Theoretical Study of Acetic Acid Association Based on Hydrogen Bonding Mechanism

Theoretical study on formation mechanism of acetic acid associating configurations and their distributions under saturated conditions

CONTEXT

The vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) properties of acetic acid systems generally behave strong non-ideality due to the associating interaction among acetic acid molecules. Theoretical study of the associating mechanism will provide guidance for the VLE property prediction, which is crucial for the designing on the separation process of the acetic acid systems. In this work, the association conformers and their distribution on acetic acid molecules in saturated gas and liquid phase were firstly studied. The proportions of the acetic acid monomer and multimers were obtained, which will contribute to the foundation for the vapor-liquid equilibrium simulations. The association mechanism on acetic acid molecules was then investigated by comparing among the structures and non-bonded interaction energies of different dimers. The structure of the cyclic dimer containing two OC-HO hydrogen bonds, may be found probably when acetic acid molecules approached. Electronic properties of different acetic acid dimers showed that the electrons around carbonyl oxygen atoms were deflected by the attraction of hydrogen atoms in the other molecule, which polarized the acetic acid molecules when the hydrogen bonds between acetic acid molecules were formed, providing theoretical basis for the polarized acetic acid molecular model.

METHODS

In this work, the molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and DFT calculations were conducted through the software GROMACS and Gaussian 09, respectively. For the MD simulations, the OPLS-AA force field was used as the atomic force field, with the cubic simulation cells constructed by Packmol program. For the DFT calculations, the M06-2X functional was employed for the optimization of the associating structures with the 6-311G** basis sets. Hydrogen bonding energies of dimers were corrected for the basis set superposition error (BSSE) and the deformation energies of monomers. Furthermore, the energy decomposition analysis was conducted at DFT/M06-2X/def-tzp level by the ADF software, and the wave function analysis was conducted by the Multiwfn software including the atom in molecule (AIM) topology analysis, the electronic potential analysis, and the electron density difference analysis.

FTIR spectroscopy and molecular level insight of diluted aqueous solutions of acetic acid

Aqueous solutions of acetic acid (AA) have been intensively explored for decades with a particular attention addressed to the hydrogen bond network generated by COOH group at different concentrations. In majority of studies conducted so far the envelope originated from νCO is decomposed into two bands assigned to differently hydrated monomers: the one presumably to AA···H2O, and another one to AA···(H2O)2. In order to examine if species other than the mentioned monomers produce this spectral signature, we performed computational and FTIR spectroscopic study of AA in aqueous solutions. Dilute solutions of deuterated acetic acid (CD3COOD) in D2O and in C2Cl4 as a reference were prepared (c0 = 0.001, 0.01 and 0.1 mol dm-3) as well as of deuterated sodium acetate (CD3COONa) in D2O. CD3COOD in 0.1 mol dm-3 solution in D2O displays a feature that separated in two signals with maxima at 1706 cm-1 and 1687 cm-1. A combined DFT and molecular dynamics study performed in this work showed the assignation of those spectral bands to be a more complex problem than previously thought, with syn-anti isomerism and hydration contributing to the experimentally observed broad νCO envelope.

Density Functional Theory Study on the Selective Reductive Amination of Aldehydes and Ketones over Their Reductions to Alcohols Using Sodium Triacetoxyborohydride

Reductive amination is one of the most important methods to synthesize amines, having a wide application in the pharmaceutical, fine chemicals, and materials industries. In general, the reaction begins with dehydration between a carbonyl compound and an amine compound, forming an imine, which is then reduced to an alkylated amine product. Sodium triacetoxyborohydride (STAB) is a popular choice for the reducing agent as it shows selectivity for imines over aldehydes and ketones, which is particularly important in direct reductive amination where the imine and carbonyl compounds are present concurrently. Here, we analyze the reaction pathways of acid-catalyzed direct reductive amination in 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) with acetaldehyde and methylamine. We find that the transition states for the formation and subsequent reduction of Z-methylethylideneimine (resultant aldimine from acetaldehyde and methylamine) have lower energies than the reduction of acetaldehyde. Transition state structures for the hydride transfers are organized by the Lewis-acidic sodium ion. Additionally, reduction reactions with formaldehyde and acetone and their imine derivatives (with methylamine) are investigated, and again, the hydride transfer to the resultant aldimine or ketimine is lower in energy than that of their parent carbonyl compound.

Exploring the Solvation of Acetic Acid in Water Using Liquid Jet X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Core Level Electron Binding Energy Calculations

Liquid jet X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to investigate changes in the local electronic structure of acetic acid in the bulk of aqueous solutions induced by solvation effects. These effects manifest themselves as shifts in the difference in the carbon 1s binding energy (ΔBE) between the methyl and carboxyl carbons of acetic acid. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations, coupled with correlated electronic structure calculations of the first solvation sphere, provide insight into the number of water molecules directly interacting with the carboxyl group that are required to match the ΔBE from the photoelectron spectroscopy experiments. This comparison shows that a single water molecule in the first solvation shell describes the photoelectron ΔBE of acetic acid while at least 20 water molecules are required for the conjugate base, acetate, in aqueous solutions.

Hydrogen bond effects in multimode nuclear dynamics of acetic acid observed via resonant x-ray scattering

A theoretical and experimental study of the gas phase and liquid acetic acid based on resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) spectroscopy is presented. We combine and compare different levels of theory for an isolated molecule for a comprehensive analysis, including electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom. The excitation energy scan over the oxygen K-edge absorption reveals nuclear dynamic effects in the core-excited and final electronic states. The theoretical simulations for the monomer and two different forms of the dimer are compared against high-resolution experimental data for pure liquid acetic acid. We show that the theoretical model based on a dimer describes the hydrogen bond formation in the liquid phase well and that this bond formation sufficiently alters the RIXS spectra, allowing us to trace these effects directly from the experiment. Multimode vibrational dynamics is accounted for in our simulations by using a hybrid time-dependent stationary approach for the quantum nuclear wave packet simulations, showing the important role it plays in RIXS.

Vibrational resonant inelastic X-ray scattering in liquid acetic acid: a ruler for molecular chain lengths

Quenching of vibrational excitations in resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) spectra of liquid acetic acid is observed. At the oxygen core resonance associated with localized excitations at the O-H bond, the spectra lack the typical progression of vibrational excitations observed in RIXS spectra of comparable systems. We interpret this phenomenon as due to strong rehybridization of the unoccupied molecular orbitals as a result of hydrogen bonding, which however cannot be observed in x-ray absorption but only by means of RIXS. This allows us to address the molecular structure of the liquid, and to determine a lower limit for the average molecular chain length.

Dimerization of Acetic Acid in the Gas Phase-NMR Experiments and Quantum-Chemical Calculations

Due to the nature of the carboxylic group, acetic acid can serve as both a donor and acceptor of a hydrogen bond. Gaseous acetic acid is known to form cyclic dimers with two strong hydrogen bonds. However, trimeric and various oligomeric structures have also been hypothesized to exist in both the gas and liquid phases of acetic acid. In this work, a combination of gas-phase NMR experiments and advanced computational approaches were employed in order to validate the basic dimerization model of gaseous acetic acid. The gas-phase experiments performed in a glass tube revealed interactions of acetic acid with the glass surface. On the other hand, variable-temperature and variable-pressure NMR parameters obtained for acetic acid in a polymer insert provided thermodynamic parameters that were in excellent agreement with the MP2 (the second order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory) and CCSD(T) (coupled cluster with single, double and perturbative triple excitation) calculations based on the basic dimerization model. A slight disparity between the theoretical dimerization model and the experimental data was revealed only at low temperatures. This observation might indicate the presence of other, entropically disfavored, supramolecular structures at low temperatures.

Molecular aggregation in liquid acetic acid: insight from molecular dynamics/quantum mechanics modelling of structural and NMR properties

The 1H NMR signal of the acidic proton in acetic acid molecules shows a marked upfield shift in the neat liquid as compared to that in low-concentration acetic acid solution in inert solvents where acetic acid cyclic dimers predominate. The underlying reasons for this phenomenon are analyzed in this work by considering classical molecular dynamics simulations and combined quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations of the 1H NMR chemical shift of the acidic proton in the neat liquid and in the cyclic dimer of acetic acid in cyclohexane solution. Recorded trajectories were quantitatively analyzed in terms of different types of molecular aggregates formed in the neat liquid by using a geometrical definition of the hydrogen bond. Both the geometrical analysis and the computational NMR results indicate that the cyclic dimer cannot be the dominating aggregation pattern for acetic acid molecules in the neat liquid. The applied computational approach reproduces the lowering of the 1H NMR chemical shift of the acidic proton in acetic acid when going from cyclohexane solution to the neat liquid very well. The presence of acetic acid aggregates with hydrogen bonding between hydroxyl moieties and of monomeric acetic acid molecules in the neat liquid is found to lead to the observed lowering of the chemical shift, with lesser contribution from the formation of open acetic acid aggregates.

Cyclic trimers of phosphinic acids in polar aprotic solvent: symmetry, chirality and H/D isotope effects on NMR chemical shifts

The hydrogen-bonded self-associates of dimethylphosphinic (1), diphenylphosphoric (2), phenylphosphinic (3), and bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl)phosphinic (4) acids have been studied by using liquid-state NMR down to 100 K in a low-freezing polar solvent, CDF₃/CDClF₂. The H/D isotope effects on ¹H NMR chemical shifts caused by partial deuteration of hydroxyl groups unambiguously reveal the stoichiometry of the self-associates and the cooperativity of their hydrogen bonds. In all cases, cyclic trimers are the dominant form, while cyclic dimers are present as a minor form for 1 and 2. Due to the asymmetry of substituents, cyclic trimers of 3 exist in two isomeric forms, depending on the orientation of the phenyl groups with respect to the plane of the hydrogen bonds. The racemic mixture of 4 leads to the coexistence of up to 64 isomers of cyclic trimers, many of which are chemically equivalent or effectively isochronous. The mole fractions of such isomers deviate from the statistically expected values. This feature could provide information about the relative stabilization energies of hydrogen-bonded chiral self-associates. The complexation of 4 with SbCl₅ (complex 5) suppresses the self-association and 5 exists exclusively in the monomeric form with chemically non-equivalent ³¹P nuclei in RS, SR and RR/SS forms.