Photocatalytic phosphine-mediated water activation for radical hydrogenation

The chemical activation of water would allow this earth-abundant resource to be transferred into value-added compounds, and is a topic of keen interest in energy research1,2. Here, we demonstrate water activation with a photocatalytic phosphine-mediated radical process under mild conditions. This reaction generates a metal-free PR3-H2O radical cation intermediate, in which both hydrogen atoms are used in the subsequent chemical transformation through sequential heterolytic (H+) and homolytic (H•) cleavage of the two O-H bonds. The PR3-OH radical intermediate provides an ideal platform that mimics the reactivity of a 'free' hydrogen atom, and which can be directly transferred to closed-shell π systems, such as activated alkenes, unactivated alkenes, naphthalenes and quinoline derivatives. The resulting H adduct C radicals are eventually reduced by a thiol co-catalyst, leading to overall transfer hydrogenation of the π system, with the two H atoms of water ending up in the product. The thermodynamic driving force is the strong P=O bond formed in the phosphine oxide by-product. Experimental mechanistic studies and density functional theory calculations support the hydrogen atom transfer of the PR3-OH intermediate as a key step in the radical hydrogenation process.

Direct Photocatalyzed Hydrogen Atom Transfer (HAT) for Aliphatic C-H Bonds Elaboration

Direct photocatalyzed hydrogen atom transfer (d-HAT) can be considered a method of choice for the elaboration of aliphatic C–H bonds. In this manifold, a photocatalyst (PC_HAT) exploits the energy of a photon to trigger the homolytic cleavage of such bonds in organic compounds. Selective C–H bond elaboration may be achieved by a judicious choice of the hydrogen abstractor (key parameters are the electronic character and the molecular structure), as well as reaction additives. Different are the classes of PCs_HAT available, including aromatic ketones, xanthene dyes (Eosin Y), polyoxometalates, uranyl salts, a metal-oxo porphyrin and a tris(amino)cyclopropenium radical dication. The processes (mainly C–C bond formation) are in most cases carried out under mild conditions with the help of visible light. The aim of this review is to offer a comprehensive survey of the synthetic applications of photocatalyzed d-HAT.

Mechanism-Based Inactivation of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes: Computational Insights

Mechanism-based inactivation (MBI) refers to the metabolic bioactivation of a xenobiotic by cytochrome P450s to a highly reactive intermediate which subsequently binds to the enzyme and leads to the quasi-irreversible or irreversible inhibition. Xenobiotics, mainly drugs with specific functional units, are the major sources of MBI. Two possible consequences of MBI by medicinal compounds are drug-drug interaction and severe toxicity that are observed and highlighted by clinical experiments. Today almost all of these latent functional groups (e.g., thiophene, furan, alkylamines, etc.) are known, and their features and mechanisms of action, owing to the vast experimental and theoretical studies, are determined. In the past decade, molecular modeling techniques, mostly density functional theory, have revealed the most feasible mechanism that a drug undergoes by P450 enzymes to generate a highly reactive intermediate. In this review, we provide a comprehensive and detailed picture of computational advances toward the elucidation of the activation mechanisms of various known groups with MBI activity. To this aim, we briefly describe the computational concepts to carry out and analyze the mechanistic investigations, and then, we summarize the studies on compounds with known inhibition activity including thiophene, furan, alkylamines, terminal acetylene, etc. This study can be reference literature for both theoretical and experimental (bio)chemists in several different fields including rational drug design, the process of toxicity prevention, and the discovery of novel inhibitors and catalysts.

Closed Shell Iron(IV) Oxo Complex with an Fe-O Triple Bond: Computational Design, Synthesis, and Reactivity

Iron(IV)-oxo intermediates in nature contain two unpaired electrons in the Fe-O antibonding orbitals, which are thought to contribute to their high reactivity. To challenge this hypothesis, we designed and synthesized closed-shell singlet iron(IV) oxo complex [(quinisox)Fe(O)]+ (1+ ; quinisox-H=(N-(2-(2-isoxazoline-3-yl)phenyl)quinoline-8-carboxamide). We identified the quinisox ligand by DFT computational screening out of over 450 candidates. After the ligand synthesis, we detected 1+ in the gas phase and confirmed its spin state by visible and infrared photodissociation spectroscopy (IRPD). The Fe-O stretching frequency in 1+ is 960.5 cm-1 , consistent with an Fe-O triple bond, which was also confirmed by multireference calculations. The unprecedented bond strength is accompanied by high gas-phase reactivity of 1+ in oxygen atom transfer (OAT) and in proton-coupled electron transfer reactions. This challenges the current view of the spin-state driven reactivity of the Fe-O complexes.

Synthesis of Benzylic Alcohols by C-H Oxidation

Selective methylene C-H oxidation for the synthesis of alcohols with a broad scope and functional group tolerance is challenging due to the high proclivity for further oxidation of alcohols to ketones. Here, we report the selective synthesis of benzylic alcohols employing bis(methanesulfonyl) peroxide as an oxidant. We attempt to provide a rationale for the selectivity for monooxygenation, which is distinct from previous work; a proton-coupled electron transfer mechanism (PCET) may account for the difference in reactivity. We envision that our method will be useful for applications in the discovery of drugs and agrochemicals.

Revitalizing Spin Natural Orbital Analysis: Electronic Structures of Mixed-Valence Compounds, Singlet Biradicals, and Antiferromagnetically Coupled Systems

Chemical systems with open-shell electronic structure have been gaining attention these days. Their potential applications in first-row transition metal catalysis, molecular wires, photovoltaics and other potential applications have urged the adoption of a simple analysis tool to better understand their open-shell electronic structures, especially the role played by the unpaired electrons. Despite its lack of popularity, spin natural orbital (SNO) analysis is a tool we found to well-suit this purpose. We have therefore re-examined how the SNO could help us analyze some interesting open-shell systems, including mixed-valence compounds, singlet biradicals, and antiferromagnetically coupled systems. We found that some interesting patterns emerge from SNO analysis, especially those associated with exchange interaction. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Catalytic mechanism of the PrhA (V150L/A232S) double mutant involved in the fungal meroterpenoid biosynthetic pathway: a QM/MM study

QM/MM calculations reveal the mechanism of a nonheme Fe(ii)/α-ketoglutarate-dependent oxygenase involved in the fungal meroterpenoid biosynthetic pathway.

Proton coupled electron transfer: novel photochromic performance in a host–guest collaborative MOF

Proton coupled electron transfer has been successfully introduced to a host–guest collaborative MOF material, which exhibits novel photochromic properties with reversible, controllable and efficient characteristics.

Intrinsic Reactivity of Diatomic 3d Transition-Metal Carbides in the Thermal Activation of Methane: Striking Electronic Structure Effects

Mechanistic aspects of the C-H bond activation of methane by metal-carbide cations MC⁺ of the 3d transition-metals Sc-Zn were elucidated by NEVPT2//CASSCF quantum-chemical calculations and verified experimentally for M = Ti, V, Fe, and Cu by using Fourier transform ion-cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. While MC⁺ species with M = Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Cu, and Zn activate CH₄ at ambient temperature, this is prevented with carbide cations of M = Mn, Fe, and Co by high apparent barriers; NiC⁺ has a small apparent barrier. Hydrogen-atom transfers from methane to metal-carbide cations were found to proceed via a proton-coupled electron transfer mechanism for M = Sc-Co; wherein the doubly occupied π_xz/yz-orbitals between metal and carbon at the carbon site serve as electron donors and the corresponding metal-centered vacant π*_xz/yz-orbitals as electron acceptors. Classical hydrogen-atom transfer transpires only in the case of NiC⁺, while ZnC⁺ follows a mechanistic scenario, in which a formally hydridic hydrogen is transferred. CuC⁺ reacts by a synchronous activation of two C-H bonds. While spin density is often so crucial for the reactions of numerous MO⁺/CH₄ couples, it is much less important for the C-H bond activation by carbide cations of the 3d transition-metals, in which one notes large changes in bond dissociation energies, spin states, number of d-electrons, and charge distributions. All these factors jointly affect both the reactivity of the metal carbides and their mechanisms of C-H bond activation.

Combined Multistate and Kohn-Sham Density Functional Theory Studies of the Elusive Mechanism of N-Dealkylation of N,N-Dimethylanilines Mediated by the Biomimetic Nonheme Oxidant FeIV(O)(N4Py)(ClO4)2

The oxidative C-H bond activation mediated by heme and nonheme enzymes and related biomimetics is one of the most interesting processes in bioinorganic and oxidative chemistry. However, the mechanisms of these reactions are still elusive and controversy due to the involvement of highly reactive metal-oxo intermediates with multiple spin states, despite extensive experimental efforts, especially for the N-dealkylation of N,N-dialkyalinines. In this work, we employed multistate density functional theory (MSDFT) and the Kohn-Sham DFT to investigate the mechanism of N-demethylation of N,N-dimethyalinines oxidized by the reaction intermediate Fe^IV(O)(N4Py)(ClO₄)₂. The Kohn-Sham DFT study demonstrated that the reaction proceeds via a rate-limiting hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) step and a subsequent barrier-free oxygen rebound step to form the carbinol product. The MSDFT investigation on the first C-H activation further showed that this step is an initial hydrogen atom abstraction that is highly correlated between CEPT and HAT, i.e., both CEPT and HAT processes make significant contributions to the mechanism before reaching the diabatic crossing point, then the valence bond character of the adiabatic ground state is switched to the CEPT product configuration. The findings from this work may be applicable to other hydrogen abstraction process.

Electronic Effects on Room-Temperature, Gas-Phase C-H Bond Activations by Cluster Oxides and Metal Carbides: The Methane Challenge

This Perspective discusses a story of one molecule (methane), a few metal-oxide cationic clusters (MOCCs), dopants, metal-carbide cations, oriented-electric fields (OEFs), and a dizzying mechanistic landscape of methane activation! One mechanism is hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), which occurs whenever the MOCC possesses a localized oxyl radical (M-O^•). Whenever the radical is delocalized, e.g., in [MgO]_n^•+ the HAT barrier increases due to the penalty of radical localization. Adding a dopant (Ga₂O₃) to [MgO]₂^•+ localizes the radical and HAT transpires. Whenever the radical is located on the metal centers as in [Al₂O₂]^•+ the mechanism crosses over to proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET), wherein the positive Al center acts as a Lewis acid that coordinates the methane molecule, while one of the bridging oxygen atoms abstracts a proton, and the negatively charged CH₃ moiety relocates to the metal fragment. We provide a diagnostic plot of barriers vs reactants' distortion energies, which allows the chemist to distinguish HAT from PCET. Thus, doping of [MgO]₂^•+ by Al₂O₃ enables HAT and PCET to compete. Similarly, [ZnO]^•+ activates methane by PCET generating many products. Adding a CH₃CN ligand to form [(CH₃CN)ZnO]^•+ leads to a single HAT product. The CH₃CN dipole acts as an OEF that switches off PCET. [MC]⁺ cations (M = Au, Cu) act by different mechanisms, dictated by the M⁺-C bond covalence. For example, Cu⁺, which bonds the carbon atom mostly electrostatically, performs coupling of C to methane to yield ethylene, in a single almost barrier-free step, with an unprecedented atomic choreography catalyzed by the OEF of Cu⁺.

Bimodal Evans-Polanyi Relationships in Dioxirane Oxidations of sp3 C-H: Non-perfect Synchronization in Generation of Delocalized Radical Intermediates

The selectivities in C-H oxidations of a variety of compounds by DMDO have been explored with density functional theory. There is a linear Evans-Polanyi-type correlation for saturated substrates. Activation energies correlate with reaction energies or, equivalently, BDEs (ΔH^‡_sat = 0.91*BDE - 67.8). Unsaturated compounds, such as alkenes, aromatics, and carbonyls, exhibit a different correlation for allylic and benzylic C-H bonds (ΔH^‡_unsat = 0.35*BDE - 13.1). Bernasconi's Principle of Non-Perfect Synchronization (NPS) is found to operate here. The origins of this phenomenon were analyzed by a Distortion/Interaction model. Computations indicate early transition states for H-abstractions from allylic and benzylic C-H bonds, but later transition states for the saturated. The reactivities are mainly modulated by the distortion energy and the degree of dissociation of the C-H bond. While the increase in barrier with higher BDE is not unexpected from the Evans-Polanyi relationship, two separate correlations, one for saturated compounds, and one for unsaturated leading to delocalized radicals, were unexpected.

Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer in Organic Synthesis: Fundamentals, Applications, and Opportunities

Proton-coupled electron transfers (PCETs) are unconventional redox processes in which both protons and electrons are exchanged, often in a concerted elementary step. While PCET is now recognized to play a central a role in biological redox catalysis and inorganic energy conversion technologies, its applications in organic synthesis are only beginning to be explored. In this chapter, we aim to highlight the origins, development, and evolution of the PCET processes most relevant to applications in organic synthesis. Particular emphasis is given to the ability of PCET to serve as a non-classical mechanism for homolytic bond activation that is complimentary to more traditional hydrogen atom transfer processes, enabling the direct generation of valuable organic radical intermediates directly from their native functional group precursors under comparatively mild catalytic conditions. The synthetically advantageous features of PCET reactivity are described in detail, along with examples from the literature describing the PCET activation of common organic functional groups.

Sequential Oxidative α-Cyanation/Anti-Markovnikov Hydroalkoxylation of Allylamines

Iron-catalyzed oxidative α-cyanations at tertiary allylamines in the allylic position are followed by anti-Markovnikov additions of alcohols across the vinylic CC double bonds of the initially generated α-amino nitriles. These consecutive reactions generate 2-amino-4-alkoxybutanenitriles from three reactants (allylamines, trimethylsilyl cyanide, and alcohols) in one reaction vessel at ambient temperature.

Photochemically induced radical reactions with furanones

Radicals are easily generated via hydrogen transfer form secondary alcohols or tertiary amines using photochemical sensitization with ketones. They can subsequently add to the electron deficient double bond of furanones. The addition of the alcohols is particularly efficient. Therefore, this reaction was used to characterize and to compare the efficiency of different photochemical continuous flow microreactors. A range of micro-structured reactors were tested and their performances evaluated. The enclosed microchip enabled high space-time-yields but its microscopic dimensions limited its productivity. In contrast, the open microcapillary model showed a greater potential for scale-up and reactor optimization. A 10-microcapillary reactor was therefore constructed and utilized for typical R&D applications. Compared to the corresponding batch processes, the microreactor systems gave faster conversions, improved product qualities and higher yields. Similar reactions have also been carried out with electronically excited furanones and other α,β-unsaturated ketones. In this case, hydrogen is transferred directly to the excited olefin. This reaction part may occur either in one step, i.e., electron and proton are transferred simultaneously, or it may occur in two steps, i.e., the electron is transferred first and the proton follows. In the first case, a C–C bond is formed in the α position of the α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compound and in the second case this bond is formed in the β position. For the first reaction, the influence of stereochemical elements of the substrate on the regioselectivity of the hydrogen abstraction on the side chain has been studied.

A tutorial for understanding chemical reactivity through the valence bond approach

This is a tutorial on the usage of valence bond (VB) diagrams for understanding chemical reactivity in general, and hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reactivity in particular. The tutorial instructs the reader how to construct the VB diagrams and how to estimate HAT barriers from raw data, starting with the simplest reaction H + H2 and going all the way to HAT in the enzyme cytochrome P450. Other reactions are treated as well, and some unifying principles are outlined. The tutorial projects the unity of reactivity treatments, following Coulson's dictum "give me insight, not numbers", albeit with its modern twist: giving numbers and insight.

Do Spin State and Spin Density Affect Hydrogen Atom Transfer Reactivity?

The prevalence of hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reactions in chemical and biological systems has prompted much interest in establishing and understanding the underlying factors that enable this reactivity. Arguments have been advanced that the electronic spin state of the abstractor and/or the spin-density at the abstracting atom are critical for HAT reactivity. This is consistent with the intuition derived from introductory organic chemistry courses. Herein we present an alternative view on the role of spin state and spin-density in HAT reactions. After a brief introduction, the second section introduces a new and simple fundamental kinetic analysis, which shows that unpaired spin cannot be the dominant effect. The third section examines published computational studies of HAT reactions, which indicates that the spin state affects these reactions indirectly, primarily via changes in driving force. The essay concludes with a broader view of HAT reactivity, including indirect effects of spin and other properties on reactivity. It is suggested that some of the controversy in this area may arise from the diversity of HAT reactions and their overlap with proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions.

Dichotomous hydrogen atom transfer vs proton-coupled electron transfer during activation of X-H bonds (X = C, N, O) by nonheme iron-oxo complexes of variable basicity

We describe herein the hydrogen-atom transfer (HAT)/proton-coupled electron-transfer (PCET) reactivity for Fe(IV)-oxo and Fe(III)-oxo complexes (1-4) that activate C-H, N-H, and O-H bonds in 9,10-dihydroanthracene (S1), dimethylformamide (S2), 1,2-diphenylhydrazine (S3), p-methoxyphenol (S4), and 1,4-cyclohexadiene (S5). In 1-3, the iron is pentacoordinated by tris[N'-tert-butylureaylato)-N-ethylene]aminato ([H3buea](3-)) or its derivatives. These complexes are basic, in the order 3 ≫ 1 > 2. Oxidant 4, [Fe(IV)N4Py(O)](2+) (N4Py: N,N-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)bis(2-pyridyl)methylamine), is the least basic oxidant. The DFT results match experimental trends and exhibit a mechanistic spectrum ranging from concerted HAT and PCET reactions to concerted-asynchronous proton transfer (PT)/electron transfer (ET) mechanisms, all the way to PT. The singly occupied orbital along the O···H···X (X = C, N, O) moiety in the TS shows clearly that in the PCET cases, the electron is transferred separately from the proton. The Bell-Evans-Polanyi principle does not account for the observed reactivity pattern, as evidenced by the scatter in the plot of calculated barrier vs reactions driving forces. However, a plot of the deformation energy in the TS vs the respective barrier provides a clear signature of the HAT/PCET dichotomy. Thus, in all C-H bond activations, the barrier derives from the deformation energy required to create the TS, whereas in N-H/O-H bond activations, the deformation energy is much larger than the corresponding barrier, indicating the presence of a stabilizing interaction between the TS fragments. A valence bond model is used to link the observed results with the basicity/acidity of the reactants.

How is a metabolic intermediate formed in the mechanism-based inactivation of cytochrome P450 by using 1,1-dimethylhydrazine: hydrogen abstraction or nitrogen oxidation?

A precise understanding of the mechanism-based inactivation of cytochrome P450 enzymes (P450s) at the quantum mechanical level should allow more reliable predictions of drug-drug interactions than those currently available. Hydrazines are among the molecules that act as mechanism-based inactivators to terminate the function of P450s, which are essential heme enzymes responsible for drug metabolism in the human body. Despite its importance, the mechanism explaining how a metabolic intermediate (MI) is formed from hydrazine is not fully understood. We used density functional theory (DFT) calculations to compare four possible mechanisms underlying the reaction between 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (or unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, UDMH) and the reactive compound I (Cpd I) intermediate of P450. Our DFT calculations provided a clear view on how an aminonitrene-type MI is formed from UDMH. In the most favorable pathway, hydrogen is spontaneously abstracted from the N2 atom of UDMH by Cpd I, followed by a second hydrogen abstraction from the N2 atom by Cpd II. Nitrogen oxidation of nitrogen atoms and hydrogen abstraction from the C-H bond of the methyl group were found to be less favorable than the hydrogen abstraction from the N-H bond. We also found that the reaction of protonated UDMH with Cpd I is rather sluggish. The aminonitrene-type MI binds to the ferric heme more strongly than a water molecule. This is consistent with the notion that the catalytic cycle of P450 is impeded when such an MI is produced through the P450-catalyzed reaction.

The Third Dimension of a More O'Ferrall-Jencks Diagram for Hydrogen Atom Transfer in the Isoelectronic Hydrogen Exchange Reactions of (PhX)(2)H(•) with X = O, NH, and CH(2)

A critical element in theoretical characterization of the mechanism of proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions, including hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), is the formulation of the electron and proton localized diabatic states, based on which a More O'Ferrall-Jencks diagram can be represented to determine the step-wise and concerted nature of the reaction. Although the More O'Ferrall-Jencks diabatic states have often been used empirically to develop theoretical models for PCET reactions, the potential energy surfaces for these states have never been determined directly based on first principles calculations using electronic structure theory. The difficulty is due to a lack of practical method to constrain electron and proton localized diabatic states in wave function or density functional theory calculations. Employing a multistate density functional theory (MSDFT), in which the electron and proton localized diabatic configurations are constructed through block-localization of Kohn-Sham orbitals, we show that distinction between concerted proton-electron transfer (CPET) and HAT, which are not distinguishable experimentally from phenomenological kinetic data, can be made by examining the third dimension of a More O'Ferrall-Jencks diagram that includes both the ground and excited state potential surfaces. In addition, we formulate a pair of effective two-state valence bond models to represent the CPET and HAT mechanisms. We found that the lower energy of the CPET and HAT effective diabatic states at the intersection point can be used as an energetic criterion to distinguish the two mechanisms. In the isoelectronic series of hydrogen exchange reaction in (PhX)(2)H(•), where X = O, NH, and CH(2), there is a continuous transition from a CPET mechanism for the phenoxy radical-phenol pair to a HAT process for benzyl radical and toluene, while the reaction between PhNH(2) and PhNH(•) has a mechanism intermediate of CPET and HAT. The electronically nonadiabatic nature of the CPET mechanism in the phenol system can be attributed to the overlap interactions between the ground and excited state surfaces, resulting in roughly orthogonal minimum energy paths on the adiabatic ground and excited state potential energy surfaces. On the other hand, the minimum energy path on the adiabatic ground state for the HAT mechanism coincides with that on the excited state, producing a large electronic coupling that separates the two surfaces by more than 120 kcal/mol.