Rules and trends of metal cation driven hydride-transfer mechanisms in metal amidoboranes

Acid Gas Capture by Nitrogen Heterocycle Ring Expansion

Acid gases including CO2, OCS, CS2, and SO2 are emitted by industrial processes such as natural gas production or power plants, leading to the formation of acid rain and contributing to global warming as greenhouse gases. An important technological challenge is to capture acid gases and transform them into useful products. The capture of CO2, CS2, SO2, and OCS by ring expansion of saturated and unsaturated substituted nitrogen-strained ring heterocycles was computationally investigated at the G3(MP2) level. The effects of fluorine, methyl, and phenyl substituents on N and/or C were explored. The reactions for the capture CO2, CS2, SO2, and OCS by 3- and 4-membered N-heterocycles are exothermic, whereas ring expansion reactions with 5-membered rings are thermodynamically unfavorable. Incorporation of an OCS into the ring leads to the amide product being thermodynamically favored over the thioamide. CS2 and OCS capture reactions are more exothermic and exergonic than the corresponding CO2 and SO2 capture reactions due to bond dissociation enthalpy differences. Selected reaction energy barriers were calculated and correlated with the reaction thermodynamics for a given acid gas. The barriers are highest for CO2 and OCS and lowest for CS2 and SO2. The ability of a ring to participate in acid gas capture via ring expansion is correlated to ring strain energy but is not wholly dependent upon it. The expanded N-heterocycles produced by acid gas capture should be polymerizable, allowing for upcycling of these materials.

Predicting the Mechanism and Products of CO2 Capture by Amines in the Presence of H2O

An extensive correlated molecular orbital theory study of the reactions of CO₂ with a range of substituted amines and H₂O in the gas phase and aqueous solution was performed at the G3(MP2) level with a self-consistent reaction field approach. The G3(MP2) calculations were benchmarked at the CCSD(T)/CBS level for NH₃ reactions. A catalytic NH₃ reduces the energy barrier more than a catalytic H₂O for the formation of H₂NCOOH and H₂CO₃. In aqueous solution, the barriers to form both H₂NCOOH and H₂CO₃ are reduced, with HCO₃^- formation possible with one amine present and H₂NCOO^- formation possible only with two amines. Further reactions of H₂NCOOH to form HNCO and urea via the Bazarov reaction have high barriers and are unlikely in both the gas phase and aqueous solution. Reaction coordinates for CH₃NH₂, CH₃CH₂NH₂, (CH₃)₂NH, CH₃CH₂CH₂NH₂, (CH₃)₃N, and DMAP were also calculated. The barrier for proton transfer correlates with amine basicity for alkylammonium carbamate (ΔG^‡_aq < 15 kcal/mol) and alkylammonium bicarbonate (ΔG^‡_aq < 30 kcal/mol) formation. In aqueous solution, carbamic acids, carbamates, and bicarbonates can all form in small amounts with ammonium carbamates dominating for primary and secondary alkylamines. These results have implications for CO₂ capture by amines in both the gas phase and aqueous solution as well as in the solid state, if enough water is present.

Solid-state hydrogen rich boron–nitrogen compounds for energy storage

Mechanistic studies of hydrogenation and dehydrogenation of boron and nitrogen containing compounds in the solid-state and its applications are reviewed.

In-Situ and Real-time Monitoring of Mechanochemical Preparation of Li2 Mg(NH2 BH3 )4 and Na2 Mg(NH2 BH3 )4 and Their Thermal Dehydrogenation

For the first time, in situ monitoring of uninterrupted mechanochemical synthesis of two bimetallic amidoboranes, M₂ Mg(NH₂ BH₃ )₄ (M=Li, Na), by means of Raman spectroscopy, has been applied. This approach allowed real-time observation of key intermediate phases, and a straightforward follow-up of the reaction course. Detailed analysis of time-dependent spectra revealed a two-step mechanism through MNH₂ BH₃ ⋅NH₃ BH₃ adducts as key intermediate phases which further reacted with MgH₂ , giving M₂ Mg(NH₂ BH₃ )₄ as final products. The intermediates partially take a competitive pathway toward the oligomeric M(BH₃ NH₂ BH₂ NH₂ BH₃ ) phases. The crystal structure of the novel bimetallic amidoborane Li₂ Mg(NH₂ BH₃ )₄ was solved from high-resolution powder diffraction data and showed an analogous metal coordination to Na₂ Mg(NH₂ BH₃ )₄ , but a significantly different crystal packing. Li₂ Mg(NH₂ BH₃ )₄ thermally dehydrogenates releasing highly pure H₂ in the amount of 7 wt.%, and at a lower temperature then its sodium analogue, making it significantly more viable for practical applications.

Theoretical study of the structure and dehydrogenation mechanism of sodium hydrazinidoborane

Alkali-metal hydrazinidoboranes have been recently investigated as a new stable high-capacity material for hydrogen storage, necessitating an exploration of the dehydrogenation mechanism for further developments in this field. Herein, we present a first systematic study of the structure and dehydrogenation mechanism of sodium hydrazinidoborane (NaHB) with three possible pathways considered: pathway A, corresponding to unimolecular dehydrogenation; pathway B, featuring dehydrogenation of the (NaHB)2 dimer via two different sub-pathways, and pathway C, corresponding to direct dehydrogenation (as compared to B). The calculated rate of the most probable dehydrogenation pathway (B, 3.28[Formula: see text]min[Formula: see text] is similar to that obtained experimentally (12.26[Formula: see text]min[Formula: see text], supporting the validity of our findings.

Initial steps for the thermal decomposition of alkaline-earth metal amidoboranes: a cluster approximation

A DFT study of thermal decomposition mechanisms of [M(NH₂BH₃)₂]₄ clusters with M = Mg, Ca, and Sr is presented. Multi-step reaction pathways leading to elimination of the first H₂ molecule are explored at the M06/TZVP level of theory. For all studied M, the clusters adopt similar structures and exhibit similar transformations along the reaction pathways. Their activation energies decrease in the order Mg < Ca ≤ Sr. Four metal atoms in the cluster form a rigid planar construction that is found to be nearly unchanged during all transformations. Cleavage of the B-H bond in the environment of alkaline-earth metal atoms leads to the "capture" of the released H atom by neighboring metal atoms with the formation of a M₃H moiety. While the activation energies for the cleavage of H^δ- can be as low as 14.3, 22.6 and 23.3 kcal mol^-1 for M = Mg, Ca and Sr, respectively, barriers for the subsequent cleavage of H^δ+via destruction of the M₃H moiety are about twice larger.

Reduced graphene oxide supported nickel–palladium alloy nanoparticles as a superior catalyst for the hydrogenation of alkenes and alkynes under ambient conditions

rGO–Ni₃₀Pd₇₀ catalyst showed a superior catalytic performance surpassing the commercial Pd/C catalyst both in activity and stability for the hydrogenation of alkenes and alkynes to alkanes.

Synthesis, structure and the dehydrogenation mechanism of calcium amidoborane hydrazinates

The calcium amidoborane hydrazinates, Ca(NH₂BH₃)₂·nN₂H₄, were firstly synthesized and exhibited superior dehydrogenation properties compared with those of pristine Ca(NH₂BH₃)₂.

Hydrolysis of ammonia borane and metal amidoboranes: A comparative study

A gas phase mechanistic investigation has been carried out theoretically to explore the hydrolysis pathway of ammonia borane (NH3BH3) and metal amidoboranes (MNH2BH3, M = Li,Na). The Solvation Model based on Density (SMD) has been employed to show the effect of bulk water on the reaction mechanism. Gibbs free energy of solvation has also been computed to evaluate the stabilization of the participating systems in water medium which directly affects the barrier heights in the potential energy surface of hydrolysis reaction. To validate the experimentally observed kinetics studies, we have carried out transition state theory calculations on these hydrolysis reactions. Our result shows that the hydrolysis of both the metal amidoboranes exhibits greatly improved kinetics over the neat NH3BH3 hydrolysis which corroborates well with the experimental observation. Between the two amidoboranes, hydrolysis of LiNH2BH3 is found to be kinetically favored over that of NaNH2BH3, making it a better candidate for releasing molecular hydrogen.

Physical, structural, and dehydrogenation properties of ammonia borane in ionic liquids

Hydrogen desorption profiles of AB–ILs with H₂ yield.

Environmental applications using graphene composites: water remediation and gas adsorption

This review deals with wide-ranging environmental studies of graphene-based materials on the adsorption of hazardous materials and photocatalytic degradation of pollutants for water remediation and the physisorption, chemisorption, reactive adsorption, and separation for gas storage. The environmental and biological toxicity of graphene, which is an important issue if graphene composites are to be applied in environmental remediation, is also addressed.

High-pressure study of lithium amidoborane using Raman spectroscopy and insight into dihydrogen bonding absence

One of the major obstacles to the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier is the lack of proper hydrogen storage material. Lithium amidoborane has attracted significant attention as hydrogen storage material. It releases ∼10.9 wt% hydrogen, which is beyond the Department of Energy target, at remarkably low temperature (∼90 °C) without borazine emission. It is essential to study the bonding behavior of this potential material to improve its dehydrogenation behavior further and also to make rehydrogenation possible. We have studied the high-pressure behavior of lithium amidoborane in a diamond anvil cell using in situ Raman spectroscopy. We have discovered that there is no dihydrogen bonding in this material, as the N-H stretching modes do not show redshift with pressure. The absence of the dihydrogen bonding in this material is an interesting phenomenon, as the dihydrogen bonding is the dominant bonding feature in its parent compound ammonia borane. This observation may provide guidance to the improvement of the hydrogen storage properties of this potential material and to design new material for hydrogen storage application. Also two phase transitions were found at high pressure at 3.9 and 12.7 GPa, which are characterized by sequential changes of Raman modes.

Mechanistic investigation on the formation and dehydrogenation of calcium amidoborane ammoniate

Possessing high H(2) capacities and interesting dehydrogenation behavior, metal amidoborane ammoniates were prepared by reacting Ca(NH(2) )(2) , MgNH, and LiNH(2) with ammonia borane to form Ca(NH(2) BH(3) )(2) ⋅2 NH(3) , Mg(NH(2) BH(3) )(2) ⋅NH(3) , and Li(NH(2) BH(3) )(2) ⋅NH(3) (LiAB⋅NH(3) ). Insight into the mechanisms of amidoborane ammoniate formation and dehydrogenation was obtained by using isotopic labeling techniques. Selective (15) N and (2) H labeling showed that the formation of the ammoniate occurs via the transfer of one H(N) from ammonia borane to the [NH(2) ](-) unit in Ca(NH(2) )(2) giving rise to NH(3) and [NH(2) BH(3) ](-) . Supported by theoretical calculations, it is suggested that the improved dehydrogenation properties of metal amidoborane ammoniates compared to metal amidoboranes are a result of the participation of a strong dihydrogen bond between the NH(3) molecule and [NH(2) BH(3) ](-) . Our study elucidates the reaction pathway involved in the synthesis and dehydrogenation of Ca(NH(2) BH(3) )(2) ⋅2 NH(3) , and clarifies our understanding of the role of NH(3) , that is, it is not only involved in stabilizing the structure, but also in improving the dehydrogenation properties of metal amidoboranes.

Ab initio study on the hydrogen desorption from MH-NH3 (M = Li, Na, K) hydrogen storage systems

The hydrogen storage system LiH + NH(3) ↔ LiNH(2) + H(2) is one of the most promising hydrogen storage systems, where the reaction yield can be increased by replacing Li in LiH with other alkali metals (Na or K) in order of Li < Na < K. In this paper, we have studied the alkali metal M (M = Li, Na, K) dependence of the reactivity of MH with NH(3) by calculating the potential barrier of the H(2) desorption process from the reaction of an M(2)H(2) cluster with an NH(3) molecule based on the ab initio structure optimization method. We have shown that the height of the potential barrier becomes lower in order of Li, Na, and K, where the difference of the potential barrier in Li and Na is relatively smaller than that in Na and K, and this tendency is consistent with the recent experimental results. We have also shown that the H-H distance of the H(2) dimer at the transition state takes larger distance and the change of the potential energy around the transition state becomes softer in order of Li, Na, and K. There are almost no M dependence in the charge of the H atom in NH(3) before the reaction, while that of the H atom in M(2)H(2) takes larger negative value in order of Li, Na, and K. We have also performed molecular dynamics simulations on the M(2)H(2)-NH(3) system and succeeded to reproduce the H(2) desorption from the reaction of Na(2)H(2) with NH(3).