PNNL

Abstract

Reported herein are thermochemical studies of hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reactions involving transition metal H-atom donors MIILH and oxyl radicals. [FeII(H2bip)3]2+, [FeII(H2bim)3]2+, [CoII(H2bim)3]2+ and RuII(acac)2(py-imH) [H2bip = 2,2’-bi-1,4,5,6-tetrahydro¬pyrimidine, H2bim = 2,2’-bi-imidazoline, acac = 2,4-pentandionato, py-imH = 2-(2’-pyridyl)¬imidazole)] each react with TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinoxyl) or tBu3PhO• (2,4,6-tri-tert-butylphenoxyl) to give the deprotonated, oxidized metal complex MIIIL, and TEMPOH or tBu3PhOH. Solution equilibrium measurements for the reactions of Co and Fe complexes with TEMPO show a large, negative ground-state entropy for hydrogen atom transfer: ?SºHAT = -30 ± 2 cal mol-1 K-1 for the two iron complexes and -41 ± 2 cal mol-1 K-1 for [CoII(H2bim)3]2+. The ?SºHAT for TEMPO + RuII(acac)2(py-imH) is much closer to zero, 4.9 ± 1.1 cal mol-1 K-1. Calorimetric measurements quantitatively confirm the enthalpy of reaction for [FeII(H2bip)3]2+ + TEMPO, thus also confirming ?SºHAT. Calorimetry on TEMPOH + tBu3PhO• gives ?HºHAT = 11.2 ± 0.5 kcal mol-1 which matches the enthalpy predicted from the difference in literature solution BDEs. An evaluation of the literature BDEs of both TEMPOH and tBu3PhOH is briefly presented and new estimates are included on the relative enthalpy of solvation for tBu3PhO• vs. tBu3PhOH. The primary contributor to the large magnitude of the ground-state entropy |?SºHAT| for the metal complexes is vibrational entropy, ?Sºvib. The common assumption that ?SºHAT ˜ 0 for HAT reactions, developed for organic and small gas phase molecules, does not hold for transition metal based HAT reactions. The trend in magnitude of |?SºHAT| for reactions with TEMPO, RuII(acac)2(py-imH)