Reversible β-hydrogen transfer between Fe(C2H5)+ and HFe(C2H4)+: case of two-state reactivity?

Ion-molecule reactions of mass-selected ions

Gas-phase reactions of mass-selected ions with neutrals covers a very broad area of fundamental and applied mass spectrometry (MS). Oftentimes, ion-molecule reactions (IMR) can serve as a viable alternative to collision-induced dissociation and other ion dissociation techniques when using tandem MS. This review focuses on the literature pertaining applications of IMR since 2013. During the past decade considerable efforts have been made in analytical applications of IMR, including advances in one of the major techniques for characterization of unsaturated fatty acids and lipids, ozone-induced dissociation, and the development of a new technique for sequencing of large ions, hydrogen atom attachment/abstraction dissociation. Many advances have also been made in identifying gas-phase chemistry specific to a functional group in organic and biological compounds, which are useful in structure elucidation of analytes and differentiation of isomers/isobars. With "soft" ionization techniques like electrospray ionization having become mainstream for quite some time now, the efforts in the area of metal ion catalysis have firmly moved into exploring chemistry of ligated metal complexes in their "natural" oxidation states allowing to model individual steps of mechanisms in homogeneous catalysis, especially in combination with high-level DFT calculations. Finally, IMR continue to contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of chemistry of interstellar processes.

Distinctive Reaction Pathways at Base Metals in High-Spin Organometallic Catalysts

Inexpensive "base" metals are more affordable and sustainable than precious metals and also offer opportunities to discover new mechanisms for selective catalytic reactions. Base metal complexes can have high-spin electronic configurations that are rare in precious metal complexes. This Account describes some concepts relevant to high-spin organometallic complexes, focusing on our recent work with β-diketiminate complexes of iron and cobalt. Even though high-spin organometallic complexes have some unfamiliar spectroscopic properties, they can be studied using NMR spectroscopy as well as techniques that focus on the magnetism brought about by the unpaired electrons. Understanding the mechanisms of reactions using these complexes can be complicated, because complexes with a high-spin electronic configuration may need to change spin states to avoid high barriers for reaction. These spin-state changes can be rapid, and the ability of an excited spin state to "cut through" the barrier for a reaction can lead to spin acceleration. These concepts, originally developed by Poli, Shaik, Schwarz, and Harvey, are applied here to the fundamental organometallic reaction of β-hydride elimination (BHE). Experimentally validated density-functional calculations show spin acceleration in BHE using three-coordinate iron(II) and cobalt(II) complexes. A square-planar transition state is particularly beneficial for accelerating BHE when a high-spin iron(II) complex goes from an S = 2 ground state to an S = 1 transition state or when a high-spin cobalt(II) complex goes from an S = 3/2 ground state to an S = 1/2 transition state. The relative energies of the spin states can be controlled with the choice of the supporting ligand. Using an appropriate ligand, isomerization of 1-alkenes to their Z-2 isomers can be catalyzed in high yields using the cobalt(II) alkyl complexes as catalysts. Though an earlier paper attributed the regioselectivity and stereoselectivity to the preferred geometry of the BHE step, the results of isotope labeling experiments suggest that the selectivity may actually come from the alkene exchange step (again with spin acceleration). In general, the use of multiple intersecting spin states is envisioned as a profitable strategy for bringing about low reaction barriers and high selectivity in catalytic reactions. This effort requires high-accuracy computational models as well as ligand design that gives nearby spin states with appropriate geometries.

Gas phase studies of the Pesci decarboxylation reaction: synthesis, structure, and unimolecular and bimolecular reactivity of organometallic ions

CONSPECTUS: Decarboxylation chemistry has a rich history, and in more recent times, it has been recruited in the quest to develop cheaper, cleaner, and more efficient bond-coupling reactions. Thus, over the past two decades, there has been intense investigation into new metal-catalyzed reactions of carboxylic substrates. Understanding the elementary steps of metal-mediated transformations is at the heart of inventing new reactions and improving the performance of existing ones. Fortunately, during the same time period, there has been a convergence in mass spectrometry (MS) techniques, which allows these catalytic processes to be examined efficiently in the gas phase. Thus, electrospray ionization (ESI) sources have been combined with ion-trap mass spectrometers, which in turn have been modified to either accept radiation from tunable OPO lasers for spectroscopy based structural assignment of ions or to allow the study of ion-molecule reactions (IMR). The resultant "complete" gas-phase chemical laboratories provide a platform to study the elementary steps of metal-catalyzed decarboxylation reactions in exquisite detail. In this Account, we illustrate how the powerful combination of ion trap mass spectrometry experiments and DFT calculations can be systematically used to examine the formation of organometallic ions and their chemical transformations. Specifically, ESI-MS allows the transfer of inorganic carboxylate complexes, [RCO2M(L)n](x), (x = charge) from the condensed to the gas phase. These mass selected ions serve as precursors to organometallic ions [RM(L)n](x) via neutral extrusion of CO2, accessible by slow heating in the ion trap using collision induced dissociation (CID). This approach provides access to an array of organometallic ions with well-defined stoichiometry. In terms of understanding the decarboxylation process, we highlight the role of the metal center (M), the organic group (R), and the auxiliary ligand (L), along with cluster nuclearity, in promoting the formation of the organometallic ion. Where isomeric organometallic ions are generated and normal MS approaches cannot distinguish them, we describe approaches to elucidate the decarboxylation mechanism via determination of their structure. These "unmasked" organometallic ions, [RM(L)n](x), can also be structurally interrogated spectroscopically or via CID. We have thus compared the gas-phase structures and decomposition of several highly reactive and synthetically important organometallic ions for the first time. Perhaps the most significant aspect of this work is the study of bimolecular reactions, which provides experimental information on mechanistically obscure bond-formation and cross-coupling steps and the intrinsic reactivity of ions. We have sought to understand transformations of substrates including acid-base and hydrolysis reactions, along with reactions resulting in C-C bond formation. Our studies also allow a direct comparison of the performance of different metal catalysts in the individual elementary steps associated with protodecarboxylation and decarboxylative alkylation cycles. Electronic structure (DFT and ab initio) and dynamics (RRKM) calculations provide further mechanistic insights into these reactions. The broad implications of this research are that new reactions can be discovered and that the performance of metal catalysts can be evaluated in terms of each of their elementary steps. This has been particularly useful for the study of metal-mediated decarboxylation reactions.

Copper mediated decyano decarboxylative coupling of cyanoacetate ligands: Pesci versus Lewis acid mechanism

A combination of gas-phase ion trap multistage mass spectrometry (MSⁿ) experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been used to examine the mechanisms of the sequential decomposition reactions of copper cyanoacetate anions, [(NCCH₂CO₂)₂Cu]⁻.

Density functional study of the retrocyclization of norbornadiene and norbornene catalyzed by Fe(+)

In the presence of Fe(+) catalyst, the retro Diels-Alder reaction of norbornadiene (NBD) is predicted to be stepwise with an activation barrier of 18.8 kcal/mol, which is 3.1 kcal/mol lower than the concerted retro reaction. For norbornene (NBN), the Fe(+)-catalyzed retro reaction is also calculated to be stepwise with an activation barrier of 24.9 kcal/mol, which is 8.5 kcal/mol lower than the uncatalyzed stepwise reaction but 3.8 kcal/mol higher than the concerted reaction. The intermediates from the NBD and NBN retro Diels-Alder reactions, C(5)H(6)FeC(2)H(2)(+) and C(5)H(6)FeC(2)H(4)(+), are predicted to have low activation barriers for ligand-to-ligand hydrogen transfers (through an iron-hydrido intermediate) to form CpFeC(2)H(3)(+) and CpFeC(2)H(5)(+) and, ultimately, vinyl- and ethyl-substituted cyclopentadiene-iron complexes, respectively. In contrast to FeC(2)H(2)(+) and FeC(2)H(4)(+), the lowest-energy pathways on the C(5)H(6)FeC(2)H(2)(+) and C(5)H(6)FeC(2)H(4)(+) potential energy surfaces involve only one multiplicity (quartet). The C(2)H(2) and C(2)H(4) complexes of CpFe(+) and C(5)H(6)Fe(+) are compared.

Two-state reactivity as a new concept in organometallic chemistry

It is proposed that spin-crossing effects can dramatically affect reaction mechanisms, rate constants, branching ratios, and temperature behaviors of organometallic transformations. This phenomenon is termed two-state reactivity (TSR) and involves participation of spin inversion in the rate-determining step. While the present analysis is based on studies of transition metals under idealized conditions, several recent reports imply that TSR is by no means confined to the gas phase. In fact, participation of more than a single spin surface in the reaction pathways is proposed as a key feature in organometallic chemistry.