We apply microkinetic modeling in homogeneous catalysis and show how it can be used to reveal important details of a complex mechanism and how this can lead to a direct comparison between theory and experiment. While regularly used in heterogeneous catalysis, its applications to organic chemistry or homogeneous catalysis are still comparatively scarce. This approach is exemplarily applied to the mechanism of the asymmetric hydroboration of acetophenone with a highly active cooperative Lewis acid−ammonium salt catalyst. In combination with density functional theory, it is a gateway to shed light into important mechanistic details. In our study, it reveals that the counterion of the ammonium salt of the catalyst facilitates the hydride transfer step of the cycle. Chloride replacing iodide speeds up the main reaction but simultaneously has the same effect on a side reaction that consumes the product. This observation is confirmed by experimental measurements of both the main catalytic cycle and the side reaction. A sensitivity analysis showed that the transition from the product complex to the hydride transfer is ratelimiting and that it determines the enantioselectivity. Based on this insight, an enantioselective kinetic model was applied, from which the difference of the Gibbs free energy barriers of the two pathways forming the two enantiomers can be extracted. The barriers are in fairly good agreement with the ones calculated by DFT, which reveal that the asymmetric backbone interacts with the reactant sterically to favor asymmetric product formation.

Aiming at merocyanine dyes with good linear optical and self-assembly properties, a series of rigid mono-, bi- and tricyclic merocyanines with O- and N-donor units as well as keto or...

We report the successful synthesis of Rb2[Mn(NH2)4] and Cs2[Mn(NH2)4] from ammonothermal conditions at 723 K and pressures above 850 bar. Both compounds were obtained single phase according to powder X-ray diffraction. The crystal structures were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. For Rb2[Mn(NH2)4] we have obtained the high-temperature phase. The structures are analyzed with respect to the earlier reported alkali metal amidomanganates. Upon heating in inert atmosphere Cs2[Mn(NH2)4] decomposes to manganese nitrides. IR spectroscopic results are reported.

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