C-C coupling formation using nitron complexes.

A series of RuII (1), RhIII (2), IrIII (3, 4), IrI (5) and PdII (6-9) complexes of the 'instant carbene' nitron were prepared and characterized by 1H- and 13C-NMR, FT-IR and elemental analysis. The molecular structures of complexes 1-4 and 6 were determined by X-ray diffraction studies. The catalytic activity of the complexes (1-9) was evaluated in alpha(α)-alkylation reactions of ketones with alcohol via the borrowing hydrogen strategy under mild conditions. These complexes were able to perform this catalytic transformation in a short time with low catalyst and base amounts under an air atmosphere. Also, the PdII-nitron complexes (6-9) were applied in the Suzuki-Miyaura C-C coupling reaction and these complexes successfully initiated this reaction in a short time (30 minutes) using the H2O/2-propanol (1.5 : 0.5) solvent system. The DFT calculations revealed that the Pd0/II/0 pathway was more preferable for the mechanism.

Stereoelectronic effects on molecular geometries and state-energy splittings of ligated monocopper dioxygen complexes.

The relative energies of side-on versus end-on binding of molecular oxygen to a supported Cu(I) species, and the singlet versus triplet nature of the ground electronic state, are sensitive to the nature of the supporting ligands and, in particular, depend upon their geometric arrangement relative to the O2 binding site. Highly correlated ab initio and density functional theory electronic structure calculations demonstrate that optimal overlap (and oxidative charge transfer) occurs for the side-on geometry, and this is promoted by ligands that raise the energy, thereby enhancing resonance, of the filled Cu dxz orbital that hybridizes with the in-plane pi* orbital of O2. Conversely, ligands that raise the energy of the filled Cu dz2 orbital foster a preference for end-on binding as this is the only mode that permits good overlap with the in-plane O2 pi*. Because the overlap of Cu dz2 with O2 pi* is reduced as compared to the overlap of Cu dxz with the same O2 orbital, the resonance is also reduced, leading to generally more stable triplet states relative to singlets in the end-on geometry as compared to the side-on geometry, where singlet ground states become more easily accessible once ligands are stronger donors. Biradical Cu(II)-O2 superoxide character in the electronic structure of the supported complexes leads to significant challenges for accurate quantum chemical calculations that are best addressed by exploiting the spin-purified M06L local density functional, single-reference completely renormalized coupled-cluster theory, or multireference second-order perturbation theory, all of which provide predictions that are qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with one another.

Computational investigation of the conrotatory and disrotatory isomerization channels of bicyclo[1.1.0]butane to buta-1,3-diene: a completely renormalized coupled-cluster study.

The conrotatory and disrotatory mechanisms of the isomerization of bicyclo[1.1.0]butane to trans-buta-1,3-diene have been computationally investigated with the CASSCF, MCQDPT2, (U)B3LYP, CCSD(T), CR-CCSD(T), and CR-CC(2,3) approaches. The coupled-cluster (CC) methods, including the CC approach with singles, doubles, and noniterative triples (CCSD(T)), and its completely renormalized (CR) extensions called CR-CCSD(T) and CR-CC(2,3), and the density functional theory B3LYP approach do an excellent job of correctly predicting the activation barrier for the conrotatory pathway, which corresponds to a weakly biradical transition state (TS), producing values within experimental error bars. In particular, the recently developed CR-CC(2,3) method gives 40.8 or 41.1 kcal/mol, in perfect agreement with the experimental value of 40.6 +/- 2.5 kcal/mol. The complete-active-space self-consistent-field (CASSCF) approach and the second-order multireference perturbation theory (MCQDPT2) are less accurate in describing the conrotatory barrier than CR-CC(2,3). The higher energy disrotatory pathway, which has not been characterized experimentally and which involves a strongly biradical TS, poses a great challenge for many methods. CCSD(T) fails, predicting the activation barrier for the disrotatory pathway significantly below the conrotatory barrier, contradicting the experimental result that the conrotatory pathway describes the mechanism. The strongly biradical character of the disrotatory TS, spin contamination, and the proximity of singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces cause difficulties for B3LYP, which does not link this TS with gauche-buta-1,3-diene. No such difficulties occur in the CASSCF calculations, which offer a proper description of the structure of the disrotatory TS that links it with the reactant and product molecules. The CR-CC(2,3) approach, which accurately balances dynamical and nondynamical correlations in systems containing closed-shell and biradical structures, predicts the activation enthalpy for the disrotatory mechanism of approximately 66 kcal/mol. CR-CCSD(T) gives approximately 69 kcal/mol. In agreement with experiment and earlier multireference configuration interaction calculations of Nguyen and Gordon, CR-CCSD(T) and CR-CC(2,3) favor the conrotatory mechanism. The CASSCF, MCQDPT2, and B3LYP methods correctly place the disrotatory barrier above the conrotatory one, but, on the basis of a comparison with the accurate CR-CC(2,3) results, they underestimate the activation energy for the disrotatory pathway. All CC approaches employed in this study produce very good estimates of the enthalpy of isomerization of bicyclo[1.1.0]butane into buta-1,3-diene, the experimental value of which is -25.9 +/- 0.4 kcal/mol, giving about -28 kcal/mol, when trans-buta-1,3-diene is used as a product, and -25 kcal/mol, when the nearly isoenergetic gauche-buta-1,3-diene rotamer is used as a product. The CC reaction enthalpies are more accurate than those obtained with CASSCF, MCQDPT2, and B3LYP.

Theoretical characterization of end-on and side-on peroxide coordination in ligated Cu2O2 models.

The relative energetics of mu-eta1:eta1 (trans end-on) and mu-eta2:eta2 (side-on) peroxo isomers of Cu2O2 fragments supported by 0, 2, 4, and 6 ammonia ligands have been computed with various density functional, coupled-cluster, and multiconfigurational protocols. There is substantial disagreement between the different levels for most cases, although completely renormalized coupled-cluster methods appear to offer the most reliable predictions. The significant biradical character of the end-on peroxo isomer proves problematic for the density functionals, while the demands on active space size and the need to account for interactions between different states in second-order perturbation theory prove challenging for the multireference treatments. In the latter case, it proved impossible to achieve any convincing convergence.

Is the mechanism of the [2+2] cycloaddition of cyclopentyne to ethylene concerted or biradical? A completely renormalized coupled cluster study.

The mechanism of the [2+2] cycloaddition reaction of cyclopentyne to ethylene has been studied using the completely renormalized coupled cluster method with singles, doubles, and noniterative triples (CR-CCSD(T)). In agreement with the experimentally observed stereochemistry, the CR-CCSD(T) method favors the concerted pathway involving a [2+1] transition state, whereas the popular CCSD(T) method, which is often regarded as the "gold standard" of electronic structure theory, and low-order multireference methods support the less probable biradical mechanism. In addition, the CCSD(T) approach produces an erroneous description of some transition states and intermediates, particularly those which have a significant biradical character. The CR-CCSD(T) calculations indicate that the reaction is a highly exothermic (deltaG(r)298 = -68 kcal/mol), predominantly concerted process with a relatively low activation barrier on the order of 13-16 kcal/mol which permits its thermal occurrence.

Competing pathways in the [2 + 2] cycloadditions of cyclopentyne and benzyne. A DFT and ab initio study.

The [2 + 2] cycloadditions of cyclopentyne and benzyne to ethylene are explored at the B3LYP and CASSCF levels, supplemented by CCSD(T) and CAS-MP2 calculations at the stationary points. The biradical path in the benzyne system is computed to be about 4.1 kcal/mol lower than the concerted path, consistent with the experimentally observed loss of original stereochemistry in this cycloaddition. However, computations fail to confirm the 99% stereoretention in the corresponding reaction of cyclopentyne. The concerted and biradical paths in the latter reaction are found to involve nearly isoenergetic barriers, thus predicting only about 75% stereoretention. More sophisticated theoretical methods seem to be needed to resolve the issue in the cyclopentyne system.