Mirjana Eckert-Maksić

The nonadiabatic deactivation paths of pyrrole

Multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) calculations have been performed for pyrrole with the aim of providing an explanation for the experimentally observed photochemical deactivation processes. Potential energy curves and minima on the crossing seam were determined using the analytic MRCI gradient and nonadiabatic coupling features of the COLUMBUS program system. A new deactivation mechanism based on an out-of-plane ring deformation is presented. This mechanism directly couples the charge transfer 1pipi* and ground states. It may be responsible for more than 50% of the observed photofragments of pipi*-excited pyrrole. The ring deformation mechanism should act complementary to the previously proposed NH-stretching mechanism, thus offering a more complete interpretation of the pyrrole photodynamics.

Towards an environmentally-friendly laboratory: dimensionality and reactivity in the mechanosynthesis of metal–organic compounds

We present a proof-of-principle study of an environmentally-friendly approach to laboratory research, in which the synthesis and structural characterisation of metal-organic complexes and frameworks are achieved without using bulk solvents; our study addresses the use of heteroditopic ligands for manipulating the dimensionality of metal-organic materials and describes how kinetic obstacles in such mechanosynthesis can be overcome.

Automerization reaction of cyclobutadiene and its barrier height: an ab initio benchmark multireference average-quadratic coupled cluster study.

The problem of the double bond flipping interconversion of the two equivalent ground state structures of cyclobutadiene (CBD) is addressed at the multireference average-quadratic coupled cluster level of theory, which is capable of optimizing the structural parameters of the ground, transition, and excited states on an equal footing. The barrier height involving both the electronic and zero-point vibrational energy contributions is 6.3 kcal mol(-1), which is higher than the best earlier theoretical estimate of 4.0 kcal mol(-1). This result is confirmed by including into the reference space the orbitals of the CC sigma bonds beyond the standard pi orbital space. It places the present value into the middle of the range of the measured data (1.6-10 kcal mol(-1)). An adiabatic singlet-triplet energy gap of 7.4 kcal mol(-1) between the transition state (1)B(tg) and the first triplet (3)A(2g) state is obtained. A low barrier height for the CBD automerization and a small DeltaE((3)A(2g),(1)B(1g)) gap bear some relevance on the highly pronounced reactivity of CBD, which is briefly discussed.

Click mechanochemistry: quantitative synthesis of "ready to use" chiral organocatalysts by efficient two-fold thiourea coupling to vicinal diamines.

Mechanochemical methods of neat grinding and liquid-assisted grinding have been applied to the synthesis of mono- and bis(thiourea)s by using the click coupling of aromatic and aliphatic diamines with aromatic isothiocyanates. The ability to modify the reaction conditions allowed the optimization of each reaction, leading to the quantitative formation of chiral bis(thiourea)s with known uses as organocatalysts or anion sensors. Quantitative reaction yields, combined with the fact that mechanochemical reaction conditions avoid the use of bulk solvents, enabled solution-based purification methods (such as chromatography or recrystallization) to be completely avoided. Importantly, by using selected model reactions, we also show that the described mechanochemical reaction procedures can be readily scaled up to at least the one-gram scale. In that way, mechanochemical synthesis provides a facile method to fully transform valuable enantiomerically pure reagents into useful products that can immediately be applied in their designed purpose. This was demonstrated by using some of the mechanochemically prepared reagents as organocatalysts in a model Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction and as cyanide ion sensors in organic solvents. The use of electronically and sterically hindered ortho-phenylenediamine revealed that mechanochemical reaction conditions can be readily optimized to form either the 1:1 or the 1:2 click-coupling product, demonstrating that reaction stoichiometry can be more efficiently controlled under these conditions than in solution-based syntheses. In this way, it was shown that excellent stoichiometric control by mechanochemistry, previously established for mechanochemical syntheses of cocrystals and coordination polymers, can also be achieved in the context of covalent-bond formation.

Excited-state non-adiabatic dynamics simulations of pyrrole

Non-adiabatic on-the-fly-dynamics simulations of the photodynamics of pyrrole were performed at multireference configuration interaction level involving five electronic states with a simulation time of 200 fs. The analysis of the time dependence of the average state occupations shows that the deactivation of pyrrole to the electronic ground state takes place in about 140 fs. This deactivation time agrees very well with the experimentally measured time constant of 110 fs for the formation of fast hydrogen atoms. After excitation into the S4 state, 80% of the trajectories followed the NH-stretching mechanism giving rise to a population of fast H atoms. The computed average kinetic energy is in good accord with the experimentally observed average kinetic energy of the fast hydrogen atoms. It is found that 10% of trajectories followed the ring-puckering mechanism and 3% followed the ring-opening mechanism. This latter mechanism was characterized in pyrrole for the first time and involves the conical intersection of lowest energy of this molecule.

A model for a solvent-free synthetic organic research laboratory: click-mechanosynthesis and structural characterization of thioureas without bulk solvents

The mechanochemical click coupling of isothiocyanates and amines has been used as a model reaction to demonstrate that the concept of a solvent-free research laboratory, which eliminates the use of bulk solvents for either chemical synthesis or structural characterization, is applicable to the synthesis of small organic molecules. Whereas the click coupling is achieved in high yields by simple manual grinding of reactants, the use of an electrical, digitally controllable laboratory mill provides a rapid, quantitative and general route to symmetrical and non-symmetrical aromatic or aromatic–aliphatic thioureas. The enhanced efficiency of electrical ball milling techniques, neat grinding or liquid-assisted grinding, over manual mortar-and-pestle synthesis is demonstrated in the synthesis of 49 different thiourea derivatives. Comparison of powder X-ray diffraction data of mechanochemical products with structural information found in the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD), or obtained herein through single crystal X-ray diffraction, indicates that the mechanochemically obtained thiourea derivatives are pure in a chemical sense, but can also demonstrate purity in a supramolecular sense, i.e. in all structurally explored cases the product consisted of a single polymorph. As an extension of our previous work on solvent-free synthesis of coordination polymers, it is now demonstrated that such polymorphic and chemical purity of selected thiourea derivatives, the latter being evidenced through quantitative reaction yields, can enable the direct solvent-free structural characterization of mechanochemical products through powder X-ray diffraction aided by solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

Generation and dissociation pathways of singly and doubly protonated bisguanidines in the gas phase.

Para-bisguanidinyl benzene 1 and its N-permethylated derivative 2 are both sufficiently strong bases to afford not only the monocations [1+H]+ and [2+H]+, but also the doubly protonated ions, [1+2H]2+ and [2+2H]2+, in the gas phase. The title ions generated via electrospray ionization are probed by collision-induced dissociation experiments which inter alia reveal that the dicationic species [1+2H]2+ and [2+2H]2+ can even undergo fragmentation reactions with maintenance of the 2-fold charge. Complementary results from density functional theory predict PAs above 1000 kJ mol(-1) for the neutral compounds, i.e., PA(1) = 1025 kJ mol(-1) and PA(2) = 1067 kJ mol(-1). Due to the stabilization of the positive charge in the guanidinium ions and the para-phenylene spacer separating the basic sites, even the monocations bear sizable proton affinities, i.e., PA([1+H]+) = 740 kJ mol(-1) and PA([2+H]+) = 816 kJ mol(-1).

Basicity of organic bases and superbases in acetonitrile by the polarized continuum model and DFT calculations

The basicities of a large number of organic bases and superbases, including nitrogen basic centers in various chemical environments occurring in phosphazenes, amidines, amines, anilines and pyridines, have been studied in acetonitrile by the isodensity polarized continuum model employing two DFT computational schemes differing in the basis sets for final single-point calculations. It turned out that the B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-31G(d) method serves the purpose giving good agreement for basicities with experiment for both gas phase and acetonitrile solutions treating widely different bonding situations of basic nitrogen atoms on an equal footing. An attempt is made to correlate the experimental pKa(MeCN) values with the proton affinities (PA) in MeCN. The results are less accurate than those achieved by using basicities in acetonitrile. In particular, the PA(MeCN)s frequently failed in reproducing the pKa(MeCN) values in systems possessing multiple intramolecular hydrogen (IMH) bonds formed via corona effects. In such cases the use of basicities is mandatory instead. A useful corollary of these calculations on systems with multiple IMH bonds is that comparison of the theoretical and experimental pKa values can provide an insight into the structure of the most stable conformations in solutions.

Simulation of the photodeactivation of formamide in the nO-π∗ and π-π∗ states: An ab initio on-the-fly surface-hopping dynamics study

The short-time photodynamics (1ps) of formamide in its low-lying singlet excited nO-π* and π-π* states have been investigated by the direct trajectory surface-hopping method based on multiconfigurational ab initio calculations. The simulations showed that in both states, the primary deactivation process is C–N bond dissociation. In the ground state, the energy is transferred to (a) translational motion of the HCO and NH2 fragments, (b) additional C–H dissociation from the vibrationally hot HCO fragment, or (c) formation of NH3 and CO. In addition to the C–N dissociation pathway, C–O bond fission is found to be an additional primary deactivation path in the π-π* dynamics. From fractional occupations of trajectories, lifetimes of formamide were estimated: τ(S1)=441fs and τ(S2)=66fs.

Theoretical calculations of proton affinities in phenol

Abstract It is shown that a relatively simple MP2(fc)/6–31G ∗∗ //HF/6–31G ∗ model is capable of providing quantitative description of protonation in phenol. The use of the 6–31G ∗∗ basis set in the single-point MP2 calculation is crucial in this respect. The zero-point energy (ZPE) contribution to the proton affinity (PA) is estimated at the HF/6–31G ∗ level of approximation. It appears that the contribution of the ZPE energy to relative ΔPA proton affinities is negligible. The simple additivity rule for calculating empirical ZP energies works relatively well for the protonated species too. The energetically most favourable site of the proton attack is para to the OH substitution in accordance with the experimental finding. Performance of the MP2(fc)6–31G ∗∗ +ZPE(HF/6–31G ∗ ) model in reproducing protonation at the oxygen atom is tested in some medium size alcohols and ethers. The calculated PA values are in good agreement with the measured data.