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Murakami T, Matsumoto N, Fujihara T, Takayanagi T. Possible Roles of Transition Metal Cations in the Formation of Interstellar Benzene via Catalytic Acetylene Cyclotrimerization. Molecules 2023; 28:7454. [PMID: 37959873 PMCID: PMC10649463 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28217454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2023] [Revised: 10/28/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous interstellar molecules. However, the formation mechanisms of PAHs and even the simplest cyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, benzene, are not yet fully understood. Recently, we reported the statistical and dynamical properties in the reaction mechanism of Fe+-catalyzed acetylene cyclotrimerization, whereby three acetylene molecules are directly converted to benzene. In this study, we extended our previous work and explored the possible role of the complex of other 3d transition metal cations, TM+ (TM = Sc, Ti, Mn, Co, and Ni), as a catalyst in acetylene cyclotrimerization. Potential energy profiles for bare TM+-catalyst (TM = Sc and Ti), for TM+NC--catalyst (TM = Sc, Ti, Mn, Co, and Ni), and for TM+-(H2O)8-catalyst (TM = Sc and Ti) systems were obtained using quantum chemistry calculations, including the density functional theory levels. The calculation results show that the scandium and titanium cations act as efficient catalysts in acetylene cyclotrimerization and that reactants, which contain an isolated acetylene and (C2H2)2 bound to a bare (ligated) TM cation (TM = Sc and Ti), can be converted into a benzene-metal-cation product complex without an entrance barrier. We found that the number of electrons in the 3d orbitals of the transition metal cation significantly contributes to the catalytic efficiency in the acetylene cyclotrimerization process. On-the-fly Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) simulations of the Ti+-NC- and Ti+-(H2O)8 complexes were also performed to comprehensively understand the nuclear dynamics of the reactions. The computational results suggest that interstellar benzene can be produced via acetylene cyclotrimerization reactions catalyzed by transition metal cation complexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatsuhiro Murakami
- Department of Chemistry, Saitama University, Shimo-Okubo 255, Sakura-ku, Saitama City 338-8570, Japan; (N.M.); (T.F.)
- Department of Materials & Life Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology, Sophia University, 7-1 Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8554, Japan
| | - Naoki Matsumoto
- Department of Chemistry, Saitama University, Shimo-Okubo 255, Sakura-ku, Saitama City 338-8570, Japan; (N.M.); (T.F.)
| | - Takashi Fujihara
- Department of Chemistry, Saitama University, Shimo-Okubo 255, Sakura-ku, Saitama City 338-8570, Japan; (N.M.); (T.F.)
- Comprehensive Analysis Center for Science, Saitama University, Shimo-Okubo 255, Sakura-ku, Saitama City 338-8570, Japan
| | - Toshiyuki Takayanagi
- Department of Chemistry, Saitama University, Shimo-Okubo 255, Sakura-ku, Saitama City 338-8570, Japan; (N.M.); (T.F.)
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Campisi D, Lamberts T, Dzade NY, Martinazzo R, ten Kate IL, Tielens AGG. Adsorption of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and C 60 onto Forsterite: C-H Bond Activation by the Schottky Vacancy. ACS EARTH & SPACE CHEMISTRY 2022; 6:2009-2023. [PMID: 36016758 PMCID: PMC9393896 DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 07/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Understanding how to catalytically break the C-H bond of aromatic molecules, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), is currently a big challenge and a subject of study in catalysis, astrochemistry, and planetary science. In the latter, the study of the breakdown reaction of PAHs on mineral surfaces is important to understand if PAHs are linked to prebiotic molecules in regions of star and planet formation. In this work, we employed a periodic density functional theory along with Grimme's D4 (DFT-D4) approach for studying the adsorption of a sample of PAHs (naphthalene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, coronene, and benzocoronene) and fullerene on the [010] forsterite surface and its defective surfaces (Fe-doped and Ni-doped surfaces and a MgO-Schottky vacancy) for their implications in catalysis and astrochemistry. On the basis of structural and binding energy analysis, large PAHs and fullerene present stronger adsorption on the pristine, Fe-doped, and Ni-doped forsterite surfaces than small PAHs. On a MgO-Schottky vacancy, parallel adsorption of the PAH leads to the chemisorption process (C-Si and/or C-O bonds), whereas perpendicular orientation of the PAH leads to the catalytic breaking of the aromatic C-H bond via a barrierless reaction. Spin density and charge analysis show that C-H dissociation is promoted by electron donation from the vacancy to the PAH. As a result of the undercoordinated Si and O atoms, the vacancy acts as a Frustrated Lewis Pair (FLP) catalyst. Therefore, a MgO-Schottky vacancy [010] forsterite surface proved to have potential catalytic activity for the activation of C-H bond in aromatic molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dario Campisi
- Leiden
Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, Leiden 2333 CA, The Netherlands
| | - Thanja Lamberts
- Leiden
Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, Leiden 2333 CA, The Netherlands
- Leiden
Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 55, Leiden 2300 RA, The Netherlands
| | - Nelson Y. Dzade
- Cardiff
University, Main Building,
Park Place, Cardiff CF10
3AT, U.K.
| | - Rocco Martinazzo
- Department
of Chemistry, Università degli Studi
di Milano, Via Golgi 19, Milan 20133, Italy
| | - Inge Loes ten Kate
- Department
of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, Utrecht 3584 CB, The Netherlands
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Tracing the Primordial Chemical Life of Glycine: A Review from Quantum Chemical Simulations. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23084252. [PMID: 35457069 PMCID: PMC9030215 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23084252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 04/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Glycine (Gly), NH2CH2COOH, is the simplest amino acid. Although it has not been directly detected in the interstellar gas-phase medium, it has been identified in comets and meteorites, and its synthesis in these environments has been simulated in terrestrial laboratory experiments. Likewise, condensation of Gly to form peptides in scenarios resembling those present in a primordial Earth has been demonstrated experimentally. Thus, Gly is a paradigmatic system for biomolecular building blocks to investigate how they can be synthesized in astrophysical environments, transported and delivered by fragments of asteroids (meteorites, once they land on Earth) and comets (interplanetary dust particles that land on Earth) to the primitive Earth, and there react to form biopolymers as a step towards the emergence of life. Quantum chemical investigations addressing these Gly-related events have been performed, providing fundamental atomic-scale information and quantitative energetic data. However, they are spread in the literature and difficult to harmonize in a consistent way due to different computational chemistry methodologies and model systems. This review aims to collect the work done so far to characterize, at a quantum mechanical level, the chemical life of Gly, i.e., from its synthesis in the interstellar medium up to its polymerization on Earth.
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Serra-Peralta M, Domínguez-Dalmases C, Rimola A. Water formation on interstellar silicates: the role of Fe 2+/H 2 interactions in the O + H 2 → H 2O reaction. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:28381-28393. [DOI: 10.1039/d2cp04051d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Water formation by reaction of H2 and O on silicate surfaces as a first step towards the generation of interstellar ice mantles is possible thanks to the activation of H2 inferred by Fe2+ ions and quantum tunnelling effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Serra-Peralta
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain
| | | | - Albert Rimola
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain
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5
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Potapov A, McCoustra M. Physics and chemistry on the surface of cosmic dust grains: a laboratory view. INT REV PHYS CHEM 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/0144235x.2021.1918498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alexey Potapov
- Laboratory Astrophysics Group of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Martin McCoustra
- Institute of Chemical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
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6
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Campisi D, Lamberts T, Dzade NY, Martinazzo R, ten Kate IL, Tielens AGGM. Interaction of Aromatic Molecules with Forsterite: Accuracy of the Periodic DFT-D4 Method. J Phys Chem A 2021; 125:2770-2781. [PMID: 33784098 PMCID: PMC8154625 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.1c02326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Density functional theory (DFT) has provided deep atomic-level insights into the adsorption behavior of aromatic molecules on solid surfaces. However, modeling the surface phenomena of large molecules on mineral surfaces with accurate plane wave methods (PW) can be orders of magnitude more computationally expensive than localized atomic orbitals (LCAO) methods. In the present work, we propose a less costly approach based on the DFT-D4 method (PBE-D4), using LCAO, to study the interactions of aromatic molecules with the {010} forsterite (Mg2SiO4) surface for their relevance in astrochemistry. We studied the interaction of benzene with the pristine {010} forsterite surface and with transition-metal cations (Fe2+ and Ni2+) using PBE-D4 and a vdW-inclusive density functional (Dion, Rydberg, Schröder, Langreth, and Lundqvist (DRSLL)) with LCAO methods. PBE-D4 shows good agreement with coupled-cluster methods (CCSD(T)) for the binding energy trend of cation complexes and with PW methods for the binding energy of benzene on the forsterite surface with a difference of about 0.03 eV. The basis set superposition error (BSSE) correction is shown to be essential to ensure a correct estimation of the binding energies even when large basis sets are employed for single-point calculations of the optimized structures with smaller basis sets. We also studied the interaction of naphthalene and benzocoronene on pristine and transition-metal-doped {010} forsterite surfaces as a test case for PBE-D4. Yielding results that are in good agreement with the plane wave methods with a difference of about 0.02-0.17 eV, the PBE-D4 method is demonstrated to be effective in unraveling the binding structures and the energetic trends of aromatic molecules on pristine and transition-metal-doped forsterite mineral surfaces. Furthermore, PBE-D4 results are in good agreement with its predecessor PBE-D3(BJM) and with the vdW-inclusive density functionals, as long as transition metals are not involved. Hence, PBE-D4/CP-DZP has been proven to be a robust theory level to study the interaction of aromatic molecules on mineral surfaces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dario Campisi
- Leiden
Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Thanja Lamberts
- Leiden
Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
- Leiden
Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 55, 2300
RA Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Nelson Y. Dzade
- Cardiff
University, Main Building, Park Place, CF10 3AT Cardiff, U.K.
| | - Rocco Martinazzo
- Department
of Chemistry, Universitá degli Studi
di Milano, Via Golgi 19, 20133 Milan, Italy
| | - Inge Loes ten Kate
- Department
of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands
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7
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Computational Surface Modelling of Ices and Minerals of Interstellar Interest—Insights and Perspectives. MINERALS 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/min11010026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The universe is molecularly rich, comprising from the simplest molecule (H2) to complex organic molecules (e.g., CH3CHO and NH2CHO), some of which of biological relevance (e.g., amino acids). This chemical richness is intimately linked to the different physical phases forming Solar-like planetary systems, in which at each phase, molecules of increasing complexity form. Interestingly, synthesis of some of these compounds only takes place in the presence of interstellar (IS) grains, i.e., solid-state sub-micron sized particles consisting of naked dust of silicates or carbonaceous materials that can be covered by water-dominated ice mantles. Surfaces of IS grains exhibit particular characteristics that allow the occurrence of pivotal chemical reactions, such as the presence of binding/catalytic sites and the capability to dissipate energy excesses through the grain phonons. The present know-how on the physicochemical features of IS grains has been obtained by the fruitful synergy of astronomical observational with astrochemical modelling and laboratory experiments. However, current limitations of these disciplines prevent us from having a full understanding of the IS grain surface chemistry as they cannot provide fundamental atomic-scale of grain surface elementary steps (i.e., adsorption, diffusion, reaction and desorption). This essential information can be obtained by means of simulations based on computational chemistry methods. One capability of these simulations deals with the construction of atom-based structural models mimicking the surfaces of IS grains, the very first step to investigate on the grain surface chemistry. This perspective aims to present the current state-of-the-art methods, techniques and strategies available in computational chemistry to model (i.e., construct and simulate) surfaces present in IS grains. Although we focus on water ice mantles and olivinic silicates as IS test case materials to exemplify the modelling procedures, a final discussion on the applicability of these approaches to simulate surfaces of other cosmic grain materials (e.g., cometary and meteoritic) is given.
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Pantaleone S, Rimola A, Sodupe M. Canonical, deprotonated, or zwitterionic? II. A computational study on amino acid interaction with the TiO 2(110) rutile surface: comparison with the anatase (101) surface. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2020; 22:16862-16876. [PMID: 32666992 DOI: 10.1039/d0cp01429j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The adsorption of 11 amino acids (Gly, Leu, Met, Phe, Ser, Cys, Glu, Gln, Arg, Lys, and His) on the TiO2(110) rutile surface is investigated adopting a theoretical approach, using the PBE-D2* functional as implemented in the periodic VASP code. The adsorption of the amino acids is considered in their canonical, deprotonated and zwitterionic forms. For all cases, the most stable adsorption mode adopts a bidentate (O,O) binding with surface undercoordinated Ti atoms, in agreement with previous experimental and computational studies using glycine as a test case. Such a binding mode is possible due to the surface morphology, because the Ti-Ti distances match very well with the carboxylic O-O distance. The most stable adsorption states are the deprotonated and the zwitterionic ones, the canonical one lying significantly above in energy. The relative stability between the deprotonated and the zwitterionic states results in a delicate trade-off among dative interactions (O, N, and S atoms of the amino acids with Ti atoms of the surface), H-bond interactions, dispersive forces and, to a lesser extent, steric hindrance of the amino acidic lateral chains. Finally, the difference in the amino acid adsorption between the (110) rutile and the (101) anatase surfaces is discussed both from the energetic and surface morphological standpoints, highlighting the larger reactivity of the rutile polymorph in adsorbing and deprotonating the amino acids compared with the anatase one.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Pantaleone
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
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9
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Molpeceres G, Rimola A, Ceccarelli C, Kästner J, Ugliengo P, Maté B. Silicate-mediated interstellar water formation: A theoretical study. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 2019; 482:5389-5400. [PMID: 31156274 PMCID: PMC6544534 DOI: 10.1093/mnras/sty3024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Water is one of the most abundant molecules in the form of solid ice phase in the different regions of the interstellar medium (ISM). This large abundance cannot be properly explained by using only traditional low temperature gas-phase reactions. Thus, surface chemical reactions are believed to be major synthetic channels for the formation of interstellar water ice. Among the different proposals, hydrogenation of atomic O (i.e., 2H + O → H2O) is a chemically "simple" and plausible reaction toward water formation occurring on the surfaces of interstellar grains. Here, novel theoretical results concerning the formation of water adopting this mechanism on the crystalline (010) Mg2SiO4 surface (a unequivocally identified interstellar silicate) are presented. The investigated reaction aims to simulate the formation of the first water ice layer covering the silicate core of dust grains. Adsorption of the atomic O as a first step of the reaction has been computed, results indicating that a peroxo (O 2 2 - ) group is formed. The following steps involve the adsorption, diffusion and reaction of two successive H atoms with the adsorbed O atom. Results indicate that H diffusion on the surface has barriers of 4-6 kcal mol-1, while actual formation of OH and H2O present energy barriers of 22-23 kcal mol-1. Kinetic study results show that tunneling is crucial for the occurrence of the reactions and that formation of OH and H2O are the bottlenecks of the overall process. Several astrophysical implications derived from the theoretical results are provided as concluding remarks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Germán Molpeceres
- Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, IEM-CSIC, Serrano 123, E-28006, Madrid, Spain
| | - Albert Rimola
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Cecilia Ceccarelli
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG), 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Johannes Kästner
- Institute for Theoretical Chemistry, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 55, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Piero Ugliengo
- Dipartimento di Chimica and Nanostructured Interfaces and Surfaces (NIS), Università degli Studi di Torino, Via P. Giuria 7, 10125 Torino, Italy
| | - Belén Maté
- Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, IEM-CSIC, Serrano 123, E-28006, Madrid, Spain
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Rimola A, Sodupe M, Ugliengo P. Role of Mineral Surfaces in Prebiotic Chemical Evolution. In Silico Quantum Mechanical Studies. Life (Basel) 2019; 9:E10. [PMID: 30658501 PMCID: PMC6463156 DOI: 10.3390/life9010010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2018] [Revised: 01/10/2019] [Accepted: 01/12/2019] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
There is a consensus that the interaction of organic molecules with the surfaces of naturally-occurring minerals might have played a crucial role in chemical evolution and complexification in a prebiotic era. The hurdle of an overly diluted primordial soup occurring in the free ocean may have been overcome by the adsorption and concentration of relevant molecules on the surface of abundant minerals at the sea shore. Specific organic⁻mineral interactions could, at the same time, organize adsorbed molecules in well-defined orientations and activate them toward chemical reactions, bringing to an increase in chemical complexity. As experimental approaches cannot easily provide details at atomic resolution, the role of in silico computer simulations may fill that gap by providing structures and reactive energy profiles at the organic⁻mineral interface regions. Accordingly, numerous computational studies devoted to prebiotic chemical evolution induced by organic⁻mineral interactions have been proposed. The present article aims at reviewing recent in silico works, mainly focusing on prebiotic processes occurring on the mineral surfaces of clays, iron sulfides, titanium dioxide, and silica and silicates simulated through quantum mechanical methods based on the density functional theory (DFT). The DFT is the most accurate way in which chemists may address the behavior of the molecular world through large models mimicking chemical complexity. A perspective on possible future scenarios of research using in silico techniques is finally proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Albert Rimola
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
| | - Mariona Sodupe
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
| | - Piero Ugliengo
- Dipartimento di Chimica and Nanostructured Interfaces and Surfaces (NIS), Università degli Studi di Torino, Via P. Giuria 7, 10125 Torino, Italy.
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Pantaleone S, Ugliengo P, Sodupe M, Rimola A. When the Surface Matters: Prebiotic Peptide-Bond Formation on the TiO 2 (101) Anatase Surface through Periodic DFT-D2 Simulations. Chemistry 2018; 24:16292-16301. [PMID: 30212609 DOI: 10.1002/chem.201803263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The mechanism of the peptide-bond formation between two glycine (Gly) molecules has been investigated by means of PBE-D2* and PBE0-D2* periodic simulations on the TiO2 (101) anatase surface. This is a process of great relevance both in fundamental prebiotic chemistry, as the reaction univocally belongs to one of the different organizational events that ultimately led to the emergence of life on Earth, as well as from an industrial perspective, since formation of amides is a key reaction for pharmaceutical companies. The efficiency of the surface catalytic sites is demonstrated by comparing the reactions in the gas phase and on the surface. At variance with the uncatalyzed gas-phase reaction, which involves a concerted nucleophilic attack and dehydration step, on the surface these two steps occur along a stepwise mechanism. The presence of surface Lewis and Brönsted sites exerts some catalytic effect by lowering the free energy barrier for the peptide-bond formation by about 6 kcal mol-1 compared to the gas-phase reaction. Moreover, the co-presence of molecules acting as proton-transfer assistants (i.e., H2 O and Gly) provide a more significant kinetic energy barrier decrease. The reaction on the surface is also favorable from a thermodynamic standpoint, involving very large and negative reaction energies. This is due to the fact that the anatase surface also acts as a dehydration agent during the condensation reaction, since the outermost coordinatively unsaturated Ti atoms strongly anchor the released water molecules. Our theoretical results provide a comprehensive atomistic interpretation of the experimental results of Martra et al. (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 4671), in which polyglycine formation was obtained by successive feedings of Gly vapor on TiO2 surfaces in dry conditions and are, therefore, relevant in a prebiotic context envisaging dry and wet cycles occurring, at mineral surfaces, in a small pool.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Pantaleone
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Piero Ugliengo
- Dipartimento di Chimica and Nanostructured Interfaces and Surfaces (NIS), Inter-Departmental centre, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via P. Giuria 7, 10125, Torino, Italy
| | - Mariona Sodupe
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Albert Rimola
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193, Catalonia, Spain
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Chandramouli B, Del Galdo S, Mancini G, Tasinato N, Barone V. Tailor-made computational protocols for precise characterization of small biological building blocks using QM and MM approaches. Biopolymers 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/bip.23109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Balasubramanian Chandramouli
- Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7; Pisa 56126 Italy
- Compunet, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, via Morego 30; Genova Italy
| | - Sara Del Galdo
- Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7; Pisa 56126 Italy
| | - Giordano Mancini
- Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7; Pisa 56126 Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) sezione di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3; Pisa 56127 Italy
| | - Nicola Tasinato
- Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7; Pisa 56126 Italy
| | - Vincenzo Barone
- Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7; Pisa 56126 Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) sezione di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3; Pisa 56127 Italy
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Fioroni M, DeYonker NJ. H 2 Formation on Cosmic Grain Siliceous Surfaces Grafted with Fe + : A Silsesquioxanes-Based Computational Model. Chemphyschem 2016; 17:3390-3394. [PMID: 27617703 DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201600607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2016] [Revised: 08/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Cosmic siliceous dust grains are involved in the synthesis of H2 in the inter-stellar medium. In this work, the dust grain siliceous surface is represented by a hydrogen Fe-metalla-silsesquioxane model of general formula: [Fe(H7 Si7 O12-n )(OH)n ]+ (n=0,1,2) where Fe+ behaves like a single-site heterogeneous catalyst grafted on a siliceous surface synthesizing H2 from H. A computational analysis is performed using two levels of theory (B3LYP-D3BJ and MP2-F12) to quantify the thermodynamic driving force of the reaction: [Fe-T7H7 ]+ +4H→[Fe-T7H7 (OH)2 ]+ +H2 . The general outcomes are: 1) H2 synthesis is thermodynamically strongly favored; 2) Fe-H / Fe-H2 barrier-less formation potential; 3) chemisorbed H-Fe leads to facile H2 synthesis at 20≤T≤100 K; 4) relative spin energetics and thermodynamic quantities between the B3LYP-D3BJ and MP2-F12 levels of theory are in qualitative agreement. The metalla-silsesquioxane model shows how Fe+ fixed on a siliceous surface can potentially catalyze H2 formation in space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Fioroni
- Department of Chemistry, 213 Smith Chemistry Building, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA.,Konrad-Mueller Str. 17, 52249, Eschweiler, Germany
| | - Nathan J DeYonker
- Department of Chemistry, 213 Smith Chemistry Building, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA
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