Synthesis and Reactivity of Alkali Metal Hydrido-Magnesiate Complexes which Exhibit Group 1 Metal Counter-Cation Specific Stability

Reactions of the series of alkali metal amides M(HMDS) (M = Li-Cs; HMDS = [N(SiMe3)2]-) with the neutral magnesium(II) hydride compound [Mg(BDIDipp)(μ-H)]2 (BDIDipp = [CH{C(Me)NDipp}2], Dipp = 2,6-iPr2-C6H3) have been carried out. When M = Li or Na, the reactions yielded Mg(BDIDipp)(HMDS) and MH as the primary products. In the sodium amide reaction, [Na2(HMDS)][{Mg(BDIDipp)}2(H)3] was obtained as a low-yield by-product. When M = K-Cs, the reactions gave the group 1 metal hydrido-magnesiates, M2[Mg(BDIDipp)(HMDS)(H)]2·(benzene)n (n = 0 or 1), the thermal stability of which increases with the increasing molecular weight of the alkali metal involved. Reactions of Cs2[Mg(BDIDipp)(HMDS)(H)]2·(benzene) with 18-crown-6 and CO gave the first monomeric alkali metal hydrido-magnesiate [Cs(18-crown-6)][Mg(BDIDipp)(HMDS)(H)] and the ethenediolate complex Cs2[{Mg(BDIDipp)(HMDS)}2(μ-C2H2O2)], respectively. The new synthetic route to alkali metal hydrido-magnesiates described herein may facilitate further reactivity studies of this rare compound class.

Molecular Main Group Metal Hydrides

This review serves to document advances in the synthesis, versatile bonding, and reactivity of molecular main group metal hydrides within Groups 1, 2, and 12-16. Particular attention will be given to the emerging use of said hydrides in the rapidly expanding field of Main Group element-mediated catalysis. While this review is comprehensive in nature, focus will be given to research appearing in the open literature since 2001.

O,N-Heterocyclic germylenes as efficient catalysts for hydroboration and cyanosilylation of benzaldehyde

Novel O,N-heterocyclic germylenes were examined as catalysts for cyanosilylation and hydroboration of benzaldehyde.

N-Hydroxyphthalimide/benzoquinone-catalyzed chlorination of hydrocarbon C-H bond using N-chlorosuccinimide

The direct chlorination of C-H bonds has received considerable attention in recent years. In this work, a metal-free protocol for hydrocarbon C-H bond chlorination with commercially available N-chlorosuccinimide (NCS) catalyzed by N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) with 2,3-dicyano-5,6-dichlorobenzoquinone (DDQ) functioning as an external radical initiator is presented. Aliphatic and benzylic substituents and also heteroaromatic ones were found to be well tolerated. Both the experiments and theoretical analysis indicate that the reaction goes through a process wherein NHPI functions as a catalyst rather than as an initiator. On the other hand, the hydrogen abstraction of the C-H bond conducted by a PINO species rather than the highly reactive N-centered radicals rationalizes the high chemoselectivity of the monochlorination obtained by this protocol as the latter is reactive towards the C(sp3)-H bonds of the monochlorides. The present results could hold promise for further development of a nitroxy-radical system for the highly selective functionalization of the aliphatic and benzylic hydrocarbon C-H.

Role of Alkaline-Earth Metal-Catalyst: A Theoretical Study of Pyridines Hydroboration

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been performed to investigate the mechanism of alkaline-earth-metal-catalyzed hydroboration of pyridines with borane. In this reaction, the active catalytic species is considered to be an alkaline earth metal hydride complex when the corresponding alkaline earth metal is used as the catalyst. The theoretical results reveal that initiation of the catalytic cycle is hydride transfer to generate a magnesium hydride complex when β-diimine alkylmagnesium is used as a pre-catalyst. The magnesium hydride complex can undergo coordination of the pyridine reactant followed by hydride transfer to form a dearomatized magnesium pyridine intermediate. Coordination of borane and hydride transfer from borohydride to magnesium then give the hydroboration product and regenerate the active magnesium hydride catalyst. The rate-determining step of the catalytic cycle is hydride transfer to pyridine with a free energy barrier of 29.7 kcal/mol. Other alkaline earth metal complexes, including calcium and strontium complexes, were also considered. The DFT calculations show that the corresponding activation free energies for the rate-determining step of this reaction with calcium and strontium catalysts are much lower than with the magnesium catalyst. Therefore, calcium and strontium complexes can be used as the catalyst for the reaction, which could allow mild reaction conditions.

Benchmark study of popular density functionals for calculating binding energies of three-center two-electron bonds

Density functional theory (DFT) can be used to study the three-center two-electron (3c2e) bonding mode, which is universal in catalysts containing alkaline-earth (Ae) and boron-group (Bg) elements. However, because of the delocalization pattern of the 3c2e bond, the wavefunction cannot be accurately described by DFT methods. The calculated energies of Ae and Bg catalysts therefore fluctuate greatly when different functionals are used, largely because of inconsistent DFT-calculated binding energies of 3c2e bonds. Nevertheless, with the development of supercomputers and theoretical calculation software, the DFT method is becoming increasingly popular for studying Ae and Bg catalysts. In this study, we compared the performances of 21 functionals with the high-level composite G3B3 method in calculations for the binding energies of 3c2e bonds. Several frequently used post-Hartree-Fock methods were also tested. The calculation results indicate that the M06-2X, MN12-L, and MN15 functionals give consistent and reliable binding energies for common 3c2e bonds. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Nanostructured Metal Hydrides for Hydrogen Storage

Knowledge and foundational understanding of phenomena associated with the behavior of materials at the nanoscale is one of the key scientific challenges toward a sustainable energy future. Size reduction from bulk to the nanoscale leads to a variety of exciting and anomalous phenomena due to enhanced surface-to-volume ratio, reduced transport length, and tunable nanointerfaces. Nanostructured metal hydrides are an important class of materials with significant potential for energy storage applications. Hydrogen storage in nanoscale metal hydrides has been recognized as a potentially transformative technology, and the field is now growing steadily due to the ability to tune the material properties more independently and drastically compared to those of their bulk counterparts. The numerous advantages of nanostructured metal hydrides compared to bulk include improved reversibility, altered heats of hydrogen absorption/desorption, nanointerfacial reaction pathways with faster rates, and new surface states capable of activating chemical bonds. This review aims to summarize the progress to date in the area of nanostructured metal hydrides and intends to understand and explain the underpinnings of the innovative concepts and strategies developed over the past decade to tune the thermodynamics and kinetics of hydrogen storage reactions. These recent achievements have the potential to propel further the prospects of tuning the hydride properties at nanoscale, with several promising directions and strategies that could lead to the next generation of solid-state materials for hydrogen storage applications.

Long distance unconjugated agostic-assisted 1,5-H shift in a Ru-mediated Alder-ene type reaction: mechanism and stereoselectivity

A long distance unconjugated novel 1,5-H shift mechanism for a Ru-catalyzed Alder-ene type alkene–alkyne coupling reaction was examined by DFT.