Solvation and hydrogen bonding of pyridinium ions

Understanding solvent effects on adsorption and protonation in porous catalysts

Solvent selection is a pressing challenge in developing efficient and selective liquid phase catalytic processes, as predictive understanding of the solvent effect remains lacking. In this work, an attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy technique is developed to quantitatively measure adsorption isotherms on porous materials in solvent and decouple the thermodynamic contributions of van der Waals interactions within zeolite pore walls from those of pore-phase proton transfer. While both the pore diameter and the solvent identity dramatically impact the confinement (adsorption) step, the solvent identity plays a dominant role in proton-transfer. Combined computational and experimental investigations show increasingly favorable pore-phase proton transfer to pyridine in the order: water < acetonitrile < 1,4 – dioxane. Equilibrium methods unaffected by mass transfer limitations are outlined for quantitatively estimating fundamental thermodynamic values using statistical thermodynamics.

Liquid phase reactions mediated by solid catalysts occur in the presence of solvents whose role needs to be understood. The authors use attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy to measure liquid-phase pyridine adsorption isotherms in zeolites, elucidating the effect of coadsorbed solvents on the interactions.

Temperature-responsive properties of poly(4-vinylpyridine) coatings: influence of temperature on the wettability, morphology, and protein adsorption

Poly(4-vinylpyridine)-grafted brushes demonstrate a thermal response of their wettability (stronger than that for spin-coated films), surface morphology, and protein adsorption.

A Raman study on preferential interactions in the formamide/pyridine/pyridazine system and complementary thermodynamic information on the formamide/pyridazine mixture

The formamide (FA)/pyridine (py)/pyridazine (prd) system was investigated by FT-Raman spectroscopy and the results in situ show that FA is preferentially bound to py, as experimentally pointed out by the proton affinity (PA) values of these azabenzenes. Temperature-dependent further investigations for the FA/prd mixture clearly show that the 2:1 FA:prd complex is more stable than the 1:1 FA:py adduct, even though its formation is influenced by the extremely negative entropy of the system, which becomes the spontaneously unfavorable global process. Linear relationships of the complex formation enthalpies (ΔH°) with band shifts (Δν) and dipole moments (μ) of these azabenzenes are observed and are in excellent agreement with our recent studies.

Redshift or adduct stabilization--a computational study of hydrogen bonding in adducts of protonated carboxylic acids

It is generally expected that the hydrogen bond strength in a D-H(***)A adduct is predicted by the difference between the proton affinities (DeltaPA) of D and A, measured by the adduct stabilization and demonstrated by the infrared (IR) redshift of the D-H bond stretching vibrational frequency. These criteria do not always yield consistent predictions, as illustrated by the hydrogen bonds formed by the E and Z OH groups of protonated carboxylic acids. The DeltaPA and the stabilization of a series of hydrogen bonded adducts indicate that the E OH group forms the stronger hydrogen bonds, whereas the bond length changes and the redshift favor the Z OH group, matching the results of NBO and AIM calculations. This reflects that the thermochemistry of adduct formation is not a good measure of the hydrogen bond strength in charged adducts, and that the ionic interactions in the E and Z adducts of protonated carboxylic acids are different. The OH bond length and IR redshift afford the better measure of hydrogen bond strength.

Probing lead(II) bonding environments in 4-substituted pyridine adducts of (2,6-Me2C6H3S)2Pb: an X-ray structural and solid-state 207Pb NMR study

The effect of subtle changes in the sigma-electron donor ability of 4-substituted pyridine ligands on the lead(II) coordination environment of (2,6-Me(2)C(6)H(3)S)(2)Pb (1) adducts has been examined. The reaction of 1 with a series of 4-substituted pyridines in toluene or dichloromethane results in the formation of 1:1 complexes [(2,6-Me(2)C(6)H(3)S)(2)Pb(pyCOH)](2) (3), [(2,6-Me(2)C(6)H(3)S)(2)Pb(pyOMe)](2) (4), and (2,6-Me(2)C(6)H(3)S)(2)Pb(pyNMe(2)) (5) (pyCOH = 4-pyridinecarboxaldehyde; pyOMe = 4-methoxypyridine; pyNMe2 = 4-dimethylaminopyridine), all of which have been structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. The structures of 3 and 4 are dimeric and have psi-trigonal bipyramidal S(3)N bonding environments, with the 4-substituted pyridine nitrogen and bridging sulfur atoms in axial positions and two thiolate sulfur atoms in equatorial sites. Conversely, compound 5 is monomeric and exhibits a psi-trigonal pyramidal S(2)N bonding environment at lead(II). The observed structures may be rationalized in terms of a simple valence bond model and the sigma-electron donor ability of the 4-pyridine ligands as derived from the analysis of proton affinity values. Solid-state (207)Pb NMR experiments are applied in combination with density functional theory (DFT) calculations to provide further insight into the nature of bonding in 4, 5, and (2,6-Me(2)C(6)H(3)S)(2)Pb(py)(2) (2). The lead chemical shielding (CS) tensor parameters of 2, 4, and 5 reveal some of the largest chemical shielding anisotropies (CSA) observed in lead coordination complexes to date. DFT calculations using the Amsterdam Density Functional (ADF) program, which take into account relativistic effects using the zeroth-order regular approximation (ZORA), yield lead CS tensor components and orientations. Paramagnetic contributions to the lead CS tensor from individual pairs of occupied and virtual molecular orbitals (MOs) are examined to gain insight into the origin of the large CSA. The CS tensor is primarily influenced by mixing of the occupied MOs localized on the sulfur and lead atoms with virtual MOs largely comprised of lead 6p orbitals.

Theoretical Analysis of Pyridine Protonation in Water Clusters of Increasing Size

The protonation of pyridine in water clusters as a function of the number of water molecules was theoretically analyzed as a prototypical case for the protonation of organic bases. We determined the variation of structural, bonding, and energetic properties on protonation, as well as the stabilization of the ionic species formed. Thus, we used supermolecular models in which pyridine interacts with clusters of up to five water molecules. For each complex, we determined the most stable unprotonated and protonated structures from a simulated annealing at the semi ab initio level. The structures were optimized at the B3LYP/cc-pVDZ level. We found that the hydroxyl group formed on protonation of pyridine abstracts a proton from the ortho-carbon atom of the pyridine ring. The "atoms in molecules" theory showed that this C-H group loses its covalent character. However, starting with clusters of four water molecules, the C-H bond recovers its covalent nature. This effect is associated with the presence of more than one ring between the water molecules and pyridine. These rings stabilize, by delocalization, the negative charge on the hydroxyl oxygen atom. Considering the protonation energy, we find that the protonated forms are increasingly stabilized with increasing size of the water cluster. When zero-point energy is included, the variation follows closely an exponential decrease with increasing number of water molecules. Analysis of the vibrational modes for the strongest bands in the IR spectra of the complexes suggests that the protonation of pyridine occurs by concerted proton transfers among the different water rings in the structure. Symmetric water stretching was found to be responsible for hydrogen transfer from the water molecule to the pyridine nitrogen atom.

Alkyl substituent effect on the polarity of phenols-tri-n-alkylamine complexes

The formation constants and the dipole moments of the H-bonded adducts of 1:1 and 2:1 stoichiometries formed between three different phenols (phenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, and 2,4-dinitrophenol) and different tri-n-alkylamines are determined in solvents of weak polarity. The polarity of the 1:1 complexes of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol with tri-n-alkylamines markedly increases with increasing degree of amine alkylation, in contrast with the complexes involving the two other phenols. The influence of the basicity and steric hindrance of the tri-n-alkylamines on the proton-transfer constant is discussed and quantitative correlations are deduced.Key words: phenols, tri-n-alkylamines, H-bonded complexes, proton transfer, polarity, steric effect.

An investigation of site-selective gas-phase reactions of amino alcohols with dimethyl ether ions

The reactions of dimethyl ether ions with neutral amino alcohols were examined in both a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer and a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. These ion-molecule reactions produced two types of ions: the protonated species [M+l](+) and a more complex product at [M+13](+). The abundance of the [M+13](+) ions relative to that of the [M+1](+) ions decreases with increasing formal interfunctional distance. Multistage collision-activated dissociation techniques were used to characterize the [M+13](+) product ions, their reactivities, and the mechanisms for their formation and dissociation. In addition, molecular semiempirical calculation methods were used to probe the thermochemistry of these reactions. Reaction at the amino alcohol nitrogen site is favored, and the resulting [M+13](+) addition products may cyclize for additional stabilization. Comparisons were made among the behavior of related compounds, such as alcohols, diols, amines, and diamines. The alcohols reacted only to form the protonated species, but the diols, amines, and diamines all formed significant amounts of [M+13](+) ions or related dissociation products.

Functional group-selective ion-molecule reactions of ethylene glycol and its monomethyl and dimethyl ethers

The selective methylation and methylene substitution reactions of dimethyl ether ions with ethylene glycol, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, and ethylene glycol dimethyl ether were investigated in a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. Whereas the reactions of ethylene glycol and ethylene glycol monomethyl ether with the methoxymethylene cation 45(+) gave only [M + 13](+) product ions, the reaction of ethylene glycol dimethyl ether with the same reagent ion yielded exclusively [M + 15](+) ions. The relative rates of formation of these products and those from competing reactions were examined and rationalized on the basis of structural and electronic considerations. The heats of formation for various relevant species were estimated by computational methods and showed that the reactions leading to the [M + 13](+) ions were more energetically favorable than those leading to the [M + 15](+) products for cases in which both reactions are possible. Finally, the collision-induced dissociation behavior of the [M + H](+), [M + 13](+), and [M + 15](+) ions indicated that the and [M + H](+) rons dissociated by analogous pathways and were thus structurally similar, whereas the [M + 13](+) ions possessed distinctly different structural characteristics.