to 200 atoms. Various typical noncovalent interactions like hydrogen and halogen bonding, π-π stacking, nonpolar dispersion, and CH-π and cation-dipolar interactions are represented by "real" complexes. The experimental Gibbs free energies of association (ΔGa exp) cover a wide range from -0.7 to -24.7 kcal mol-1. In order to obtain a theoretical best estimate for ΔGa, we test various dispersion corrected density functionals in combination with quadruple-ζ basis sets for calculating the association energies in the gas phase. Further, modern semiempirical methods are employed to obtain the thermostatistical corrections from energy to Gibbs free energy, and the COSMO-RS model with several parametrizations as well as the SMD model are used to include solvation contributions. We investigate the effect of including counterions for the charged systems (S30L-CI), which is found to overall improve the results. Our best method combination consists of PW6B95-D3 (for neutral and charged systems) or ωB97X-D3 (for systems with counterions) energies, HF-3c thermostatistical corrections, and Gibbs free energies of solvation obtained with the COSMO-RS 2012 parameters for nonpolar solvents and 2013-fine for water. This combination gives a mean absolute deviation for ΔGa of only 2.4 kcal mol-1 (S30L) and 2.1 kcal mol-1 (S30L-CI), with a mean deviation of almost zero compared to experiment. Regarding the relative Gibbs free energies of association for the 13 pairs of complexes which share the same host, the correct trend in binding affinities could be reproduced except for two cases. The MAD compared to experiment amounts to 1.2 kcal mol-1, and the MD is almost zero. The best-estimate theoretical corrections are used to back-correct the experimental ΔGa values in order to get an empirical estimate for the "experimental", zero-point vibrational energy exclusive, gas phase binding energies. These are then utilized to benchmark the performance of various "lowcost" quantum chemical methods for noncovalent interactions in large systems. The performance of other common DFT methods as well as the use of semiempirical methods for structure optimizations is discussed.

In quantum chemical computations the combination of Hartree–Fock or a density functional theory (DFT) approximation with relatively small atomic orbital basis sets of double‐zeta quality is still widely used, for example, in the popular B3LYP/6‐31G* approach. In this Review, we critically analyze the two main sources of error in such computations, that is, the basis set superposition error on the one hand and the missing London dispersion interactions on the other. We review various strategies to correct those errors and present exemplary calculations on mainly noncovalently bound systems of widely varying size. Energies and geometries of small dimers, large supramolecular complexes, and molecular crystals are covered. We conclude that it is not justified to rely on fortunate error compensation, as the main inconsistencies can be cured by modern correction schemes which clearly outperform the plain mean‐field methods.

A recently published theoretical approach employing a nondynamic structure model using dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT-D3) to calculate equilibrium free energies of association (Chem. Eur. J., 2012, 18, 9955–9964) is illustrated by its application to eight new supramolecular complexes. We compare with experimentally known binding constants which span the range from −3.3 to −20.3 kcal mol−1. The mean deviation of calculated from measured ΔGa results in 0.4 kcal mol−1, the mean absolute deviation in 1.8 kcal mol−1 excluding two outliers for which the computed solvation free energies are identified as the largest error source. A survey of previous applications of the theoretical approach and related computational studies is given underlining its good accuracy. It is concluded that structures and gas phase interaction energies can be computed routinely with good to high accuracy (relative errors for interaction energies of 5–10%) for complexes with about 200–300 atoms.

We introduce a simple but computationally very efficient harmonic force field, which works for all fullerene structures and includes bond stretching, bending, and torsional motions as implemented into our open-source code Fullerene. This gives accurate geometries and reasonably accurate vibrational frequencies with root mean square deviations of up to 0.05 A for bond distances and 45.5 cm(-1) for vibrational frequencies compared with more elaborate density functional calculations. The structures obtained were used for density functional calculations of Goldberg-Coxeter fullerenes up to C980. This gives a rather large range of fullerenes making it possible to extrapolate to the graphene limit. Periodic boundary condition calculations using density functional theory (DFT) within the projector augmented wave method gave an energy difference between -8.6 and -8.8 kcal/mol at various levels of DFT for the reaction C60 →graphene (per carbon atom) in excellent agreement with the linear extrapolation to the graphene limit (-8.6 kcal/mol at the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof level of theory).

A recently published theoretical approach employing a nondynamic structure model using dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT-D3) to calculate equilibrium free energies of association (Chem. Eur. J., 2012, 18, 9955-9964) is illustrated by its application to eight new supramolecular complexes. We compare with experimentally known binding constants which span the range from -3.3 to -20.3 kcal mol(-1). The mean deviation of calculated from measured ΔGa results in 0.4 kcal mol(-1), the mean absolute deviation in 1.8 kcal mol(-1) excluding two outliers for which the computed solvation free energies are identified as the largest error source. A survey of previous applications of the theoretical approach and related computational studies is given underlining its good accuracy. It is concluded that structures and gas phase interaction energies can be computed routinely with good to high accuracy (relative errors for interaction energies of 5-10%) for complexes with about 200-300 atoms.

An atom-economical and catalytic arylation of epoxide-derived radicals is described. The key step of the catalytic system is a sequential electron and proton transfer for the rearomatization of the radical σ-complex and catalyst regeneration. Kinetic, computational, spectroscopic, and cyclovoltammetric investigations highlight the key issues of the reaction mechanism and catalyst stabilization by collidine hydrochloride. Studies employing radicophiles rule out the participation of cations as reactive intermediates.

A quantum chemical method based on a Hartree-Fock calculation with a small Gaussian AO basis set is presented. Its main area of application is the computation of structures, vibrational frequencies, and noncovalent interaction energies in huge molecular systems. The method is suggested as a partial replacement of semiempirical approaches or density functional theory (DFT) in particular when self-interaction errors are acute. In order to get accurate results three physically plausible atom pair-wise correction terms are applied for London dispersion interactions (D3 scheme), basis set superposition error (gCP scheme), and short-ranged basis set incompleteness effects. In total nine global empirical parameters are used. This so-called Hartee-Fock-3c (HF-3c) method is tested for geometries of small organic molecules, interaction energies and geometries of noncovalently bound complexes, for supramolecular systems, and protein structures. In the majority of realistic test cases good results approaching large basis set DFT quality are obtained at a tiny fraction of computational cost.