The
mechanism of the N–N cross-coupling of nitroarene and
aniline catalyzed by 1,2,2,3,4,4-hexamethylphosphetane oxide (1PO) as well as the prediction of a better catalyst was theoretically
investigated using DFT and DLPNO-CCSD(T) calculations. An active species 1P is generated through deoxygenation of 1PO by
diphenylsilane. Then, 1P extracts one oxygen atom from
nitroarene to produce nitrosoarene. In this deoxygenation step, the
[3 + 1] cheletropic addition is a rate-determining step with the ΔG
0≠ and ΔG
0 values of 28.8 and −7.3 kcal/mol, respectively. Next,
nitrosoarene exclusively undergoes a dehydrative condensation reaction
with aniline to form an azo-cation intermediate, which is the origin
of the high selectivity in this cross-coupling reaction. In this step,
2,4,6-trimethylbenzoic acid plays an essential role to significantly
reduce the ΔG
0≠ value from
41.1 to 14.8 kcal/mol. Subsequently, 1P reacts with the
azo cation to form a stable hydrazinylphosphonium species through
the nucleophilic attack of the phosphorus atom to the cationic nitrogen
atom. The phosphonium center preferably accepts a hydroxyl group from
water to ensure the formation of hydrazine in the subsequent step.
In the [3 + 1] cheletropic addition step, the highest occupied molecular
orbital (HOMO) of 1P plays an important role. The small-ring
scaffold of 1P raises the HOMO energy compared to acyclic
phosphorus compounds to achieve high activity of 1P.
Substitution of a dimethylamino group for the methyl group in 1P was theoretically predicted to improve the activity by
further increasing the HOMO energy.