Aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) has been extensively studied as a solvent for CO2 capture, yet the underlying reaction mechanisms are still not fully understood. Combined ab initio and classical molecular dynamics simulations were performed to revisit and identify key elementary reactions and intermediates in 25-30 wt% aqueous MEA with CO2, by explicitly taking into account the structural and dynamic effects. Using static quantum chemical calculations, we also analyzed in more detail the fundamental interactions involved in the MEA-CO2 reaction. We find that both the CO2 capture by MEA and solvent regeneration follow a zwitterion-mediated two-step mechanism; from the zwitterionic intermediate, the relative probability between deprotonation (carbamate formation) and CO2 removal (MEA regeneration) tends to be determined largely by the interaction between the zwitterion and neighboring H2O molecules. In addition, our calculations clearly demonstrate that proton transfer in the MEA-CO2-H2O solution primarily occurs through H-bonded water bridges, and thus the availability and arrangement of H2O molecules also directly impacts the protonation and/or deprotonation of MEA and its derivatives. This improved understanding should contribute to developing more comprehensive kinetic models for use in modeling and optimizing the CO2 capture process. Moreover, this work highlights the importance of a detailed atomic-level description of the solution structure and dynamics in order to better understand molecular mechanisms underlying the reaction of CO2 with aqueous amines.

A new approach to quantify hydrogen bond strengths based on interaction coordinates (HBSBIC) is proposed and is very promising. In this research, it is assumed that the projected force field of the fictitious three atoms fragment (DHA) where D is the proton donor and A is the proton acceptor from the full molecular force field of the H-bonded complex characterizes the hydrogen bond. The "interaction coordinate (IC)" derived from the internal compliance matrix elements of this three-atom fragment measures how the DH covalent bond (its electron density) responds to constrained optimization when the HA hydrogen bond is stretched by a known amount (its electron density is perturbed by a specified amount). This response of the DH bond, based on how the IC depends on the electron density along the HA bond, is a measure of the hydrogen bond strength. The inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bond strengths for a variety of chemical and biological systems are reported. When defined and evaluated using the IC approach, the HBSBIC index leads to satisfactory results. Because this involves only a three-atom fragment for each hydrogen bond, the approach should open up new directions in the study of "appropriate small fragments" in large biomolecules.

Attempts to establish degrees of aromaticity in molecules are legion. In the present study, we begin with a fictitious fragment arising from only those atoms contributing to the aromatic ring and having a force field projected from the original system. For example, in benzene, we adopt a fictitious C6 fragment with a force field projected from the full benzene force field. When one bond or angle is stretched and kept fixed, followed by a partial optimization for all other internal coordinates, structures change from their respective equilibria. These changes are the responses of all other internal coordinates for constraining the bond or angle by unit displacements and relaxing the forces on all other internal coordinates. The "interaction coordinate" derived from the redundant internal coordinate compliance constants measures how a bond (its electron density) responds for constrained optimization when another bond or angle is stretched by a specified unit (its electron density is perturbed by a finite amount). The sum of interaction coordinates (responses) of all bonded neighbors for all internal coordinates of the fictitious fragment is a measure of the strength of the σ and π electron interactions leading to aromatic stability. This sum, based on interaction coordinates, appears to be successful as an aromaticity index for a range of chemical systems. Since the concept involves analyzing a fragment rather than the whole molecule, this idea is more general and is likely to lead to new insights.

Recently, we proposed an aromaticity index based on interaction coordinates (AIBIC) ( J. Phys. Chem. A 2016 , 120 , 2894 - 2901 ). This index works well for the aromatic hydrocarbons. However, in the case of heterocyclic systems, the AIBIC overestimates the aromaticity indicating many of them to be more aromatic than benzene, which seems unlikely. Because of the differences in the electronegativity of the carbon and the other heteroatoms, the electron density is partially localized near the more electronegative atom(s) of the aromatic fragment. This localized electron density does not contribute to the aromaticity that is due to the delocalized electron density over the central ring. To account for this reduction in the delocalized electron density, a correction is introduced based on Pauling's electronegativity equation. When the corrected interaction coordinates are used in the computation of AIBIC, we get a new index-aromaticity index based on interaction coordinates corrected. This new index, when computed for a variety of heterocyclic systems, yields results in line with the expectations, and its usefulness in quantifying aromaticity appears to be very promising.