In the first part of this study, four new chiral ligands (FAM) were synthesized and used in catalytic amounts in asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of azomethine ylides. This method leads to the synthesis of chiral pyrrolidines, which are found in the structure of many biologically active natural compounds and drugs. It was found that using 10 mol% of one of these chiral ligands with different dipolarophiles (dimethyl maleate, dimethyl fumarate, methyl acrylate, tert-butyl acrylate, and Nmethylmaleimide), pyrrolidine derivatives could be synthesized in up to 94% yield and 95% ee. In the second part of the study, the catalytic activity of these chiral ligands were tested with titanium in asymmetric alkynylzinc addition reactions to aldehydes. By this method, chiral propargylic alcohols, which are important precursors for the natural products and pharmaceuticals can be synthesized. Using our catalyst, chiral propargylic alcohols were obtained in up to 96% yield and 98% ee. Although, most of the catalyst systems in the literature worked only with aromatic or aliphatic aldehydes and phenylacetylene, the catalyst system developed in this study worked with four different types of aldehydes (aromatic, aliphatic, heteroaromatic and a,b-unsaturated) and two different aliphatic acetylenes very successfully. Additionally, chiral ligand can be recovered in more than 90% yield and reused without losing its activity.

In this study new twelve phosphorus based chiral ligands were synthesized and characterized. Then the catalytic activity of these chiral ligands was tested with Cu(II) and Ag(I) salts in asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of azomethine ylides. This method provides the synthesis of different pyrrolidine derivatives with up to four stereogenic centers. Pyrrolidine derivatives are found in the structure of many biologically active natural compounds and drugs. Therefore the asymmetric synthesis of these compounds is highly important and many groups are involved in this area. As the precursor of the azomethine ylides, N-benzyliden-glycinmethylester, N-(4-methoxy benzyliden)-glycinmethylester, N-(naphthalene-1-ylmethylene)-amino-acetic acid methyl ester, and N-(naphthalen-2-ylmethylene)-amino-acetic acid methyl ester were synthesized and used. As the dipolarophiles, methyl acrylate, dimethyl maleate and N-methyl maleimide were used. Using these imines and dipolarophiles with 6 mol % of one of the P-FAM chiral ligands in the presence of Ag(I) salt, pyrrolidine derivatives were synthesized in up to 95% yield and 89% enantioselectivity. Additionally, chiral ligand was recovered in more than 80% yield and reused without losing its activity.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T13:21:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2559856 bytes, checksum: 50fe82b4059b56d6e01eb8e3cf66ea70 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-10-20 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos - Finep / Mesoionic compounds are notable heterocyclic for having the most diverse biological properties, physical and chemical properties. Are defined as flat and non-aromatic heterocyclic Betaines stabilized by electron delocalization. Through an in situ cycloaddition/cicloreversion 1,3-dipolar were obtained two mesoionic, MI-1.1 and MI-1.2 through of the interconversion system 1,3-oxazólio-5-olato (Munchnonas) for 1,3-tiazólio-5-tiolato. A nucleophilic substitution reaction with excess methyl iodide, CH3I, promoted the first modification to the mesoionic system were changed of free base to iodates salts, S-methylated forming derivatives mesoionic, MI-2.1 e MI-2.2. These underwent a cyclodehydration reaction in the presence of acetic anhydride yielding two mesoionic system 1,3-diazolium-5-thiolate, MI-3.1 and MI-3.2, which in turn were alkylated again and originated two derived in the form of iodates salts S-methylated, MI-4.1 and MI-4.2. As the mesoionic and its derivatives: MI-2.1, MI-2.2, MI-3.1, MI-3.2, MI-4.1 and MI-4.2 and unpublished literature. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic techniques for RMN 1H and 13C and infrared light through a comparative analysis with existing structures. / Os compostos mesoiônicos são heterocíclicos notáveis por apresentar as mais diversas propriedades biológicas, físicas e químicas. São definidos como betaínas heterocíclicas planas e não aromáticas estabilizadas por deslocalização de elétrons. Através de uma reação in situ de cicloadição/cicloreversão 1,3-dipolar obtiveram-se dois mesoiônicos, MI-1.1 e MI-1.2, através da interconversão do sistema 1,3-oxazólio-5-olato (Munchnonas) para 1,3-tiazólio-5-tiolato. Uma reação de substituição nucleofílica com excesso de iodeto de metila, CH3I, promoveu a primeira modificação no sistema mesoiônico sendo transformados de base livre para sais iodatos S-metilados formando os derivados mesoiônicos, MI-2.1 e MI-2.2. Estes sofreram uma reação de ciclodesidratação na presença de anidrido acético obtendo-se dois mesoiônicos do sistema 1,3-diazólio-5-tiolato, MI-3.1 e MI-3.2, que por sua vez foram alquilados novamente e originaram dois derivados em forma de sais iodatos S-metilados, MI-4.1 e MI-4.2. Sendo os mesoiônicos e seus derivados: MI-2.1, MI-2.2, MI-3.1, MI-3.2, MI-4.1 e MI-4.2 inéditos na literatura. Suas estruturas foram elucidadas por meio de técnicas espectroscópicas de RMN 1H e 13C e infravermelho através de uma análise comparativa com estruturas já existentes.

In this thesis, a series of computational studies based on density functional theory (DFT) and density functional tight-binding (DFTB) is presented to deeply understand experimental results on the synthesis of endohedral fullerenes and graphene/iron hybrids at atomic level. In the first part, a simple and efficient model is proposed to evaluate the strain experienced by clusters encapsulated in endohedral metallofullerenes (EMFs). Calculations for the sole cluster, either in the neutral or the charged state, cannot be used for this goal. However, when the effect of the carbon cage is mimicked by small organic π-systems (such as pentalene and sumanene), the cluster has sufficient freedom to adopt the optimal configuration, and therefore the energetic characteristics of the EMF-induced distortion of the cluster can be evaluated. Both nitride and sulfide clusters were found to be rather flexible. Hence, they can be encapsulated in carbon cages of different size and shape. For carbide M2C2 cluster the situation is more complex. The optimized cluster can adopt either butterfly or linear shapes, and these configurations have substantially different metal-metal distance. Whereas for Sc2C2 both structures are isoenergetic, linear form of the Y2C2 cluster is substantially less stable than the butterfly-shaped configuration. These results show that phenomenon of the “nanoscale fullerene compression” once proposed by Zhang et al. (J. AM. CHEM. SOC. (2012),134(20)) should be “nanoscale fullerene stretching”. Finally, the results also reveal that both Ti2S and Ti2C2 cluster are strained in corresponding EMF molecules, but the origin of the strain is opposite: C78-D3h(5) cage imposes too long Ti···Ti distance for the sulfide cluster and too short distance for the carbide cluster. In the second part of the thesis, possible fullerene geometries and electronic structures have been explored theoretically for the species detected in mass spectra of the Sc-EMF extract synthesized using CH4 as a reactive gas. Two most promising candidates, namely Sc4C@C80-Ih(7) and Sc4C3@C80-Ih(7), have been identified and further studied at the DFT level. For Sc4C@C80, the tetrahedral Sc4 cluster with the central μ4-C atom was found to be 10 kJ/mol more stable than the square cluster. For Sc4C3@C80, the calculation showed that the most stable is the Sc4C3 cluster in which the triangular C3 moiety is η3- and η2-coordinated to Sc atoms. Whereas Sc4C@C80 has rather small HOMO-LUMO gap and low ionization potential, the HOMO-LUMO gap of Sc4C3@C80 is substantially higher and exceeds that of Sc4C2@C80. In the third part, computational studies of structures and reactivity are described for a new type of EMFs with a heptagon that has been produced in the arc-discharge synthesis. DFT computations predict that LaSc2N@Cs(hept)-C80 is more stable than LaSc2N@D5h-C80, so the former should be synthesized in much higher yield than observed. This disagreement may be ascribed to the kinetic factors rather than thermodynamic stability. Because of prospective applications of this EMFs by introducing functional groups, the influence of the heptagon on the chemical properties have been further evaluated. Thermodynamically and kinetically preferred reaction sites are studied computationally for Prato and Bingel-Hirsch cycloaddition reactions. In both types of reactions the heptagon is not affected, and chemical reactivity is determined by the adjacent pentalene units. Thermodynamically controlled Prato addition is predicted to proceed regioselectively across the pentagon/pentagon edges, whereas the most reactive sites in kinetically-controlled Bingel-Hirsch reaction are the carbon atoms next to the pentagon/pentagon edge. Fourth, although various EMFs have been successfully synthesized and characterized, the formation mechanism is still not known in details, and hence control of the synthesis products is rather poor. Therefore, EMF self-assembly process in Sc/carbon vapor in the presence and absence of cooling gas (helium) and reactive gas (NH3 and CH4) is systematically investigated using quantum chemical molecular dynamics (QM/MD) simulations based on the DFTB potentials. The cooling gas effect is that the presence of He atoms accelerates formation of pentagons and hexagons and reduces the size of formed carbon cages in comparison to the analogous He-free simulations. As a result, the Sc/C/He system yields a large number of successful trajectories (i.e. leading to the Sc-EMFs) with more realistic cage-size distribution than the Sc/C system. Encapsulation of Sc atoms within the carbon cage was found to proceed via two parallel mechanisms. The main mechanism involves nucleation of the several hexagons and pentagons with Sc atoms already at the early stages of the carbon vapor condensation. In such proto-cages, both Sc–C σ-bonds and coordination bonds between Sc atoms and the π-system of the carbon network are present. Sc atoms are thus rather labile and can move along the carbon network, but the overall bonding is sufficiently strong to prevent dissociation even at high temperatures. Further growth of the carbon cage results in encapsulation of one or two Sc atoms within the forming fullerene. Another encapsulation mechanism is observed in rare cases. In this process, the closed cage is formed with Sc being a part of the carbon network, i.e. being bonded by three or four Sc–C σ-bonds. However, such intermediates are found to be unstable, and transform into the endohedral fullerenes within few picoseconds of annealing. In perfect agreement with experimental studies, extension of the simulation to Fe and Ti showed that Fe-EMFs are not formed at all, whereas Ti is prone to form Ti-EMFs with small cage sizes, including Ti@C28-Td and Ti@C30-C2v(3). The role of “reactive gas” in the EMF synthesis is revealed in dedicated simulations of the fullerene formation in the presence of several molecules of CH4 or NH3. When concentration of reactive gas is high, carbon vapor tends to form graphene flakes or other carbon species terminated by hydrogen atoms, whereas the yield of empty fullerenes is very low. Conversely, with additional metal atoms (Sc) and the same number of NH3 molecules, the yield of fullerenes constantly increase from 5 to 65% which is ascribed to the catalytic activity of metal atoms in the nucleation of carbon cages already at early stage. Moreover, due to the presence of hydrogen atoms from the reactive gas, the carbon cage formation requires much longer time, which provides sufficient reaction time to encapsulate 3 or 4 Sc atoms within one cage. It explains preferential formation of clusterfullerenes in experiments with reactive gas. At the same time, monometallofullerenes and dimetallofullerenes are the main products in absence of reactive gas. We also provide possible growth mechanisms of carbide and cyano-clusterfullerenes in details to elucidate how the intracluster goes into the cage. A possible growth mechanism of nitride clusterfullerenes has been proposed based on DFT results. In the last part, a free-standing crystalline single-atom thick layer of Fe has been studied theoretically. By investigating the energy difference, ΔE, between a suspended Fe monolayer and a nanoparticle using the equivalent number of Fe atoms, one can estimate that the largest stable membrane should be ca. 12 atoms wide or 3 × 3 nm2 which is in excellent agreement with the experimental observation. Otherwise, the possibility of C, O, N atoms embedded into the Fe membrane can been fully excluded by DFTB and DFT simulations, which agrees with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) measurement. A significantly enhanced magnetic moment for single atom thick Fe membranes (3.08 μB) is predicted by DFT as compared to the bulk BCC Fe (2.1 μB), which originates from the 2D nature of the Fe membrane since the dz2 orbital is out-of-plane while the dxy orbital is in-plane.

For the first time, successful synthesis of an unknown class of compounds, 3-azido-2H-azirines, which are implicated as highly reactive intermediates in the thermolysis of the corresponding 1,1-diazidoethenes, has been performed. These elusive heterocycles have been detected and characterised by low-temperature NMR and in situ IR spectroscopy. Even the parent compound, 3-azido-2H-azirine, has been observed via low-temperature photolysis of 1,1-diazidoethene, as a highly reactive species with a half-life period of only 12 min at −40 °C. / Dieser Beitrag ist aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

<p>Quantum chemical methods have been used to provide a better understanding of the photochemistry of astaxanthin and phytochromobilin; the photoenzymic repair of UV-light induced DNA damages; and the formation of lignin. </p><p>The carotenoid astaxanthin (AXT) is responsible for the colouration of lobster shell. In solution, the electronic absorption spectra of AXT peak in the 470-490 nm region, corresponding to an orange-red colouration. Upon binding to the lobster-shell protein-complex α-crustacyanin, the absorption maximum is shifted to 632 nm, yielding a slate-blue colouration. Herein, the structural origin of this bathochromic shift is investigated on the basis of recent experimental work.</p><p>The tetrapyrrole phytochromobilin (PΦB) underlies the photoactivation of the plant photoreceptor phytochrome. Upon absorption of 660-nm light, PΦB isomerizes from a C15-<i>Z,syn</i> configuration (in the inactive form of the protein) to C15-<i>E,anti</i> (in the active form). In this work, a reaction mechanism for this isomerization is proposed. </p><p>DNA photolyases are enzymes that repair DNA damages resulting from far-UV-light induced [2+2] cycloaddition reactions involving pyrimidine nucleobases. The catalytic activity of these enzymes is initiated by near-UV and visible light, and is governed by electron transfer processes between a catalytic cofactor of the enzyme and the DNA lesions. Herein, an explanation for the experimental observation that the repair of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD) – the major type of lesion – proceeds by electron transfer from the enzyme to the dimer is presented. Furthermore, the formation of CPD is studied.</p><p>Lignin is formed by dehydrogenative polymerization of hydroxycinnamyl alcohols. A detailed understanding of the polymerization mechanism and the factors controlling the outcome of the polymerization is, however, largely missing. Quantum chemical calculations on the initial dimerization step have been performed in order to gain some insight into these issues.</p>

Quantum chemical methods have been used to provide a better understanding of the photochemistry of astaxanthin and phytochromobilin; the photoenzymic repair of UV-light induced DNA damages; and the formation of lignin. The carotenoid astaxanthin (AXT) is responsible for the colouration of lobster shell. In solution, the electronic absorption spectra of AXT peak in the 470-490 nm region, corresponding to an orange-red colouration. Upon binding to the lobster-shell protein-complex α-crustacyanin, the absorption maximum is shifted to 632 nm, yielding a slate-blue colouration. Herein, the structural origin of this bathochromic shift is investigated on the basis of recent experimental work. The tetrapyrrole phytochromobilin (PΦB) underlies the photoactivation of the plant photoreceptor phytochrome. Upon absorption of 660-nm light, PΦB isomerizes from a C15-Z,syn configuration (in the inactive form of the protein) to C15-E,anti (in the active form). In this work, a reaction mechanism for this isomerization is proposed. DNA photolyases are enzymes that repair DNA damages resulting from far-UV-light induced [2+2] cycloaddition reactions involving pyrimidine nucleobases. The catalytic activity of these enzymes is initiated by near-UV and visible light, and is governed by electron transfer processes between a catalytic cofactor of the enzyme and the DNA lesions. Herein, an explanation for the experimental observation that the repair of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD) – the major type of lesion – proceeds by electron transfer from the enzyme to the dimer is presented. Furthermore, the formation of CPD is studied. Lignin is formed by dehydrogenative polymerization of hydroxycinnamyl alcohols. A detailed understanding of the polymerization mechanism and the factors controlling the outcome of the polymerization is, however, largely missing. Quantum chemical calculations on the initial dimerization step have been performed in order to gain some insight into these issues.

In this thesis, a series of computational studies based on density functional theory (DFT) and density functional tight-binding (DFTB) is presented to deeply understand experimental results on the synthesis of endohedral fullerenes and graphene/iron hybrids at atomic level. In the first part, a simple and efficient model is proposed to evaluate the strain experienced by clusters encapsulated in endohedral metallofullerenes (EMFs). Calculations for the sole cluster, either in the neutral or the charged state, cannot be used for this goal. However, when the effect of the carbon cage is mimicked by small organic π-systems (such as pentalene and sumanene), the cluster has sufficient freedom to adopt the optimal configuration, and therefore the energetic characteristics of the EMF-induced distortion of the cluster can be evaluated. Both nitride and sulfide clusters were found to be rather flexible. Hence, they can be encapsulated in carbon cages of different size and shape. For carbide M2C2 cluster the situation is more complex. The optimized cluster can adopt either butterfly or linear shapes, and these configurations have substantially different metal-metal distance. Whereas for Sc2C2 both structures are isoenergetic, linear form of the Y2C2 cluster is substantially less stable than the butterfly-shaped configuration. These results show that phenomenon of the “nanoscale fullerene compression” once proposed by Zhang et al. (J. AM. CHEM. SOC. (2012),134(20)) should be “nanoscale fullerene stretching”. Finally, the results also reveal that both Ti2S and Ti2C2 cluster are strained in corresponding EMF molecules, but the origin of the strain is opposite: C78-D3h(5) cage imposes too long Ti···Ti distance for the sulfide cluster and too short distance for the carbide cluster. In the second part of the thesis, possible fullerene geometries and electronic structures have been explored theoretically for the species detected in mass spectra of the Sc-EMF extract synthesized using CH4 as a reactive gas. Two most promising candidates, namely Sc4C@C80-Ih(7) and Sc4C3@C80-Ih(7), have been identified and further studied at the DFT level. For Sc4C@C80, the tetrahedral Sc4 cluster with the central μ4-C atom was found to be 10 kJ/mol more stable than the square cluster. For Sc4C3@C80, the calculation showed that the most stable is the Sc4C3 cluster in which the triangular C3 moiety is η3- and η2-coordinated to Sc atoms. Whereas Sc4C@C80 has rather small HOMO-LUMO gap and low ionization potential, the HOMO-LUMO gap of Sc4C3@C80 is substantially higher and exceeds that of Sc4C2@C80. In the third part, computational studies of structures and reactivity are described for a new type of EMFs with a heptagon that has been produced in the arc-discharge synthesis. DFT computations predict that LaSc2N@Cs(hept)-C80 is more stable than LaSc2N@D5h-C80, so the former should be synthesized in much higher yield than observed. This disagreement may be ascribed to the kinetic factors rather than thermodynamic stability. Because of prospective applications of this EMFs by introducing functional groups, the influence of the heptagon on the chemical properties have been further evaluated. Thermodynamically and kinetically preferred reaction sites are studied computationally for Prato and Bingel-Hirsch cycloaddition reactions. In both types of reactions the heptagon is not affected, and chemical reactivity is determined by the adjacent pentalene units. Thermodynamically controlled Prato addition is predicted to proceed regioselectively across the pentagon/pentagon edges, whereas the most reactive sites in kinetically-controlled Bingel-Hirsch reaction are the carbon atoms next to the pentagon/pentagon edge. Fourth, although various EMFs have been successfully synthesized and characterized, the formation mechanism is still not known in details, and hence control of the synthesis products is rather poor. Therefore, EMF self-assembly process in Sc/carbon vapor in the presence and absence of cooling gas (helium) and reactive gas (NH3 and CH4) is systematically investigated using quantum chemical molecular dynamics (QM/MD) simulations based on the DFTB potentials. The cooling gas effect is that the presence of He atoms accelerates formation of pentagons and hexagons and reduces the size of formed carbon cages in comparison to the analogous He-free simulations. As a result, the Sc/C/He system yields a large number of successful trajectories (i.e. leading to the Sc-EMFs) with more realistic cage-size distribution than the Sc/C system. Encapsulation of Sc atoms within the carbon cage was found to proceed via two parallel mechanisms. The main mechanism involves nucleation of the several hexagons and pentagons with Sc atoms already at the early stages of the carbon vapor condensation. In such proto-cages, both Sc–C σ-bonds and coordination bonds between Sc atoms and the π-system of the carbon network are present. Sc atoms are thus rather labile and can move along the carbon network, but the overall bonding is sufficiently strong to prevent dissociation even at high temperatures. Further growth of the carbon cage results in encapsulation of one or two Sc atoms within the forming fullerene. Another encapsulation mechanism is observed in rare cases. In this process, the closed cage is formed with Sc being a part of the carbon network, i.e. being bonded by three or four Sc–C σ-bonds. However, such intermediates are found to be unstable, and transform into the endohedral fullerenes within few picoseconds of annealing. In perfect agreement with experimental studies, extension of the simulation to Fe and Ti showed that Fe-EMFs are not formed at all, whereas Ti is prone to form Ti-EMFs with small cage sizes, including Ti@C28-Td and Ti@C30-C2v(3). The role of “reactive gas” in the EMF synthesis is revealed in dedicated simulations of the fullerene formation in the presence of several molecules of CH4 or NH3. When concentration of reactive gas is high, carbon vapor tends to form graphene flakes or other carbon species terminated by hydrogen atoms, whereas the yield of empty fullerenes is very low. Conversely, with additional metal atoms (Sc) and the same number of NH3 molecules, the yield of fullerenes constantly increase from 5 to 65% which is ascribed to the catalytic activity of metal atoms in the nucleation of carbon cages already at early stage. Moreover, due to the presence of hydrogen atoms from the reactive gas, the carbon cage formation requires much longer time, which provides sufficient reaction time to encapsulate 3 or 4 Sc atoms within one cage. It explains preferential formation of clusterfullerenes in experiments with reactive gas. At the same time, monometallofullerenes and dimetallofullerenes are the main products in absence of reactive gas. We also provide possible growth mechanisms of carbide and cyano-clusterfullerenes in details to elucidate how the intracluster goes into the cage. A possible growth mechanism of nitride clusterfullerenes has been proposed based on DFT results. In the last part, a free-standing crystalline single-atom thick layer of Fe has been studied theoretically. By investigating the energy difference, ΔE, between a suspended Fe monolayer and a nanoparticle using the equivalent number of Fe atoms, one can estimate that the largest stable membrane should be ca. 12 atoms wide or 3 × 3 nm2 which is in excellent agreement with the experimental observation. Otherwise, the possibility of C, O, N atoms embedded into the Fe membrane can been fully excluded by DFTB and DFT simulations, which agrees with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) measurement. A significantly enhanced magnetic moment for single atom thick Fe membranes (3.08 μB) is predicted by DFT as compared to the bulk BCC Fe (2.1 μB), which originates from the 2D nature of the Fe membrane since the dz2 orbital is out-of-plane while the dxy orbital is in-plane.

For the first time, successful synthesis of an unknown class of compounds, 3-azido-2H-azirines, which are implicated as highly reactive intermediates in the thermolysis of the corresponding 1,1-diazidoethenes, has been performed. These elusive heterocycles have been detected and characterised by low-temperature NMR and in situ IR spectroscopy. Even the parent compound, 3-azido-2H-azirine, has been observed via low-temperature photolysis of 1,1-diazidoethene, as a highly reactive species with a half-life period of only 12 min at −40 °C. / Dieser Beitrag ist aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.