Andrés Guerrero

The ever-surprising chemistry of boron: enhanced acidity of phosphine.boranes.

The acidity-enhancing effect of BH(3) in gas-phase phosphineboranes compared to the corresponding free phosphines is enormous, between 13 and 18 orders of magnitude in terms of ionization constants. Thus, the enhancement of the acidity of protic acids by Lewis acids usually observed in solution is also observed in the gas phase. For example, the gas-phase acidities (GA) of MePH(2) and MePH(2)BH(3) differ by about 118 kJ mol(-1) (see picture).The gas-phase acidity of a series of phosphines and their corresponding phosphineborane derivatives was measured by FT-ICR techniques. BH(3) attachment leads to a substantial increase of the intrinsic acidity of the system (from 80 to 110 kJ mol(-1)). This acidity-enhancing effect of BH(3) is enormous, between 13 and 18 orders of magnitude in terms of ionization constants. This indicates that the enhancement of the acidity of protic acids by Lewis acids usually observed in solution also occurs in the gas phase. High-level DFT calculations reveal that this acidity enhancement is essentially due to stronger stabilization of the anion with respect to the neutral species on BH(3) association, due to a stronger electron donor ability of P in the anion and better dispersion of the negative charge in the system when the BH(3) group is present. Our study also shows that deprotonation of ClCH(2)PH(2) and ClCH(2)PH(2)BH(3) is followed by chloride departure. For the latter compound deprotonation at the BH(3) group is found to be more favorable than PH(2) deprotonation, and the subsequent loss of Cl(-) is kinetically favored with respect to loss of Cl(-) in a typical S(N)2 process. Hence, ClCH(2)PH(2)BH(3) is the only phosphineborane adduct included in this study which behaves as a boron acid rather than as a phosphorus acid.

Energetics and Structural Properties, in the Gas Phase, of trans-Hydroxycinnamic Acids

We have studied the energetics and structural properties of trans-cinnamic acid (CA), o-, m-, and p-coumaric acids (2-, 3-, and 4-hydroxycinnamic acids), caffeic acid (3,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid), ferulic acid (4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid), iso-ferulic acid (3-hydroxy-4-methoxycinnamic acid), and sinapic acid (3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxycinnamic acid). The experimental values of Δ(f)H(m)°(g), determined (in kJ·mol(-1)) for CA (-229.8 ± 1.9), p-coumaric acid (-408.0 ± 4.4), caffeic acid (-580.0 ± 5.9), and ferulic acid (-566.4 ± 5.7), allowed us to derive Δ(f)H(m)°(g) of o-coumaric acid (-405.6 ± 4.4), m-coumaric acid (-406.4 ± 4.4), iso-ferulic acid (-565.2 ± 5.7), and sinapic acid (-698.8 ± 4.1). From these values and by use of isodesmic/homodesmotic reactions, we studied the energetic effects of π-donor substituents (-OH and -OCH(3)) in cinnamic acid derivatives and in the respective benzene analogues. Our results indicate that the interaction between -OCH(3) and/or -OH groups in hydroxycinnamic acids takes place without significant influence of the propenoic fragment.

Neutral, ion gas-phase energetics and structural properties of hydroxybenzophenones.

We have carried out a study of the energetics, structural, and physical properties of o-, m-, and p-hydroxybenzophenone neutral molecules, C(13)H(10)O(2), and their corresponding anions. In particular, the standard enthalpies of formation in the gas phase at 298.15 K for all of these species were determined. A reliable experimental estimation of the enthalpy associated with intramolecular hydrogen bonding in chelated species was experimentally obtained. The gas-phase acidities (GA) of benzophenones, substituted phenols, and several aliphatic alcohols are compared with the corresponding aqueous acidities (pK(a)), covering a range of 278 kJ.mol(-1) in GA and 11.4 in pK(a). A computational study of the various species shed light on structural effects and further confirmed the self-consistency of the experimental results.

Gas phase acidity measurement of local acidic groups in multifunctional species: controlling the binding sites in hydroxycinnamic acids.

The applicability of the extended kinetic method (EKM) to determine the gas phase acidities (GA) of different deprotonable groups within the same molecule was tested by measuring the acidities of cinnamic, coumaric, and caffeic acids. These molecules differ not only in the number of acidic groups but in their nature, intramolecular distances, and calculated GAs. In order to determine independently the GA of groups within the same molecule using the EKM, it is necessary to selectively prepare pure forms of the hydrogen-bound heterodimer. In this work, the selectivity was achieved by the use of solvents of different vapor pressure (water and acetonitrile), as well as by variation of the drying temperature in the ESI source, which affected the production of heterodimers with different solvation energies and gas-phase dissociation energies. A particularly surprising finding is that the calculated solvation enthalpies of water and the aprotic acetonitrile are essentially identical, and that the different gas-phase products generated are apparently the result of their different vapor pressures, which affects the drying mechanism. This approach for the selective preparation of heterodimers, which is based on the energetics, appears to be quite general and should prove useful for other studies that require the selective production of heterodimers in ESI sources. The experimental results were supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations of both gas-phase and solvated species. The experimental thermochemical parameters (deprotonation ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS) are in good agreement with the calculated values for the monofunctional cinnamic acid, as well as the multifunctional coumaric and caffeic acids. The measured GA for cinnamic acid is 334.5 ± 2.0 kcal/mol. The measured acidities for the COOH and OH groups of coumaric and caffeic acids are 332.7 ± 2.0, 318.7 ± 2.1, 332.2 ± 2.0, and 317.3 ± 2.2 kcal/mol, respectively.

A silver complex of chloroquine: synthesis, characterization and structural properties

A new silver–chloroquine (CQ–Ag) complex [CQAgNO3, CQ = chloroquine, C18H26N3Cl] has been synthesized and characterized by using a combination of NMR (solution and solid-state), FTIR, molar conductivity and ESI/FT-ICR high resolution mass spectroscopy with DFT calculations. The CQ–Ag complex is formed by silver–CQ cations and nitrate counter anions, where the silver atoms are di-coordinated to chloroquines (CQ22Ag2+2+) through the quinoline sp2 N and diethylamino sp3 N nitrogen basic sites. These cations presumably form polymeric structures mainly as head–head catemers. The most important cationic fragments of the CQ–Ag complex, detected by ESI/FT-ICR, were CQAg+, CQ2Ag+, chloroquine singly (CQH+) and doubly protonated (CQH22+), whose formations are clearly favored by proton-displacement of the Ag+ cations.

Hydrogen-Bonding Interactions of (CF3)3CH and (CF3)3C− in the Gas Phase. An Experimental (FT-ICR) and Computational Study

Hydrogen-bonding interactions involving 2-(trifluoromethyl)-1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropane (1H) and 1(-) have been quantitatively studied by means of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance spectrometry. The existence of the species (1HCl)(-) and (1H1)(-) was demonstrated, and their thermodynamic stabilities were determined experimentally and computationally. In addition, some of their structural features were analyzed.