Catalytic aerobic oxidation of halogenated phenols

Comparative studies of transformation behaviors and mechanisms of halophenols in multiple chemical oxidative systems

Due to wide applications, halophenols (HPs), especially bromophenols, chlorophenols, and fluorophenols, are commonly detected but resistant to biological removal in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). This study investigated the overall transformation behaviors of three representative HPs (2,4-dichlorophenol: 24-DCP, 2,4-dibromophenol: 24-DBP, 2,4-difluorophenol: 24-DFP) in six chemical oxidative systems (KMnO₄, K₂FeO₄, NaClO, O₃, UV, and persulfate (PS)). The results revealed fast removal of selected HPs by O₃, PS and K₂FeO₄, while a large discrepancy in their removal efficiencies occurred under UV irradiation, KMnO₄ oxidation and particularly chlorination. Based on the analysis of the identified intermediates and products, coupling among the five routes was the general route, and dimers were the main intermediates for HP oxidation. The effect of the halogen atom on the transformation pathways of HPs was highly reaction type dependent. Among the six chemical treatments, PS could induce HPs to yield relatively low-molecular-weight polymers and obtain the highest coupling degree. Transition state (TS) calculations showed that the H atom linked to the phenoxy group of HPs was the most easily abstracted by hydroxyl radicals to form the coupling precursor, i.e., phenoxy radicals. This high coupling behavior further resulted in the increased toxicity to green algae. Characterization revealed that HP reaction solutions treated with PS had a severely negative effect on algae growth, photosynthetic pigment synthesis, and the antioxidant enzyme system. These findings can shed light on the reaction mechanisms of advanced oxidation technologies and some risk management and control of PS technique may be considered when treating phenolic pollutants.

Computational insight into biotransformation of halophenols by cytochrome P450: Mechanism and reactivity for epoxidation

Halophenols (XPs) have aroused great interests due to their high toxicity and low biodegradability. Previous experimental studies have shown that XPs can be catalytically transformed into epoxides and haloquinones by cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs). However, these metabolites have never been detected directly. Moreover, the effects of the reaction site and the type and number of halogen substituents on the biotransformation reactivity of halophenols still remain unknown. In this work, we performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to simulate the CYP-mediated biotransformation of 36 XPs with mono-, di-, and tri-halogen (F, Cl, and Br) substitutions to unravel the mechanism and relevant kinetics of XPs epoxidation. The whole epoxidation process consists of initial rate-determining O-addition and subsequent ring-closure steps. The simulation results show that the epoxidation in low-spin (LS) state is kinetically preferred over that in high-spin (HS) state, and the formation of epoxide metabolite is strongly exothermic. For all XPs, the epoxidation reactivity follows the order of ortho/para O-addition > meta O-addition. Moreover, the O-addition with higher energy barriers roughly corresponds to chlorophenols and fluorophenols with more halogen atoms. Compared with dichlorophenols, the additional ortho-Cl substitution on trichlorophenols can slightly increase the energy barriers of meta O-addition. By contrast, the additional inclusion of an ortho-Cl to monochlorophenols enhances the meta O-addition reactivity of dichlorophenols. Overall, the present work clarifies the biotransformation routes of XPs to produce epoxides, and identifies the key factors affecting the epoxidation reactivity, which are beneficial in understanding comprehensively the metabolic fate and toxicity of XPs.

Experimental and theoretical affinity and catalysis studies between halogenated phenols and peroxidases: Understanding the bioremediation potential

Halogenated phenols, such as 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) and 4-bromophenol (4-BP) are pollutants generated by a various industrial sectors like chemical, dye, paper bleaching, pharmaceuticals or in an agriculture as pesticides. The use of Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in the halogenated phenols treatment has already been mentioned, but it is not well understood how the different phenolic substrates can bind in the peroxidase active site nor how these specific interactions can influence in the bioremediation potential. In this work, different removal efficiencies were obtained for phenolic compounds investigated using HRP as catalyst (93.87 and 59.19% to 4BP and 2,4 DCP, respectively). Thus, to rationalize this result based on the interactions of phenols with active center of HRP, we combine computational and experimental methodologies. The theoretical approaches utilized include density functional theory (DFT) calculations, docking simulation and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) technique. Michaelis Menten constant (Km) obtained through experimental methodologies were 2.3 and 0.95 mM to 2,4-DCP and 4-BP, respectively, while the specificity constant (K_cat/K_m) found was 1.44 mM^-1 s^-1 and 0.62 mM^-1 s^-1 for 4-BP and 2,4-DCP, respectively. The experimental parameters appointed to the highest affinity of HRP to 4-BP. According to the molecular docking calculations, both ligands have shown stabilizing intermolecular interaction energies within the HRP active site, however, the 4-BP showed more stabilizing interaction energy (-53.00 kcal mol^-1) than 2,4-dichlorophenol (-49.23 kcal mol^-1). Besides that, oxidative mechanism of 4-BP and 2,4-DCP was investigated by the hybrid QM/MM approach. This study showed that the lowest activation energy values for transition states investigated were obtained for 4-BP. Therefore, by theoretical approach, the compound 4-BP showed the more stabilizing interaction and activation energy values related to the interaction within the enzyme and the oxidative reaction mechanism, respectively, which corroborates with experimental parameters obtained. The combination between experimental and theoretical approaches was essential to understand how the degradation potential of the HRP enzyme depends on the interactions between substrate and the active center cavity of the enzyme.

Dearomatization of Electron-Deficient Phenols to ortho-Quinones: Bidentate Nitrogen-Ligated Iodine(V) Reagents

Despite their broad utility, the synthesis of ortho-quinones remains a significant challenge, in particular, access to electron-deficient derivatives remains an unsolved problem. Reported here is the first general method for the synthesis of electron-deficient ortho-quinones by direct oxidation of phenols. The reaction is enabled by a novel bidentate nitrogen-ligated iodine(V) reagent, a previously unexplored class of compounds which we have termed Bi(N)-HVIs. The reaction is extremely general and proceeds with excellent regioselectivity for the ortho over para isomer. Functionalization of the ortho-quinone products was examined, resulting in a facile one-pot synthesis of catechols, as well as the incorporation of a variety of heteroatom nucleophiles. This method represents the first synthetic application of Bi(N)-HVIs and demonstrates their potential as a platform for the further development of highly reactive, but also highly tunable, I(V) reagents.

Chromium-Salen Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Phenols: Mechanism and Origin of the Selectivity

A highly chemoselective phenol cross-coupling reaction catalyzed by a Cr-salen catalyst was developed. Kinetic studies showed that the oxidation of Cr(III) to Cr(V) is the rate-determining step of the reaction. In addition, experimental stoichiometric analysis showed that a high valent Cr(V) species is the active catalyst for this process. The selectivity of the reaction was found to be determined by the cross-coupling carbon-carbon bond forming reaction, rather than any precoordination species. It appears that the lowest energy cross-coupling pathway requires a lesser degree of electronic reorganization in its transition state vs the lowest energy homocoupling pathway. This result was supported by stoichiometric Cr(V) kinetics, ¹³C kinetic isotope effects, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The understanding of the full landscape of this reaction allowed us to develop a general analysis to predict the regioselectivity of the cross-coupling reaction.

Cu(i)-O2 oxidation reactions in a fluorinated all-O-donor ligand environment

Investigation of Cu-O2 oxidation reactivity is important in biological and anthropogenic chemistry. Zeolites are one of the most promising Cu/O based oxidation catalysts for development of industrial-scale CH4 to CH3OH conversion. Their oxidation mechanisms are not well understood, however, highlighting the importance of the investigation of molecular Cu(i)-O2 reactivity with O-donor complexes. Herein, we give an overview of the synthesis, structural properties, and O2 reactivity of three different series of O-donor fluorinated Cu(i) alkoxides: K[Cu(OR)2], [(Ph3P)Cu(μ-OR)2Cu(PPh3)], and K[(R3P)Cu(pinF)], in which OR = fluorinated monodentate alkoxide ligands and pinF = perfluoropinacolate. This breadth allowed for the exploration of the influence of the denticity of the ligand, coordination number, the presence of phosphine, and KF/O interactions on their O2 reactivity. KF/O interactions were required to activate O2 in the monodentate-ligand-only family, whereas these connections did not affect O2 activation in the bidentate complexes, potentially due to the presence of phosphine. Both families formed trisanionic, trinuclear cores of the form {Cu3(μ3-O)2}3-. Intramolecular and intermolecular substrate oxidation were also explored and found to be influenced by the fluorinated ligand. Namely, {Cu3(μ3-O)2}3- from K[Cu(OR)2] could perform both monooxygenase reactivity and oxidase catalysis, whereas those from K[(R3P)Cu(pinF)] could only perform oxidase catalysis.