No abstract

The second-order response of the electron density with respect to changes in electron number, known as the dual descriptor, has been established as a key reactivity indicator for reactions like pericyclic reactions, where reagents accept and donate electrons concurrently. Here we establish that the dual descriptor is also the key reactivity indicator for ambiphilic reagents: reagents that can act either as electrophiles or as nucleophiles, depending on the reaction partner. Specifically, we study dual atoms (which are proposed to act, simultaneously, as an electron acceptor and an electron donor), dual molecules (which react with both electrophiles and nucleophiles, generally at different sites), and dual ion-molecule complexes (which react with both cations and anions). On the basis of our analysis, the dual atom (an Al(I) that has been purported to be dual in the literature) is actually pseudodual in the sense that it does not truly accept electrons from a nucleophiles; rather, it serves as a conduit through which an electrophile can donate electrons to the attached aromatic ring. For understanding dual ion-molecule complexes, it helps to understand that the dual descriptor makes a key contribution to the long-range portion of the quadratic hyperpolarization. In all cases, a complete description of the reactivity of the ambiphilic reagent requires considering both an orbital-based descriptor of electron transfer (the dual descriptor or the local hypersoftness) and the electrostatic potential. The local hypersoftness strongly resembles the dual descriptor.

This work deals with exploring some empirical scales of nucleophilicity. We have started evaluating the experimental indices of nucleophilicity proposed by Legon and Millen on the basis of the measure of the force constants derived from vibrational frequencies using a probe dipole H-X (X = F,CN). The correlation among some theoretical parameters with this experimental scale has been evaluated. The theoretical parameters have been chosen as the minimum of the electrostatic potential V(min), the binding energy (BE) between the nucleophile and the H-X dipole, and the electrostatic potential measured at the position of the hydrogen atom V(H) when the complex nucleophile and dipole H-X is in the equilibrium geometry. All of them present good correlations with the experimental nucleophilicity scale. In addition, the BEs of the nucleophiles with two other Lewis acids (one hard, BF(3), and the other soft, BH(3)) have been evaluated. The results suggest that the Legon and Millen nucleophilicity scale and the electrostatic potential derived scales can describe in good approximation the reactivity order of the nucleophiles only when the interactions with a probe electrophile is of the hard-hard type. For a covalent interaction that is orbital controlled, a new nucleophilicity index using information of the frontier orbitals of both, the nucleophile and the electrophile has been proposed.

Pterins are members of a family of heterocyclic compounds present in a wide variety of biological systems and may exist in two forms, corresponding to an acid and a basic tautomer. In this work, the proton transfer reaction between these tautomeric forms was investigated in the gas phase and in aqueous solution. In gas phase, the intramolecular mechanism was carried out for the isolated pterin by quantum mechanical second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ) calculations and it indicates that the acid form is more stable than the basic form by -1.4 kcal/mol with a barrier of 34.2 kcal/mol with respect to the basic form. In aqueous solution, the role of the water molecules in the proton transfer reaction was analyzed in two separated parts, the direct participation of one water molecule in the reaction path, called water-assisted mechanism, and the complementary participation of the aqueous solvation. The water-assisted mechanism was carried out for one pterin-water cluster by quantum mechanical calculations and it indicates that the acid form is still more stable by -3.3 kcal/mol with a drastic reduction of 70% of the barrier. The bulk solution effect on the intramolecular and water-assisted mechanisms was included by free energy perturbation implemented on Monte Carlo simulations. The bulk water effect is found to be substantial and decisive when the reaction path involves the water-assisted mechanism. In this case, the free energy barrier is only 6.7 kcal/mol and the calculated relative Gibbs free energy for the two tautomers is -11.2 kcal/mol. This value is used to calculate the pK(a) value of 8.2 +/- 0.6 that is in excellent agreement with the experimental result of 7.9.