We report the results of Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) simulations on the aqueous solvation of the SmI molecule at room temperature using the cluster microsolvation approach including 32 water molecules. The electronic structure calculations were done using the M062X hybrid exchange-correlation functional in conjunction with the 6-31G** basis sets for oxygen and hydrogen. For the iodine and samarium atoms the Stuttgart-Köln relativistic effective-core potentials were utilized with their associated valence basis sets. Starting from the optimized geometry of SmI embeded in the microsolvation environment, we find a swift substitution of the iodine ions by eight tightly bound water molecules around Sm(II). Through the Sm-O radial distribution function and the evolution of the Sm-O distances, the present study predicts a first rigid Sm(II) solvation shell from 2.6 to 3.4 Å, whose integration leads to a coordination number of 8.4 water molecules, and a second softer solvation sphere from 3.5 to ca. 6 Å. The Sm(II)-O radial distribution function is in excellent agreement with that reported for Sr from EXAFS studies, a fact that can be explained because Sr and Sm have almost identical ionic radii (ca. 1.26 Å) and coordination numbers: 8 for Sr and 8.4 for Sm. The theoretical EXAFS spectrum was obtained from the BOMD trajectory and is discussed in the light of the experimental spectra for Sm(III). Once microsolvation is achieved, no water exchange events were found to occur around Sm, in agreement with the experimental data for Eu (which has a nearly identical charge-to-ionic radius relation as Sm), where the mean residence time of a water molecule in [Eu(HO)] is known to be ca. 230 ps.

The high-valent molybdenum(VI) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes, (NHC)MoO 2 (1) and (NHC)MoO(N t Bu) (2) (NHC = 1,3bis(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-phenolato)-benzimidazol-2-ylidene), are investigated toward their catalytic potential in the deoxygenation of nitroarenes. Using pinacol as the sacrificial and green reductant, both complexes are shown to be very active (pre)catalysts for this transformation allowing a reduction of the catalyst loading down to 0.25 mol %. Mechanistic investigations show μ-oxo bridged molybdenum(V) complexes [(NHC)MoO] 2 O (4) and [(NHC)Mo-(N t Bu)] 2 O (5) as well as zwitterionic pinacolate benzimidazolium complex 6, with a doubly protonated NHC ligand, to be potentially active species in the catalytic cycle. Both 4 and 5 can be prepared independently by the deoxygenation of 1 and 2 using triethyl phosphine (PEt 3 ) or triphenyl phosphine (PPh 3 ) and were shown to exhibit an unusual multireferenced ground state with a very small singlet−triplet gap at room temperature. Computational studies show that the spin state plays an unneglectable role in the catalytic process, efficiently lowering the reaction barrier of the deoxygenation step. Mechanistic details, putting special emphasis on the fate of the catalyst will be presented and potential routes how nitroarene reduction is facilitated are evaluated.

The hydration features of [Mg(HO)] and [Ca(HO)] clusters with n = 3-6, 8, 18, and 27 were studied by means of Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations at the B3LYP/6-31+G** level of theory. For both ions, it is energetically more favorable to have all water molecules in the first hydration shell when n ≤ 6, but stable lower coordination average structures with one water molecule not directly interacting with the ion were found for Mg at room temperature, showing signatures of proton transfer events for the smaller cation but not for the larger one. A more rigid octahedral-type structure for Mg than for Ca was observed in all simulations, with no exchange of water molecules to the second hydration shell. Significant thermal effects on the average structure of clusters were found: while static optimizations lead to compact, spherically symmetric hydration geometries, the effects introduced by finite-temperature dynamics yield more prolate configurations. The calculated vibrational spectra are in agreement with infrared spectroscopy results. Previous studies proposed an increase in the coordination number (CN) from six to eight water molecules for [Ca(HO)] clusters when n ≥ 12; however, in agreement with recent measurements of binding energies, no transition to a larger CN was found when n > 8. Moreover, the excellent agreement found between the calculated extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy spectra for the larger cluster and the experimental data of the aqueous solution supports a CN of six for Ca.