We report results from a computational investigation of the oxidative deboronation of BoroGlycine, H2N–CH2–B(OH)2, using H2O and H2O2 as the reactive oxygen species (ROS) to yield aminomethanol, H2N–CH2–OH; these results complement our study on the protodeboronation of BoroGlycine to produce methylamine, H2N–CH3 (Larkin et al. J. Phys. Chem. A, 111, 6489–6500, 2007). Second-order Møller-Plesset (MP2) perturbation theory with Dunning-Woon correlation-consistent (cc) basis sets were used for the calculations with comparisons made to results from Density Functional Theory (DFT) at the PBE1PBE/6-311++G(d,p)(cc-pVDZ) levels. The effects of a bulk aqueous environment were also incorporated into the calculations employing PCM and CPCM methodology. Using H2O as the ROS, the reaction H2O + H2N–CH2–B(OH)2 → H2N–CH2–OH + H–B(OH)2 was calculated to be endothermic, the value of
normalΔH2980 was +12.0 kcal/mol at the MP2(FC)/cc-pVTZ computational level in vacuo and +13.7 kcal/mol in PCM aqueous media; the corresponding value for the activation barrier, ΔH‡, was +94.3 kcal/mol relative to the separated reactants in vacuo and +89.9 kcal/mol in PCM aqueous media. In contrast, the reaction H2O2 + H2N–CH2–B(OH)2 → H2N–CH2–OH + B(OH)3 was calculated to be highly exothermic with a
normalΔH2980 value of −100.9 kcal/mol at the MP2(FC)/cc-pVTZ computational level in vacuo and −99.6 kcal/mol in CPCM aqueous media; the highest-energy transition state for the multi-step process associated with this reaction involved the rearrangement of H2N–CH2–B(OH)(OOH) to H2N–CH2–O–B(OH)2 with a ΔH‡ value of +23.2 kcal/mol in vacuo relative to the separated reactants. These computational results for BoroGlycine are in accord with the experimental observations for the deboronation of the FDA approved anti-cancer drug Bortezomib (Velcade™, PS-341) where it was found to be the principle deactivation pathway. (Labutti et al. Chem. Res. Toxicol., 19, 539–546, 2006).