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Zeng J, You F, Zhu J. Screening seven-electron boron-centered radicals for dinitrogen activation. J Comput Chem 2024; 45:648-654. [PMID: 38073508 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.27281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2023] [Revised: 11/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
The activation of dinitrogen is significant as nitrogen-containing compounds play an important role in industries. However, the inert NN triple bond caused by its large HOMO-LUMO gap (10.8 eV) and high bond dissociation energy (945 kJ mol-1 ) renders its activation under mild conditions particularly challenging. Recent progress shows that a few main group species can mimic transition metal complexes to activate dinitrogen. Here, we demonstrate that a series of seven-electron (7e) boron-centered radical can be used to activate N2 via density functional theory calculations. It is found that boron-centered radicals containing amine ligand perform best on the thermodynamics of dinitrogen activation. In addition, when electron-donating groups are introduced at the boron atom, these radicals can be used to activate N2 with low reaction barriers. Further analysis suggests that the electron transfer from the boron atom to the π* orbitals of dinitrogen is essential for its activation. Our findings suggest great potential of 7e boron radicals in the field of dinitrogen activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Zeng
- School of Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
- Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Feiying You
- State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM), Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry and Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Jun Zhu
- School of Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
- State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM), Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry and Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
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Zhang FX, Zhang YH, Wang M, Ma JB. Nitrogen adsorption on Nb 2C 6H 4+ cations: the important role of benzyne ( ortho-C 6H 4). Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:3912-3919. [PMID: 38230689 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp05524h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2024]
Abstract
N2 adsorption is a prerequisite for activation and transformation. Time-of-flight mass spectrometry experiments show that the Nb2C6H4+ cation, resulting from the gas-phase reaction of Nb2+ with C6H6, is more favorable for N2 adsorption than Nb+ and Nb2+ cations. Density functional theory calculations reveal the effect of the ortho-C6H4 ligand on N2 adsorption. In Nb2C6H4+, interactions between the Nb-4d and C-2p orbitals enable the Nb2+ cation to form coordination bonds with the ortho-C6H4 ligand. Although the ortho-C6H4 ligand in Nb2C6H4+ is not directly involved in the reaction, its presence increases the polarity of the cluster and brings the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) closer to the lowest occupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of N2, thereby increasing the N2 adsorption energy, which effectively facilitates N2 adsorption and activation. This study provides fundamental insights into the mechanisms of N2 adsorption in "transition metal-organic ligand" systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feng-Xiang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Cluster Science of Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic/Electrophotonic Conversion Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 102488, P. R. China.
| | - Yi-Heng Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Cluster Science of Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic/Electrophotonic Conversion Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 102488, P. R. China.
| | - Ming Wang
- Key Laboratory of Cluster Science of Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic/Electrophotonic Conversion Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 102488, P. R. China.
| | - Jia-Bi Ma
- Key Laboratory of Cluster Science of Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic/Electrophotonic Conversion Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 102488, P. R. China.
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3
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Wang X, Wang Y, Wu Y, Wang GX, Wei J, Xi Z. Syntheses and Characterizations of Hetero-Bimetallic Chromium-Dinitrogen Transition-Metal Complexes. Inorg Chem 2023; 62:18641-18648. [PMID: 37905954 DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c02944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
In the domain of N2 activation, hetero-bimetallic dinitrogen complexes are garnering substantial interest due to their potential to induce polarization in nonpolar N2 gas. Herein, we present the syntheses and characterizations of three novel hetero-multimetallic dinitrogen complexes: Cp*Cr(depe)N2V(depe)Me[O, P, O] 5, Cp*Cr(depe)N2V(depe)Tipp[O, P, O] 6, and [Cp*Cr(depe)N2]2TiTipp[O, P, O] 7. These complexes were synthesized via a transmetalation process involving the treatment of [Cr0-N2]- complex 4 with vanadium and titanium chloride complexes bearing alkyl or aryl substituted bis(o-hydroxyphenyl)-phenyl phosphine R[O, P, O] ligand (alkyl = methyl, aryl = 2,4,6-tri-isopropylbenzene). X-ray analysis shows that complexes 5 and 6 exhibit heterodinuclear structures, while complex 7 exhibits a heterotrinuclear core with two N2 ligands concurrently coordinated to two chromium and one titanium atoms. Raman spectroscopic data show that the N-N stretching vibration of the N2 moiety is clearly downshifted relative to free N2 and to mononuclear [Cr0-N2]- complex 4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xueli Wang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Yixi Wang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Yue Wu
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Gao-Xiang Wang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Junnian Wei
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Zhenfeng Xi
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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4
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Xie SJ, Wu RK, Huang YF, Chen HL, Zhang SQ, Liu F, Zhai DD, Hong X, Shi ZJ. Direct Incorporation of Dinitrogen into an Aliphatic C-H Bond. J Am Chem Soc 2023; 145:6773-6780. [PMID: 36821052 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c13086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/24/2023]
Abstract
The activation of dinitrogen (N2) and direct incorporation of its N atom into C-H bonds to create aliphatic C-N compounds remains unresolved. Incompatible conditions between dinitrogen reduction and C-H functionalization make this process extremely challenging. Herein, we report the first example of dinitrogen insertion into an aliphatic Csp3-H bond on the ligand scaffold of a 1,3-propane-bridged [N2N]2--type dititanium complex. Mechanistic investigations on the behaviors of dinuclear and mononuclear Ti complexes indicated the intramolecular synergistic effect of two Ti centers at a C-N bond-forming step. Computational studies revealed the critical isomerization between the inactive side-on N2 complex and the active nitridyl complex, which is responsible for the Csp3-H amination. This strategy maps an efficient route toward the future synthesis of aliphatic amines directly from N2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Si-Jun Xie
- Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Rong-Kai Wu
- Center of Chemistry for Frontier Technologies, Department of Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Yi-Fei Huang
- Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Hao-Lin Chen
- Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Shuo-Qing Zhang
- Center of Chemistry for Frontier Technologies, Department of Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Feng Liu
- Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Dan-Dan Zhai
- Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Xin Hong
- Center of Chemistry for Frontier Technologies, Department of Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.,Key Laboratory of Precise Synthesis of Functional Molecules of Zhejiang Province, School of Science, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, China.,Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Zhongguancun North First Street No. 2, Beijing 100190, PR China
| | - Zhang-Jie Shi
- Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.,State Key Laboratory of Organometallic Chemistry, SIOC, CAS, Shanghai 200032, China
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Li HJ, Feng R, Wang GX, Wei J, Xi Z. Dinitrogen activation by a phosphido-bridged binuclear cobalt complex. Dalton Trans 2022; 51:16811-16815. [DOI: 10.1039/d2dt03320h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The reduction of PNPCoBr under a N2 atmosphere yielded a binuclear cobalt dinitrogen anion complex via the C–P bond cleavage of the PNP ligand.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hai-Jun Li
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Rui Feng
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Gao-Xiang Wang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Junnian Wei
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Zhenfeng Xi
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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