13C and (15)N Kinetic Isotope Effects on the Decarboxylation of 3-Carboxybenzisoxazole. Theory vs Experiment

Theoretical Simulations of Kinetic Isotope Effects on Decarboxylation of 3-Carboxybenzisoxazole

Kinetic isotope effect values on the decarboxylation of 3-carboxybenzisoxazole have been computed using the second-order Kleinert's variational perturbation theory in the framework of Feynman's path integrals along with the potential energy surface obtained at the MP2/6-31+G(d) level. Good agreement with the experimental data was obtained, demonstrating that this novel computational approach for computing KIE values of organic reaction is a viable alternative to the traditional method employing the Bigeleisen equation and harmonic vibrational frequencies. Compared with the experimental measurements, consideration of anharmonicity and tunneling effects can significantly improve the calculated KIE values, reducing the root-mean-square deviation from 1.19 % for traditional method to 0.20 % for path-integral method.

Influence of inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonding on kemp decarboxylations from QM/MM simulations

The Kemp decarboxylation reaction for benzisoxazole-3-carboxylic acid derivatives has been investigated using QM/MM calculations in protic and dipolar aprotic solvents. Aprotic solvents have been shown to accelerate the rates of reaction by 7-8 orders of magnitude over water; however, the inclusion of an internal hydrogen bond effectively inhibits the reaction with near solvent independence. The effects of solvation and intramolecular hydrogen bonding on the reactants, transition structures, and the rate of reaction are elucidated using two-dimensional potentials of mean force (PMF) derived from free energy perturbation calculations in Monte Carlo simulations (MC/FEP). Free energies of activation in six solvents have been computed to be in close agreement with experiment. Solute-solvent interaction energies show that poorer solvation of the reactant anion in the dipolar aprotic solvents is primarily responsible for the observed rate enhancements over protic media. In addition, a discrepancy for the experimental rate in chloroform has been studied in detail with the conclusion that ion-pairing between the reactant anion and tetramethylguanidinium counterion is responsible for the anomalously slow reaction rate. The overall quantitative success of the computations supports the present QM/MM/MC approach, which features PDDG/PM3 as the QM method.

Nitrogen kinetic isotope effects on the decarboxylation of 4-pyridylacetic acid

Nitrogen kinetic isotope effects on the decarboxylation of 4-pyridylacetic acid have been measured in solvents of different polarity and have been found to vary from the inverse value of 0.994 to the normal value of 1.002 upon increase of water content of the binary dioxane--water solvent from 25% to 75% (v/v), respectively. These changes were successfully modeled theoretically and shown to originate from the large inverse nitrogen isotope effect on the equilibrium between acidic and zwitterionic forms.

Solvent-dependent transition states for decarboxylations

The rate constants and kinetic isotope effects for decarboxylation of 4-pyridylacetic acid depend strongly on whether the solvent is water or dioxane, and the present paper interprets this finding. We calculate the solvent dependence of the free energy barrier and of the (13)C and (18)O kinetic isotope effects using a quantum mechanical solvation model based on class IV charges and semiempirical atomic surface tensions. The calculations provide a consistent interpretation of the experimental results, which provides a striking confirmation of the soundness of the solvation modeling. Even more significantly, the agreement of theory and experiment gives us confidence in the physical picture of the reaction provided by the model. This indicates that the location of the transition state, as measured by the length of the breaking C--C bond, is 0.24 A later than the gas phase in dioxane and 0.37 A later than the gas phase in water. Charge development at the transition state also depends strongly on the solvent; in particular the CO(2) moiety is 0.07 electronic charge units more negative at the transition state in dioxane than in water.