It is shown that for all the essential bond forming and bond breaking reactions on metal surfaces, the reactivity of the metal surface correlates linearly with the reaction energy in a single universal relation. Such correlations provide an easy way of establishing trends in reactivity among the different transition metals. Keywords Density Functional Theory -Stepped surfaces -Coupling reactions -Bond breaking reactions -BEP relations -Scaling relationsTo bridge the gap between macroscopic properties of a catalyst, such as turn-over rates and selectivity and the microscopic properties obtained from electronic structure methods based on density functional theory (DFT), an in depth understanding of the underlying thermodynamics and kinetics of the corresponding metal surfaces is needed. Today, DFT has reached a level of sophistication where it can be used to describe complete catalytic reactions and hence provide an insight that pinpoints to the origin of the catalytic activity and selectivity. 1,2,3,4,5,6 However, extensive DFT calculations that eventually lead to this understanding are still computationally demanding. A simplification that connects the reactivity and selectivity of a catalytic surface to one or few descriptors is therefore extremely useful. Such a simplification, e.g. the Brønsted-Evans-Polanyi (BEP) relations, is able to show that the transition state energy of a reaction is linearly depending on the reaction energy. 7,8,9,10,11,12 * Corresponding author SLAC-PUB-14285 2 Herein, we investigate the transition state energies of a large number of essential bond breaking and forming reactions that play a key role in the catalytic transformation of a large fraction of base chemicals. The transition state energies investigated include C-C, C-O, C-N, N-O, N-N, and O-O coupling and have been calculated on different stepped surfaces of transition metals such as Co, Ni, Cu, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ir, Pt, and Au. For a dissociation reaction (AB → A+B), the transition state energy (E ts ) is calculated by Equation (1), in which E ts/slab , E slab and E gas are the total energies of the slab with transition states, the clean slab, and the gas phase molecules relevant for the reactions, respectively. The dissociative adsorption energy (E diss ) is calculated by Equation (2), in which E A/slab and E B/slab are the total energies of the slab with adsorbates A and B, respectively.(1)All calculations were performed using the DACAPO plane-wave pseudo potential DFT code. 13 Ionic cores were described by ultrasoft pseudopotentials 14, and the Kohn-Sham one-electron valence states were expanded in a basis of plane wave functions with a cutoff energy up to 340 eV. For most adsorption systems, the surface Brillouin zone was sampled using a Monkhorst-Pack grid of size 4×4×1, while 2×3×1 was used for O 2 , and 8×6×1 was used for N 2 and NO as a test of the parameters. The self-consistent electron density was determined by iterative diagonalization of the Kohn-Sham Hamiltonian. A Fermi distribution for the population of...

Versatile Brønsted-Evans-Polanyi (BEP) relations are found from density functional theory for a wide range of transition metal oxides including rutiles and perovskites. For oxides, the relation depends on the type of oxide, the active site and the dissociating molecule. The slope of the BEP relation is strongly coupled to the adsorbate geometry in the transition state. If it is final state-like the dissociative chemisorption energy can be considered as a descriptor for the dissociation. If it is initial state-like, on the other hand, the dissociative chemisorption energy is not suitable as descriptor for the dissociation. Dissociation of molecules with strong intramolecular bonds belong to the former and molecules with weak intramolecular bonds to the latter group. We show, for the prototype system La-perovskites, that there is a "cyclic" behavior in the transition state characteristics upon change of the active transition metal of the oxide.

The honeycomb lattice material Li2RuO3 undergoes a dimerization of Ru 4+ cations on cooling below 270• C, where the magnetic susceptibility vanishes. We use density functional theory calculations to show that this reflects the formation of a 'valence bond crystal', with a strong bond disproportionation. On warming, x-ray diffraction shows that discrete three-fold symmetry is regained on average, and the dimerization apparently disappears. In contrast, local structural measurements using high-energy x-rays, show that disordered dimers survive at the nanoscale up to at least 650• C. The high temperature phase of Li2RuO3 is thus an example of a valence bond liquid, where thermal fluctuations drive resonance between different dimer coverages, a classic analogue of the resonating valence bond state often discussed in connection with high Tc cuprates.

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Chiral bicyclic guanidine 1 was found to be an excellent catalyst for reactions between anthrones and various dienophiles. The catalyst can tolerate a range of substituents and substitution patterns, making several anthrone derivatives suitable for this reaction. Both Diels-Alder and Michael adducts were obtained in excellent yields, high regioselectivities, and high enantioselectivities. This is the first case of a highly enantioselective base-catalyzed anthrone Diels-Alder reaction.