Outer electronic shell visualization by NMR chemical shift laplacian of a helium probe

An overview of Helium-3 NMR: Recent developments and applications

The present review is focused on experimental and theoretical methods together with applications of helium NMR in chemistry and biochemistry. It comprises two main sections, the first dealing with standardization and instrumentation for 3He NMR spectroscopy and the second dealing with its practical applications, mainly those in general and organic chemistry with a special emphasis on the rapidly developing and exciting area of fullerenes encapsulating helium atoms. Several general applications of 3He NMR spectroscopy in physical chemistry and biomedicine are also briefly discussed.

Hydration of selenolate moiety: Ab initio investigation of properties of O-H⋯Se(-) hydrogen bonds in CH3 Se(-)⋯(H2 O)n clusters

This work is devoted to investigations of the influence of O-H···Se(-) hydrogen bonds on the electronic shells of selenolate R-Se(-) fragment (R═CH₃ ). The geometric, energetic and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectral parameters for various conformers of CH₃ Se(-)⋯(H₂ O)_n clusters with n = 0-6 were calculated at CCSD/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory. For selenolate anion CH₃ Se(-) solvation free energy was calculated, and for water media it is equal to -71.41 kcal/mol. For O-H···Se(-) hydrogen bonds the proportionality coefficients between QTAIM parameters at (3; -1) bond critical point and the strength of an individual hydrogen bond ∆E were proposed. It was shown, that despite a relative weakness of O-H···Se(-) hydrogen bonds, the outer electronic shell of the selenium atom changes significantly upon formation of each hydrogen bond. This, in turn, cause the dramatic change of NMR parameters of selenium nuclei.

On the influence of water molecules on the outer electronic shells of R-SeH, R-Se(-) and R-SeOH fragments in the selenocysteine amino acid residue

In this computational work (MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ) we investigated the features of the outer electronic shells of R-SeH, R-Se(-) and R-SeOH fragments (R = CH3), which can be considered as simplified models for the forms of the active centres of glutathione peroxidases GPx along their catalytic pathway (reduction of peroxides). It is shown that the preferential direction of a nucleophilic attack on the R-Se(-) fragment by a peroxide molecule is determined by the presence of the electron-depleted region of the selenium atom in front of the C-Se bond and nucleophilic attack can be facilitated by the solvation of R-Se(-) by water molecules. Such solvation does not block the direction of potential nucleophilic attack and also leads to the increase of the maximal value of the molecular electrostatic potential on the selenium atom. It was shown that the 77Se NMR chemical shift is sensitive both to the oxidation state and the hydration state of the selenium-containing fragment.

Local aromaticity mapping in the vicinity of planar and nonplanar molecules

We report on nucleus-independent magnetic shielding (NICS) scans over the centers of six- and five-membered rings in selected metal phthalocyanines (MPc) and fullerene C60 for more accurate characterization of local aromaticity in these compounds. Detailed tests were conducted on model aromatic molecules including benzene, pyrrole, indole, isoindole, and carbazole and subsequently applied to H₂ Pc, ZnPc, Al(OH)Pc, and CuPc. Similar behavior of three selected magnetic probes, Bq, ³ He, and ⁷ Li⁺ , approaching perpendicularly the ring centers, was observed. For better visualization of shielding zone over the centers of aromatic rings, we introduced a simple mathematical procedure: the first and second derivatives of scan curves with respect to magnetic probe position enabled their additional examination. It allowed an easier localization of curve minimum and discrimination between areas in space varying by the magnetic field magnitude and to illustrate local aromaticity of two different kinds of rings in MPc with better resolution. Our results supported earlier reports on very low aromaticity indexes of pyrrole ring incorporated into MPc and significant aromaticity of the central macrocycle. No direct dependence between harmonic oscillator model of aromaticity and NICS was observed. Instead, a correlation between position of scan curve minimum and its magnitude were observed. In addition, the NICS values and ³ He chemical shifts in the middle of neutral C60 and C60^6- anion agreed well with the reported experimental NMR values for He@C60 and He@C60^6- .