Theoretical study on the reaction mechanism of VO2+ with propyne in gas phase

Possible molecular mechanisms of the gas-phase ion/molecule reaction of VO2+ in its lowest singlet and triplet states ((1)A(1)/(3)A '') with propyne have been investigated theoretically by density functional theory (DFT) methods. The geometries, energetic values, and bonding features of all stationary and intersystem crossing points involved in the five different reaction pathways (paths 1-5), in both high-spin (triplet) and low-spin (singlet) surfaces, are reported and analyzed. The oxidation reaction starts by a hydrogen transfer from propyne molecule to the vanadyl complex, followed by oxygen migration to the hydrocarbon moiety. A hydride transfer process to the vanadium atom opens four different reaction courses, paths 1-4, while path 5 arises from a hydrogen transfer process to the hydroxyl group. Five crossing points between high- and low-spin states are found: one of them takes place before the first branching point, while the others occur along path 1. Four different exit channels are found: elimination of hydrogen molecule to yield propynaldehyde and VO+ ((1)Sigma/(3)Sigma); formation of propynaldehyde and the moiety V-(OH2)(+); and two elimination processes of water molecule to yield cationic products, Prod-fc(+) and Prod-dc(+) where the vanadium atom adopts a four- and di-coordinate structure, respectively.

Understanding the Reaction Mechanism of Nanocomposite Thermites

Nanocomposite energetics are a relatively new class of materials that combine nanoscale fuels and oxidizers to allow for the rapid release of large amounts of energy. In thermite systems (metal fuel with metal oxide oxidizer), the use of nanomaterials has been illustrated to increase reactivity by multiple orders of magnitude as a result of the higher specific surface area and smaller diffusion length scales. However, the highly dynamic and nanoscale processes intrinsic to these materials, as well as heating rate dependencies, have limited our understanding of the underlying processes that control reaction and propagation. For my dissertation, I have employed a variety of experimental approaches that have allowed me to probe these processes at heating rates representative of free combustion with the goal of understanding the fundamental mechanisms. Dynamic transmission electron microscopy (DTEM) was used to study the in situ morphological change that occurs in nanocomposite thermite materials subjected to rapid (10^11 K/s) heating. Aluminum nanoparticle (Al-NP) aggregates were found to lose their nanostructure through coalescence in as little as 10 ns, which is much faster than any other timescale of combustion. Further study of nanoscale reaction with CuO determined that a condensed phase interfacial reaction could occur within 0.5-5 µs in a manner consistent with bulk reaction, which supports that this mechanism plays a dominant role in the overall reaction process. Ta nanocomposites were also studied to determine if a high melting point (3280 K) affects the loss of nanostructure and rate of reaction. The condensed phase reaction pathway was further explored using reactive multilayers sputter deposited onto thin Pt wires to allow for temperature jump (T-Jump) heating at rates of ~5x10^5 K/s. High speed video and a time of flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) were used to observe ignition temperature and speciation as a function of bilayer thickness. The ignition process was modeled and a low activation energy for effective diffusivity was determined. T-Jump TOFMS along with constant volume combustion cell studies were also used to determine the effect of gas release in nanoparticle systems by comparing the reaction properties of CuO and Cu2O.

Close correlation between the reaction mechanism and inner structure of loosely halo-nuclei

It was based on the comparisons of the variance properties of fragment multiplicities FM's and nuclear stoppings R's for the neutron-halo colliding system with those of FZ's and R's for the proton-halo colliding system with the increases of beam energy in more detail, the closely correlations between the reaction mechanism and the inner structures of halo-nuclei is found. From above comparisons it is found that the variance properties of fragment multiplicities and nuclear stopping with the increases of beam energy are quite different for the neutron-halo and proton-halo colliding systems, such as the effects of loosely bound neutron-halo structure on the fragment multiplicities and nuclear stopping are obviously larger than those for the proton-halo colliding system. This is due to that the structures of halo-neutron nucleus Li-11 is more loosely than that of the proton-halo nucleus Al-23 in this paper. In this case, the fragment multiplicity and nuclear stopping of halo nuclei may be used as a possible probe for studying the reaction mechanism and the correlation between the reaction mechanism and the inner structure of halo-nuclei.

Theoretical studies on the reaction mechanism of palladium(0)-catalyzed addition of thiocyanates to alkynes

The reaction mechanism of the Pd(0)-catalyzed alkyne cyanothiolation reaction is investigated by MP2, CCSD(T) and the density functional method B3LYP. The overall reaction mechanism is examined. The B3LYP results are consistent with the results of CCSD(T) and MP2 methods for the isomerization, acetylene insertion and reductive elimination steps, but not for the oxidative addition step. For the oxidative addition, the bisphosphine and monophosphine pathways are competitive in B3LYP, while the bisphosphine one is preferred for CCSD(T) and MP2 methods.

Theoretical Studies on the Reaction Mechanism of Platinum-Catalyzed Diboration of Allenes

The reaction mechanism of Pt(0)-catalyzed diboration reaction of allenes is investigated by the density functional method B3LYP. The overall reaction mechanism is examined. The electronic mechanisms of the allene insertion into the Pt-B bond are discussed in terms of the electron donation, back-donation, and d-pi interaction. During allene insertion into the Pt-B bond, the internal carbon atom of allene is preferred over the terminal one due to the stronger electron back-donation and stronger charge transfer in the former case than that in the latter one.

Theoretical studies on the reaction mechanism of oxidation of primary alcohols by Zn/Cu(II)-phenoxyl radical catalyst

The catalytic mechanism for the oxidation of primary alcohols catalyzed by the two functional models of galactose oxidase (GOase), M-II L (M = Cu, Zn; L = N,N'-bis(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)1-2-diiminoquinone)), has been studied by use of the density functional method B3LYP The catalytic cycle of Cu- and Zn-catalysts consists of two parts, namely, substrate oxidation (primary alcohol oxidation) and O-2 reduction (catalyst regeneration). The catalytic mechanisms have been studied for the two reaction pathways (route 1 and route 2). The calculations indicate that the hydrogen atom transfer within the substrate oxidation part is the rate-determining step for both catalysts, in agreement with the experimental observation.

Studies of catalyzed reaction mechanism between co-polyether (THF/EO) and N-100 by NMR - Interaction and complex formation between reactants and catalysts

To elucidate the mechanism of the catalyzed reaction of co-polyether (EO/THF) with N-100, the interaction and complex formation between reactants and catalysts were investigated by means of NMR spectroscopy. It is shown that the resonance peak of isocyanate carbon splits into two parts when the solutions of N-100 and co-polyether were mixed. The disappearing of proton resonance peak of hydroxyl group in NMR spectra when dibutyltin dilaurate(DBTDL) were added to the copolyether(THF/EO) solution indicates the complex formation, This interaction appears to be a bonding of tin to the oxygen of hydroxyl and make the hydrogen of the hydroxyl group very mobile and active, then exchange with other protons, In the case of triphenyl bismuth(TPB), the high field shift and intensity enhancement of proton peak were observed, which suggest a nucleophilic attack of the bismuth to the hydroxyl hydrogen.

Iron(II)-8-quinolinol/MCM-41-catalyzed phenol hydroxylation and reaction mechanism

Iron(II)-8-quinolino/MCM-41 is prepared. Its catalysis is studied in phenol hydroxylation using H2O2 (30%) as oxidant. The experiment shows that Iron(II)-8-quinolinol/MCM-41 has good catalytic activity and desired stability. Based on cyclic voltammetry, ESR, and UV-visible spectra studies of iron(II)-8-quinolinol complex in liquid phase, a radical substitution mechanism is proposed and used to demonstrate the experimental facts clearly. (C) 1997 Academic Press.

Phenol hydroxylation by iron(II) phenanthroline: The reaction mechanism

Phenol hydroxylation catalyzed by iron(II)-1,10-phenanthroline is investigated through kinetics, ESR, W-Vis as well as cyclic voltammogram studies. The optimum reaction conditions are obtained for diphenols production. Radical substitution mechanism is first proposed to explain the effects of pH, reaction medium and other factors on the phenol hydroxylation with H2O2 as oxidant, and found that the coexisting of iron(II)-1,10-phenanthroline and iron(III)-1,10-phenanthroline is the key for phenol hydroxylation to occur with H2O2 as oxygen donor.

THE CATALYTIC BEHAVIOR AND REACTION-MECHANISM OF THE BI-CE-O SYSTEM CATALYSTS IN THE OXIDATIVE DEHYDROAROMATIZATION OF PROPYLENE

Oxidative dehydroaromatization of propylene was investigated by the pulse technique over two kinds of single oxide catalysts. With the Bi2O3 catalyst, the main dimer product was 1,5-hexadiene, and the dimerization activity was stable to pulse number even if the catalyst was partly reduced to the bulk. With the CeO2 catalyst, benzene was mainly formed instead of 1,5-hexadiene, but the activity decreased rapidly with increasing pulse number, indicating that only the lattice oxygen near the catalyst surface could be used for oxidative dimerization and the further aromatization. The Bi-Ce-O system catalyst was found in this study to give higher aromatization activity and showed better stability, compared to the Bi-Sn-O catalyst. Although the Bi-Ce-O catalyst was only a mixture of the two component oxides from X-ray diffraction analysis, there was a significant combination effect on the selectivity to benzene. The highest and the most stable selectivity of benzene was obtained at Bi/Ce = 1. In the TPD spectrum of Bi-Ce-O catalyst, there are not only the lattice oxygen (beta-oxygen) over 620-degrees-C due to the reduction of Bi2O3, but also a great deal of the alpha-oxygen desorbed about 400-degrees-C, which is considered the absorbed oxygen in the bulk. This absorbed oxygen could probably be a compensation of the lattice oxygen through the route of gaseous --> absorbed --> lattice oxygen in the binary catalyst system. By the kinetic study on the Bi-Ce-O catalyst, the dimer formation rate was the first-order with respect to the partial pressure of propylene and zero-order of oxygen. Although detail investigation would be made further, it was considered that the complete oxidation of propylene would mainly take place parallelly on some different sites, and the rate-determining step of propylene dimerization occurred probably between an adosrbed propylene and a gaseous one by an Eley-Rideal type mechanism.

General insight into CO oxidation: A density functional theory study of the reaction mechanism on platinum oxides

CO oxidation on PtO2(110) has been studied using density functional theory calculations. Four possible reaction mechanisms were investigated and the most feasible one is the following: (i) the O at the bridge site of PtO2(110) reacts with CO on the coordinatively unsaturated site (CUS) with a negligible barrier; (ii) O-2 adsorbs on the bridge site and then interacts with CO on the CUS to form an OO-CO complex; (iii) the bond of O-OCO breaks to produce CO2 with a small barrier (0.01 eV). The CO oxidation mechanisms on metals and metal oxides are rationalized by a simple model: The O-surface bonding determines the reactivity on surfaces; it also determines whether the atomic or molecular mechanism is preferred. The reactivity on metal oxides is further found to be related to the 3rd ionization energy of the metal atom.