A Computational Analysis of the Intrinsic Plasticity of Five-Coordinate Cu(II) Complexes and the Factors Leading to the Breakdown of the Orbital Directing Effect in Paddlewheel Secondary Building Units.

Quantum chemical calculations on model copper paddlewheel (CPW) complexes of general formula [Cu2 (µ2 -O2 CR)4 L2 ] establish two local coordination geometries at the metal centers depending on the balance between equatorial and axial ligand fields. When the equatorial field is stronger than the axial field (large ligand field asymmetry), d x 2 - y 2 dominates the stereochemical activity of the d9 shell resulting in a relatively rigid, "orbitally directed" planar or square pyramidal structure. However, if the axial field is significantly increased, or the equatorial field moderately weakened, a small ligand field asymmetry results and both d x 2 - y 2 and d z 2 are involved in the stereochemical activity. This results in a "plastic," distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry where the former axial ligand moves into one of the original four equatorial positions. Linkers already used to synthesize zinc-dabco MOFs (dabco = 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane) are shown to generate plastic CPW secondary building unit analogs with potential implications for conferring breathing behavior for MOFs which would currently be assumed to be rigid. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Co-crystallization of a neutral mol-ecule and its zwitterionic tautomer: structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis of 5-methyl-4-(5-methyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)-2-phenyl-2,3-di-hydro-1H-pyrazol-3-one 5-methyl-4-(5-methyl-1H-pyrazol-2-ium-3-yl)-3-oxo-2-phenyl-2,3-di-hydro-1H-pyrazol-1-ide monohydrate.

The title compound, 2C14H14N4O·H2O, comprises a neutral mol-ecule containing a central pyrazol-3-one ring flanked by an N-bound phenyl group and a C-bound 5-methyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl group (at positions adjacent to the carbonyl substituent), its zwitterionic tautomer, whereby the N-bound proton of the central ring is now resident on the pendant ring, and a water mol-ecule of crystallization. Besides systematic variations in geometric parameters, the two independent organic mol-ecules have broadly similar conformations, as seen in the dihedral angle between the five-membered rings [9.72 (9)° for the neutral mol-ecule and 3.32 (9)° for the zwitterionic tautomer] and in the dihedral angles between the central and pendant five-membered rings [28.19 (8) and 20.96 (8)° (neutral mol-ecule); 11.33 (9) and 11.81 (9)°]. In the crystal, pyrazolyl-N-H⋯O(carbon-yl) and pyrazolium-N-H⋯N(pyrazol-yl) hydrogen bonds between the independent organic mol-ecules give rise to non-symmetric nine-membered {⋯HNNH⋯NC3O} and {⋯HNN⋯HNC3O} synthons, which differ in the positions of the N-bound H atoms. These aggregates are connected into a supra-molecular layer in the bc plane by water-O-H⋯N(pyrazolide), water-O-H⋯O(carbon-yl) and pyrazolyl-N-H⋯O(water) hydrogen bonding. The layers are linked into a three-dimensional architecture by methyl-C-H⋯π(phen-yl) inter-actions. The different inter-actions, in particular the weaker contacts, formed by the organic mol-ecules are clearly evident in the calculated Hirshfeld surfaces, and the calculated electrostatic potentials differentiate the tautomers.

Molecular modeling of zinc paddlewheel molecular complexes and the pores of a flexible metal organic framework.

A new all-atom first-principles force field (FF) is constructed for the bimetallic, four-bladed zinc paddlewheel (ZPW) motif. Zinc-ligand interactions are described via Morse functions and the angular geometry at the metal centers is modeled with a pure ligand-ligand repulsion term. The ZPW-FF is principally based on 15 DFT-optimized model systems of general formula ZnPR.nL, where ZnP is the base Zn2(O2CR)4 unit, R = H, CH3 or CF3, L = NH3 or pyridine, and n = 0, 1 or 2. It correctly generates the distorted tetrahedral coordination of the uncapped [Zn2(O2CR)4] species in their ground states as well as giving reasonable structures and energies for the higher symmetry D4h transition state conformations. The zinc-ligand Morse function reference distance, r 0 , is further refined against 30 complexes located in the Cambridge Structural Database and this FF is applied to pore models of the flexible metal-organic framework (MOF) [Zn(bdc)2(dabco)]n (bdc = 1,4-benzendicarboxylate; dabco = 1,4-diazabicyclo(2.2.2)octane). A single pore model reproduces the unit cell of the evacuated MOF system while a 3×3 grid model is necessary to provide good agreement with the observed pronounced structural changes upon adsorption of either dimethylformamide or benzene.