Computational and experimental studies of the effect of substituents on the singlet-triplet energy gap in phenyl(carbomethoxy)carbene

Visible Light-Induced Reactions of Diazo Compounds and Their Precursors

In recent years, visible light-induced reactions of diazo compounds have attracted increasing attention in organic synthesis, leading to improvement of existing reactions, as well as to the discovery of unprecedented transformations. Thus, photochemical or photocatalytic generation of both carbenes and radicals provide milder tools toward these key intermediates for many valuable transformations. However, the vast majority of the transformations represent new reactivity modes of diazo compounds, which are achieved by the photochemical decomposition of diazo compounds and photoredox catalysis. In particular, the use of a redox-active photocatalysts opens the avenue to a plethora of radical reactions. The application of these methods to diazo compounds led to discovery of transformations inaccessible by the classical reactivity associated with carbenes and metal carbenes. In most cases, diazo compounds act as radical sources but can also serve as radical acceptors. Importantly, the described processes operate under mild, practical conditions. This Review describes this subfield of diazo compound chemistry, particularly focusing on recent advancements.

Visible-Light-Induced Synthesis of 3-Alkyl Chromones under Catalyst- and Additive-Free Conditions

Herein, we reported an efficient and facile visible-light-induced 3-alkyl chromone synthesis from easily accessible o-hydroxyaryl enaminones and α-diazo esters. In this protocol, excellent yields were obtained with a broad substrate scope at room temperature, tolerating various functional groups. Of note is that this eco-friendly methodology features catalyst- and additive-free, mild reaction conditions, simple operation procedure, and easy scale-up, which affords a convenient pathway for the preparation of 3-alkyl chromones. Experimental results and density functional theory (DFT) computation analyses confirm the participation of carbene species and active cyclopropane intermediate.

Blue Light-Promoted Cross-Coupling of α-Diazo Esters with Isocyanides: Synthesis of Ester-Functionalized Ketenimines

A metal-free scalable synthesis of functionalized ketenimines from alkyl α-(aryl/heteroaryl)-α-diazoacetates and alkyl isocyanides induced by blue light irradiation has been developed. The reaction proceeds at room temperature without any photocatalyst and provides ketenimines in moderate to good yields. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and the experimental study showed that aryl(alkoxycarbonyl)carbenes in both singlet and triplet states can react with isocyanides but only the reaction of the former leads to the smooth formation of ketenimines. The obtained ketenimines were used for the synthesis of functionalized amidines under mild metal-free conditions.

Labeling Preferences of Diazirines with Protein Biomolecules

Diazirines are widely used in photoaffinity labeling (PAL) to trap noncovalent interactions with biomolecules. However, design and interpretation of PAL experiments is challenging without a molecular understanding of the reactivity of diazirines with protein biomolecules. Herein, we report a systematic evaluation of the labeling preferences of alkyl and aryl diazirines with individual amino acids, single proteins, and in the whole cell proteome. We find that alkyl diazirines exhibit preferential labeling of acidic amino acids in a pH-dependent manner that is characteristic of a reactive alkyl diazo intermediate, while the aryl-fluorodiazirine labeling pattern reflects reaction primarily through a carbene intermediate. From a survey of 32 alkyl diazirine probes, we use this reactivity profile to rationalize why alkyl diazirine probes preferentially enrich highly acidic proteins or those embedded in membranes and why probes with a net positive charge tend to produce higher labeling yields in cells and in vitro. These results indicate that alkyl diazirines are an especially effective chemistry for surveying the membrane proteome and will facilitate design and interpretation of biomolecular labeling experiments with diazirines.

Insights into the Stability of Siloxy Carbene Intermediates and Their Corresponding Oxocarbenium Ions

Siloxy carbenes, formed thermally or photochemically from acyl silanes via a 1,2-Brook rearrangement, are intriguing reactive intermediates that partake in a range of chemical reactions. To gain further insight into the properties of this class of carbenes, the thermodynamic stabilities of a series of known siloxy carbenes were explored on the basis of hydrogenation enthalpies. Calculations were conducted at the B3LYP-D3(BJ) level (using dispersion-corrected DFT) on siloxy carbenes (X-C-OSiR₃, singlet and triplet state), oxocarbenium ions (X-CH-OSiR₃⁺), and their hydrogen addition products (X-CH₂-OSiR₃). Overall, strong correlation between singlet-triplet gaps and hydrogenation enthalpies was observed. Carbene stabilization enthalpy (CSE) values were also determined to provide additional insight into the structural features that influence the stability of siloxy carbenes.

Physical Nature of Differential Spin-State Stabilization of Carbenes by Hydrogen and Halogen Bonding: A Domain-Based Pair Natural Orbital Coupled Cluster Study

The variation in the singlet-triplet energy gap of diphenylcarbene (DPC) upon interaction with hydrogen (water and methanol) or halogen bond (XCF3, X = Cl, Br, I) donors to form van der Waals (vdW) complexes is investigated in relation to the electrostatic and dispersion components of such intermolecular interactions. The domain-based local pair natural orbital coupled cluster method, DLPNO-CCSD(T), is used for calculating accurate single-triplet energy gaps and interaction energies for both spin states. The local energy decomposition scheme is used to provide an accurate quantification to the various interaction energy components at the DLPNO-CCSD(T) level. It is shown that the formation of vdW adducts stabilizes the singlet state of DPC, and in the case of water, methanol, and ICF3, it reverses the ground state from triplet to singlet. Electrostatic interactions are significant in both spin states, but preferentially stabilize the singlet state. For methanol and ClCF3, London dispersion forces have the opposite effect, stabilizing preferentially the triplet state. The quantification of the energetic components of the interactions through the local energy decomposition analysis correlates well with experimental findings and provides the basis for more elaborate treatments of microsolvation in carbenes.

Electronically Excited States of Borylenes

Borylenes, RB, are elusive reactive intermediates. Still not much is known about their excited states from spectroscopic experiments, and existing knowledge is limited to diatomic borylenes only. The electronic structure and geometry of borylenes with diverse substituents on boron (where R = H, F, Cl, CH3, CF3, tBu, NH2, Ph, and SiMe3) were studied by means of computational chemistry. For this purpose, geometries of borylenes in their lowest singlet and triplet states were optimized at the B3LYP/def2-TZVP level of theory. Additionally, the influence of substitution on the energies of frontier molecular orbitals, HOMO-LUMO energy gaps, singlet-triplet energy splittings, and excitation energies was investigated. Two lowest vertical singlet-singlet excitations were computed using EOM-CCSD and TD-DFT (using hybrid B3LYP, and long-range separated CAM-B3LYP and ωB97X functionals) in combination with the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set. The electronic transitions involve excitations from nonbonding sp boron orbital (HOMO) mainly to empty p(B) orbitals and partially to the orbitals of the substituent, and are of n → π* type. The results can facilitate prospective identification of borylenes, e.g., in UV-vis matrix isolation or time-resolved spectroscopy experiments.

A perspective on physical organic chemistry

A perspective on the development of mechanistic carbene chemistry is presented. The author will point out questions that have been answered, and a next generation of questions will be proposed.

Ketene reactions with tertiary amines

Tertiary amines react rapidly and reversibly with arylketenes in acetonitrile forming observable zwitterions, and these undergo amine catalyzed dealkylation forming N,N-disubstituted amides. Reactions of N-methyldialkylamines show a strong preference for methyl group loss by displacement, as predicted by computational studies. Loss of ethyl groups in reactions with triethylamine also occur by displacement, but preferential loss of isopropyl groups in the phenylketene reaction with diisopropylethylamine evidently involves elimination. Quinuclidine rapidly forms long-lived zwitterions with arylketenes, providing a model for catalysis by cinchona and related alkaloids in stereoselective additions to ketenes.

Thermally induced cycloadditions of donor/acceptor carbenes

The thermal decomposition of aryldiazoacetates and aryldiazoketones in the absence of a catalyst leads to synthetically useful transformations. The thermal reaction of aryldiazoacetates with alkenes generates cyclopropanes in 68-97% yield and with good diastereoselectivity (up to 19:1 dr) when the aryl substituent is electron-rich. The thermal reaction of aryldiazoketones with alkenes generated cyclobutanones in 71-94% yield and with good diastereocontrol (≥9:1 dr).

Ultrafast studies of some diarylcarbenes

The photochemistry of 5-diazo-10,11-dihydrodibenzo[a,d]diazocycloheptene (DDBC) and 9-diazoanthrone (DAN) were studied by ultrafast time resolved techniques. The excited states of these diazo compounds were observed by UV-Vis spectroscopy and were found to decay in 300 fs. The diazo excited state decays led to the appearance and first direct observation of singlet 5-diazo-10,11-dihydrodibenzo[a,d]cycloheptenylidene (DBC) and 9-anthronylidene (AN). The dynamics of DBC and AN were studied in acetonitrile, cyclohexane and methanol. The lifetimes of (1)DBC are 83 ps and 72 ps in acetonitrile and cyclohexane, respectively. The lifetime of (1)DBC shortens to 9 ps in methanol due to rapid reaction with the solvent. The lifetime of (1)AN is 87 ps and 66 ps in acetonitrile and cyclohexane, respectively. In methanol, the lifetime of (1)AN cannot be determined due to spectral overlap of (1)AN and cation ANH+. The decays of (1)DBC and (1)AN are controlled by intersystem crossing (ISC) in acetonitrile and cyclohexane and the rates of ISC of (1)DBC or (1)AN are similar in these two solvents. This differs from the solvent dependence of other diarylcarbene intersystem crossing rates. This is attributed to the relatively large singlet-triplet (S-T) gaps of these carbenes and this factor dominates the influence of solvent.

Ultrafast Study of p-Biphenylyldiazoethane. The Chemistry of the Diazo Excited State and the Relaxed Carbene

Ultrafast photolysis of p-biphenylyldiazoethane (BDE) produces an excited state of the diazo compound in acetonitrile, cyclohexane, and methanol with lambdamax = 490 nm and lifetimes of less than 300 fs. The decay of the diazo excited state correlates with the growth of singlet carbene absorption at 360 nm. The optical yields of diazo excited states produced by photolysis of p-biphenylyldiazomethane (BDM) and BDE are the same; however, the optical yield of singlet p-biphenylylmethylcarbene (1BpCMe) is 30-40% less than that of p-biphenylylcarbene (1BpCH) in all three solvents. The results are explained by rearrangement in the excited state (RIES) of BDE to form p-vinylbiphenyl (VB) in parallel with extrusion of nitrogen to form 1BpCMe in reduced yield. This interpretation is consistent with product studies (ethanol-OD in cyclohexane) which indicate that there is an approximately 25% yield of VB that is formed by a mechanism that bypasses the relaxed singlet carbene. The decay of 1BpCMe is biexponential, and that of 1BpCH is monoexponential. This is attributed either to efficient relaxation of vibrationally excited 1BpCMe by 1,2 migration of hydrogen to form VB (minor) or to the increased number of low-frequency vibrational modes provided by the methyl group (major). A methyl group retards the rate of intersystem crossing (ISC), relative to a hydrogen atom, and ISC is more rapid in nonpolar solvents. Reaction of 1BpCMe with methanol is much faster than spin equilibration. Both the lifetime of 1BpCMe and 1BpCH are the same in cyclohexane and in cyclohexane-d12. This demonstrates that spin equilibration is faster than reaction of either carbene with the solvent. The lifetimes of 1BpCMe and 1BpCMe-d3 are the same in cyclohexane. This indicates that 1,2 hydrogen migration of 1BpCMe to form VB is slower than spin equilibration in cyclohexane. In acetonitrile, however, the lifetime of 1BpCMe-d3 is 1.5 times longer than that of 1BpCMe in the same solvent. Thus, in acetonitrile, where ISC is slow, the rate of 1,2 hydrogen shift of 1BpCMe is competitive with ISC. In cyclohexene, the lifetime of 1BpCH is shortened relative to that in cyclohexane. The lifetime of 1BpCMe is the same in cyclohexene and cyclohexane. The data indicate that spin relaxation is slow relative to reaction of 1BpCH with neat alkene but that spin relaxation is fast for 1BpCMe relative to reaction with neat cyclohexene.