An NMR relaxation study on the proton transfer in the hydrogen bonded carboxylic acid dimers

1H/17O Chemical Shift Waves in Carboxyl-Bridged Hydrogen Bond Networks in Organic Solids

We report solid-state 1H and 17O NMR results for four 17O-labeled organic compounds each containing an extensive carboxyl-bridged hydrogen bond (CBHB) network in the crystal lattice: tetrabutylammonium hydrogen di-[17O2]salicylate (1), [17O4]quinolinic acid (2), [17O4]dinicotinic acid (3), and [17O2]Gly/[17O2]Gly·HCl cocrystal (4). The 1H isotropic chemical shifts found for protons involved in different CBHB networks are between 8.2 and 20.5 ppm, which reflect very different hydrogen-bonding environments. Similarly, the 17O isotropic chemical shifts found for the carboxylate oxygen atoms in CBHB networks, spanning a large range between 166 and 341 ppm, are also remarkably sensitive to the hydrogen-bonding environments. We introduced a simple graphical representation in which 1H and 17O chemical shifts are displayed along the H and O atomic chains that form the CBHB network. In such a depiction, because wavy patterns are often observed, we refer to these wavy patterns as 1H/17O chemical shift waves. Typical patterns of 1H/17O chemical shift waves in CBHB networks are discussed. The reported 1H and 17O NMR parameters for the CBHB network models examined in this study can serve as benchmarks to aid in spectral interpretation for CBHB networks in proteins.

Solid-State Structural Properties of Alloxazine Determined from Powder XRD Data in Conjunction with DFT-D Calculations and Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy: Unraveling the Tautomeric Identity and Pathways for Tautomeric Interconversion

We report the solid-state structural properties of alloxazine, a tricyclic ring system found in many biologically important molecules, with structure determination carried out directly from powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. As the crystal structures containing the alloxazine and isoalloxazine tautomers both give a high-quality fit to the powder XRD data in Rietveld refinement, other techniques are required to establish the tautomeric form in the solid state. In particular, high-resolution solid-state ¹⁵N NMR data support the presence of the alloxazine tautomer, based on comparison between isotropic chemical shifts in the experimental ¹⁵N NMR spectrum and the corresponding values calculated for the crystal structures containing the alloxazine and isoalloxazine tautomers. Furthermore, periodic DFT-D calculations at the PBE0-MBD level indicate that the crystal structure containing the alloxazine tautomer has significantly lower energy. We also report computational investigations of the interconversion between the tautomeric forms in the crystal structure via proton transfer along two intermolecular N-H···N hydrogen bonds; DFT-D calculations at the PBE0-MBD level indicate that the tautomeric interconversion is associated with a lower energy transition state for a mechanism involving concerted (rather than sequential) proton transfer along the two hydrogen bonds. However, based on the relative energies of the crystal structures containing the alloxazine and isoalloxazine tautomers, it is estimated that under conditions of thermal equilibrium at ambient temperature, more than 99.9% of the molecules in the crystal structure will exist as the alloxazine tautomer.

Hydrogen Bonds: Raman Spectroscopic Study

The work outlines general ideas on how the frequency and the intensity of proton vibrations of X–H···Y hydrogen bonding are formed as the bond evolves from weak to maximally strong bonding. For this purpose, the Raman spectra of different chemical compounds with moderate, strong, and extremely strong hydrogen bonds were obtained in the temperature region of 5 K–300 K. The dependence of the proton vibrational frequency is schematically presented as a function of the rigidity of O-H···O bonding. The problems of proton dynamics on tautomeric O–H···O bonds are considered. A brief description of the N–H···O and C–H···Y hydrogen bonds is given.

Hydrogen Bond Enhances Photomechanical Swing of Liquid-Crystalline Polymer Bilayer Films

Mechanical swing is common in nature, such as sound waves, wingbeat of birds, and heartbeat, which is important to convert input energy into continuous motion. Here, we report a photodriven swing actuator composed of commercially available polyimide (Kapton) and azobenzene-containing liquid-crystalline polymers. The liquid-crystalline polymers act as the photoactive layer, which were synthesized by copolymerization of one benzenecarboxylic acid-containing monomer (M₆BCOOH) and one azobenzene-containing monomer (M₆ABOC₂) with different molar ratios. The Kapton layer with a high elastic modulus is photoinert and functions as the substrate layer. After thermal annealing, the film displays chaotic swing under continuous irradiation of actinic light. Interestingly, the swing amplitude is greatly enhanced by the existence of supramolecular hydrogen bonding in liquid-crystalline polymer films. It is the introduction of M₆BCOOH to the copolymer that accelerates the trans-cis photoisomerization rate of azobenzenes. Also, it forms a hydrogen bond as physical crosslinking sites, enabling the polymer film to work as a whole. Thus, it enhances the driving force for photomechanical deformation. Moreover, it improves the elastic modulus of the photoactive layer and modulates the swing behavior of the bilayer strip. More importantly, the formation of a hydrogen bond in the form of acidic dimers has a spatial confinement effect, extending the timescale of photodriven swing. The photomechanical self-vibration of the bilayer film can be ascribed to the combination of the photoisomerization process of azobenzenes with the local photosoftening effect of liquid-crystalline polymers.

The collective and quantum nature of proton transfer in the cyclic water tetramer on NaCl(001)

Proton tunneling is an elementary process in the dynamics of hydrogen-bonded systems. Collective tunneling is known to exist for a long time. Atomistic investigations of this mechanism in realistic systems, however, are scarce. Using a combination of ab initio theoretical and high-resolution experimental methods, we investigate the role played by the protons on the chirality switching of a water tetramer on NaCl(001). Our scanning tunneling spectroscopies show that partial deuteration of the H₂O tetramer with only one D₂O leads to a significant suppression of the chirality switching rate at a cryogenic temperature (T), indicating that the chirality switches by tunneling in a concerted manner. Theoretical simulations, in the meantime, support this picture by presenting a much smaller free-energy barrier for the translational collective proton tunneling mode than other chirality switching modes at low T. During this analysis, the virial energy provides a reasonable estimator for the description of the nuclear quantum effects when a traditional thermodynamic integration method cannot be used, which could be employed in future studies of similar problems. Given the high-dimensional nature of realistic systems and the topology of the hydrogen-bonded network, collective proton tunneling may exist more ubiquitously than expected. Systems of this kind can serve as ideal platforms for studies of this mechanism, easily accessible to high-resolution experimental measurements.

Dissipative dynamics in a quantum bistable system: crossover from weak to strong damping

The dissipative dynamics of a quantum bistable system coupled to a Ohmic heat bath is investigated beyond the spin-boson approximation. Within the path-integral approach to quantum dissipation, we propose an approximation scheme which exploits the separation of time scales between intra- and interwell (tunneling) dynamics. The resulting generalized master equation for the populations in a space localized basis enables us to investigate a wide range of temperatures and system-environment coupling strengths. A phase diagram in the coupling-temperature space is provided to give a comprehensive account of the different dynamical regimes.

Conformational stability and thermal pathways of relaxation in triclosan (antibacterial/excipient/contaminant) in solid-state: combined spectroscopic ((1)H NMR) and computational (periodic DFT) study

The mechanism of molecular dynamics in the antibacterial/antifungal agent, triclosan (5-chloro-2-(2',4'-dichlorophenoxy)-phenol), in solid state was studied by (1)H NMR spectroscopy and periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Temperature dependencies of the proton spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) in the ranges 86-293 and 90-250 K (at 15 and 24.667 MHz, respectively) and the second moment (M2) of the (1)H NMR resonant line in the range 103-300 K were measured. Two minima in the temperature dependence of T1 revealed a classical Arrhenius governed activation processes. The low temperature shallow minimum T1(T) of 71 s at 115 K, 15 MHz, which shifts with frequency, was assigned to classical hindered jumps of hydroxyl group around OC axis and with respect to a 5-chloro-2-phenol ring. The activation energy of this motion estimated on the basis of the fit of the theoretical model to the experimental points is 9.68 kJ/mol. The pointed high temperature minimum T1(T) of 59 s at 190 K, 15 MHz, which also shifts with frequency, was assigned to the small angle librations by Θlib= ± 9° between two positions of equilibrium differing in energy by 7.42 kJ/mol. The activation energy of this motion estimated on the basis of the fit of the theoretical model to the experimental points is 31.1 kJ/mol. Both motions result in a negligible reduction in the (1)H NMR line second moment, thus the second moment delivers an irrelevant description of the molecular motions in triclosan.

Proton tunnelling in the hydrogen bonds of the benzoic acid dimer: (18)O substitution and isotope effects of the heavy atom framework

Field-cycling (1)H NMR relaxometry has been used to measure the rate of concerted double proton transfer in the hydrogen bonds of (16)O and (18)O isotopologues of benzoic acid dimers. The experiments have been conducted in the solid state at low temperature 13.3 ≤ T ≤ 80 K where the dynamics are dominated by incoherent proton tunnelling. The low temperature tunnelling rate in the (16)O isotopologue is observed to be approximately 15% faster than in the (18)O isotopologue. The difference is attributed to an isotope effect of the heavy atom framework of the benzoic acid dimer resulting from displacements of the oxygen atoms that accompany the proton transfer. Sources of systematic uncertainty have been minimized in the design of the experimental protocols and the experiments are critically appraised in formally assigning the measured differences to an effect of mass on the tunnelling dynamics.

Peptide bond hydrolysis catalyzed by the Wells-Dawson Zr(α2-P2W17O61)2 polyoxometalate

In this paper we report the first example of peptide hydrolysis catalyzed by a polyoxometalate complex. A series of metal-substituted Wells-Dawson polyoxometalates were synthesized, and their hydrolytic activity toward the peptide bond in glycylglycine (GG) was examined. Among these, the Zr(IV)- and Hf(IV)-substituted ones were the most reactive. Detailed kinetic studies were performed with the Zr(IV)-substituted Wells-Dawson type polyoxometalate K(15)H[Zr(α(2)-P(2)W(17)O(61))(2)]·25H(2)O which was shown to act as a catalyst for the hydrolysis of the peptide bond in GG. The speciation of K(15)H[Zr(α(2)-P(2)W(17)O(61))(2)]·25H(2)O which is highly dependent on the pD, concentration, and temperature of the solution, was fully determined with the help of (31)P NMR spectroscopy and its influence on the GG hydrolysis rate was examined. The highest reaction rate (k(obs) = 9.2 (±0.2) × 10(-5) min(-1)) was observed at pD 5.0 and 60 °C. A 10-fold excess of GG was hydrolyzed in the presence of K(15)H[Zr(α(2)-P(2)W(17)O(61))(2)]·25H(2)O proving the principles of catalysis. (13)C NMR data suggested the coordination of GG to the Zr(IV) center in K(15)H[Zr(α(2)-P(2)W(17)O(61))(2)]·25H(2)O via its N-terminal amine group and amide carbonyl oxygen. These findings were confirmed by the inactivity of K(15)H[Zr(α(2)-P(2)W(17)O(61))(2)]·25H(2)O toward the N-blocked analogue acetamidoglycylglycinate and the inhibitory effect of oxalic, malic, and citric acid. Triglycine, tetraglycine, and pentaglycine were also fully hydrolyzed in the presence of K(15)H[Zr(α(2)-P(2)W(17)O(61))(2)]·25H(2)O yielding glycine as the final product of hydrolysis. K(15)H[Zr(α(2)-P(2)W(17)O(61))(2)]·25H(2)O also exhibited hydrolytic activity toward a series of other dipeptides.

Solid-state 17O NMR study of benzoic acid adsorption on metal oxide surfaces

Solid-state (17)O NMR spectra of (17)O-labeled benzoic and anisic acids are reported and benzoic acid is used to probe the surface of metal oxides. Complexes formed when benzoic acid is dry mixed with mesoporous silica, and nonporous titania and alumina are characterized. Chemical reactions with silica are not observed. The nature of benzoic acid on silica is a function of the water content of the oxide. The acid disperses in the pores of the silica if the silica is in equilibrium with ambient laboratory humidity. The acid displays high mobility as evidenced by a liquid-like, Lorentzian resonance. Excess benzoic acid remains as the crystalline hydrogen-bonded dimer. Benzoic acid reacts with titania and alumina surfaces in equilibrium with laboratory air to form the corresponding titanium and aluminum benzoates. In both materials the oxygen of the (17)O-labeled acid is bound to the metal, showing the reaction proceeds by bond formation between oxygen deficient metal sites and the oxygen of the carboxylic acid. (27)Al MAS NMR confirms this mechanism for the reaction on alumina. Dry mixing of benzoic acid with alumina rapidly quenches pentacoordinate aluminum sites, excellent evidence that these sites are confined to the surface of the alumina particles.

Complex methyl group and hydrogen-bonded proton motions in terms of the Arrhenius and Schrödinger equations

Equations for the temperature dependence of the spectral densities J(is)(m)(momega(I) +/-omega(T)), where m=1, 2, omega(I) and omega(T) are the resonance and tunnel splitting angular frequencies, in the presence of a complex motion, have been derived. The spin pairs of the protons or deuterons of the methyl group perform a complex motion consisting of three component motions. Two of them involve mass transportation over the barrier and through the barrier. They are characterized by k((H)) (Arrhenius) and k((T)) (Schrödinger) rate constants, respectively. The third motion causes fluctuations of the frequencies (nomega(I)+/-omega(T)) and it is related to the lifetime of the methyl spin at the energy level influenced by the rotor-bath interactions. These interactions induce rapid transitions, changing the symmetry of the torsional sublevels either from A to E or from E(a) to E(b). The correlation function for this third motion (k((omega)) rate constant) has been proposed by Müller-Warmuth et al. The spectral densities of the methyl group hindered rotation (k((H)), k((T)) and k((omega)) rate constants) differ from the spectral densities of the proton transfer (k((H)) and k((T)) rate constants) because three compound motions contribute to the complex motion of the methyl group. The recently derived equation [Formula: see text] , where [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are the fraction and energy of particles with energies from zero to E(H), is taken into account in the calculations of the spectral densities. This equation follows from Maxwell's distribution of thermal energy. The spectral densities derived are applied to analyse the experimental temperature dependencies of proton and deuteron spin-lattice relaxation rate in solids containing the methyl group. A wide range of temperatures from zero Kelvin up to the melting point is considered. It has been established that the motion characterized by k((omega)) influences the spin-lattice relaxation up to the temperature T(tun) only. This temperature is directly determined by the equation C(p)T=E(H) (thermal energy=activation energy), where C(p) is the molar heat capacity. Probably the cessation of the third motion is a result of the de Broglie wavelength related to this motion becoming too short. As shown recently, the potential barrier can be an obstacle for the de Broglie wave. The theoretical equations derived in this paper are compared to those known in the literature.

Tunneling molecular dynamics in the light of the corpuscular-wave dualism theory

This paper presents the experimental demonstration of the corpuscular-wave dualism theory. The correlation between the de Broglie wavelength related to the thermal motion and the potential barrier width and height is reported. The stochastic jumps of light atoms (hydrogen, deuterium) between two equilibrium sites A and B (identical geometry) occur via different pathways; one pathway is over the barrier (classical dynamics), and the other one is through the barrier (tunneling). On the over-the-barrier pathway, there are no obstacles for the de Broglie waves, and this pathway exists from high to low temperatures up to 0 K because the thermal energy is subjected to the Maxwell distribution and a certain number of particles owns enough energy for the hopping over the barrier. On the tunneling pathway, the particles pass through the barrier, or they are reflected from the barrier. Only particles with the energy lower than barrier heights are able to perform a tunneling hopping. The de Broglie waves related to these energies are longer than the barrier width. The Schrödinger equation is applied to calculate the rate constant of tunneling dynamics. The Maxwell distribution of the thermal energy has been taken into account to calculate the tunneling rate constant. The equations for the total spectral density of complex motion derived earlier by us together with the expression for the tunneling rate constant, derived in the present paper, are used in analysis of the temperature dependence of deuteron spin-lattice relaxation of the ammonium ion in the deuterated analogue of ammonium hexachloroplumbate ((ND4)2PbCl6). It has been established that the equation CpTtun = EH (thermal energy equals activation energy), where Cp is the molar heat capacity (temperature-dependent, known from literature), determines directly the low temperature Ttun at which the de Broglie wavelength, lambdadeBroglie, related to the thermal energy, CpT, is equal to the potential barrier width, L. Above Ttun, the lambdadeBroglie wavelength related to the CpT energy is shorter than the potential barrier width and not able to overcome the barrier. The activation energy EH equals 7.5 kJ/mol, and therefore, the Ttun temperature for deuterons in ((ND4)2PbCl6 is 55.7 K. The agreement between the potential barrier width following from the simple geometrical calculations (L = 0.722 A) and de Broglie wavelength at Ttun (L = 0.752 A) is good. The temperature plots of the deuteron correlation times for (ND4)2PbCl6 reveal comparable values of the correlation times of the tunneling, (tau(T)), and over-the-barrier jumps (tau(H)) near 34.8 K. Matsuo, on the basis of the molar heat capacity study, found the first-order phase transition at this temperature.

Proton transfer in some periodic molecular systems

The electronic structure of representative hydrogen bonded systems: hydrogen cyanide, imidazole and malonic acid have been studied at the non-empirical level. The role of the dimensionality on the potential barrier for the proton transfer has been examined. It was shown that it depends on the crystal structure and only in some cases like hydrogen cyanide or imidazole the relevant crystals may be considered as one-dimensional. However, for more complicated crystallographic structures, e.g. malonic acid, the evaluated barrier is strongly dependent on the dimensionality taken into account in our calculations.

Application of Schrödinger Equation to Study the Tunnelling Dynamics of Proton Transfer in the Hydrogen Bond of 2,5-Dinitrobenzoic Acid: Proton T1, T1ρ, and Deuteron T1 Relaxation Methods

Temperature measurements of proton T1 (24.7 MHz), deuteron (deuterated hydroxyl group) T1 (55.2 MHz), and proton T1(rho) (B1 = 9 G) spin-lattice relaxation times of 2,5-dinitrobenzoic acid have been performed. An analysis of present experimental data together with previously published proton T1 (55.2 MHz) data has revealed the following molecular motions: proton/deuteron transfer in the hydrogen bond and two-site hopping of the whole dimer. It is shown that the proton-transfer dynamics are characterized by two correlation times tau(ov) and tau(tu), describing two fundamentally different motional processes, namely, thermally activated jumps over the barrier and tunneling through the barrier. The temperature dependence of 1/tau(tu) is the solution of Schrödinger's equation, which also yields the temperature T(tun), where begins the tunnel pathway for proton transfer. A new equation for the spectral density function of complex motion consisting of the three motions is derived. The third motion (two-site hopping of the whole dimer characterized by tau(lib) correlation time) is responsible for a proton T1(rho) minimum in high temperatures, just below the melting point. Such a minimum is not reached by T1 temperature dependencies. The minimum of T1(rho) assigned to the classical hopping of a hydrogen-bonded proton occurs in the same low-temperature regime in which the flattening of the temperature dependencies of T1 points to the dominance of incoherent tunneling. This experimental fact denies the known theories predicting the intermediate temperature regime where a smooth transition between classical and quantum tunneling dynamics is expected. The fit of the derived theoretical equations to the experimental data T1(rho) and T1 is satisfactory. The correlation times obtained for deuterons indicate deuteron-transfer dynamics much slower than proton-transfer dynamics. It is concluded that the classical proton transfer takes place over the whole temperature regime, while the incoherent tunneling occurs below 46.5 (hydrogen) or 87.2 K (deuterium) only.

Extended tunnelling states in the benzoic acid crystal: Infrared and Raman spectra of the OH and OD stretching modes

We compare Raman and infrared spectra of the nuOH/OD modes in benzoic acid crystal powders at 7 K. The extremely sharp Raman bands contrast to the broad infrared profiles and suggest adiabatic separation of hydrogen (deuterium) dynamics from the crystal lattice. There is no evidence of any proton-proton coupling term. The assignment scheme is consistent with a quasisymmetric double-minimum potential, largely temperature independent. Tunnel splitting is a major band shaping mechanism, in addition to anharmonic coupling with lattice modes. The proton/deuteron dynamics are rationalized with nonlocal pseudoparticles and extended states. We propose a symmetry-related damping mechanism to account for the broad infrared profiles, as opposed to the sharp Raman bands. We assign spectral features to distinct interconversion mechanisms based on either pseudoparticle transfer or adiabatic pairwise transfer. We establish close contacts with theoretical models based on first-principles calculations.

The ground-state tunneling splitting of various carboxylic acid dimers

Carboxylic acid dimers in gas phase reveal ground-state tunneling splittings due to a double proton transfer between the two subunits. In this study we apply a recently developed accurate semiclassical method to determine the ground-state tunneling splittings of eight different carboxylic acid derivative dimers (formic acid, benzoic acid, carbamic acid, fluoro formic acid, carbonic acid, glyoxylic acid, acrylic acid, and N,N-dimethyl carbamic acid) and their fully deuterated analogs. The calculated splittings range from 5.3e-4 to 0.13 cm(-1) (for the deuterated species from 2.8e-7 to 3.3e-4 cm(-1)), thus indicating a strong substituent dependence of the splitting, which varies by more than two orders of magnitude. One reason for differences in the splittings could be addressed to different barriers heights, which vary from 6.3 to 8.8 kcal/mol, due to different mesomeric stabilization of the various transition states. The calculated splittings were compared to available experimental data and good agreement was found. A correlation could be found between the tunneling splitting and the energy barrier of the double proton transfer, as the splitting increases with increased strength of the hydrogen bonds. From this correlation an empirical formula was derived, which allows the prediction of the ground-state tunneling splitting of carboxylic acid dimers at a very low cost and the tunneling splittings for parahalogen substituted benzoic acid dimers is predicted.