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The elucidation of the ring–opening reaction mechanism is a critical step towards improving the catalytic performance for the conversion of biomass into value–added chemicals. Herein, we focused on the stepwise C−O bond hydrogenolysis mechanism of oxygen–containing heterocycles (O‐heterocycles) into α,ω‐diols, in particular THFA to 1,5‐PeD, over selective Ni−La(OH)3 in hydrogen–donor isopropanol. A mechanistic study was carried out on a structurally well–defined Ni−La(OH)3, where the mechanism was elucidated using a combination of kinetic and 13C NMR isotope labeling experiments. It was suggested that both Ni nanoparticles and La(OH)3 support play a critical role in the reaction mechanism, where basic hydroxide species of the support initially deprotonate the CH2OH and −OH modified furan, tetrahydrofuran and tetrahydropyran rings, adsorbing them chemically on the catalyst surface. This step is followed by a direct hydride attack on the second carbon atom of these rings, which is proposed to be the key step for ring cleavage, as indicated by the increased deuteration at this position. In addition to the direct hydrogenolysis using gaseous H2, it is assumed that a catalytic transfer hydrogenolysis reaction (CTH) reaction of THFA is proposed to proceed via the dehydrogenation of isopropanol over isolated Ni species, forming hydrogen species that can be adsorbed on the Ni surface or desorb as H2 molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2‐(1‐Hydroxyethylidene)malononitrile (4) is commercially sold as the keto isomer and is described in the literature as either a keto (4 b) or enol (4 a) species. Using NMR techniques and single crystal X‐ray diffraction, we were able to show that 4 exists exclusively as the enol isomer (4 a) in solution as well as in the solid state, which agrees with quantum chemical calculations. By adding one or two equivalents of the Lewis acid B(C6F5)3, the mono‐ or diadducts are formed in exergonic reactions, in which the enol form is further thermodynamically stabilized. The structure and acidity of enol 4 a and its borane adducts are discussed based on experimental and theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differently substituted phenyl isonitriles (with C−H bonds in ortho‐position) and naphthyl isonitriles were reacted with the cyclic biradical [⋅P(μ‐N‐Ter)2P⋅] (1). Insertion of the isonitrile formed a cyclic five‐membered biradical [⋅P(NTer)2C(R)P⋅] (2R, R=phenyl, naphthyl) in the first step, followed by C−H activation at the aryl substituent, resulting in novel azaphospholes (5R), which could be isolated and fully characterized. The formation of the azaphospholes can be prevented by the addition of a second equivalent of isonitrile, which causes the blocking of the radical centers in 2R by adduct formation (3R). Quantum mechanical calculations showed that a significant increase in the aromaticity of the benzo‐ and naphtho‐azaphospholes is one of the driving forces for the activation process leading to the formation of thermodynamically favored azaphospholes. Targeted activation of C−H bonds using biradical systems represents a new synthetic approach to generate benzo‐ and naphtho‐azaphospholes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chlorination of 1,2‐diphosphinobenzene with PCl5 to 1,2‐bis(dichlorophosphino)benzene was performed with high yields (93 %) despite the high number of P−H functions. The method was further applied to other phosphanes, enabling the first synthesis and complete characterization of 1,2,4‐tris(dichlorophosphino)benzene (89 % yield) and 1,2,4,5‐tetrakis(dichlorophosphino)benzene (91 % yield), valuable precursors for example for binuclear complexes, coordination polymers, organic wires, or metal–organic frameworks. The application of the chlorophosphanes in base induced ring closure reactions with primary amines is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a concerted theoretical and experimental effort to determine the reorientational dynamics as well as hydrogen bond lifetimes for the doubly ionic hydrogen bond +OH⋯O− in the ionic liquid (2-hydroxyethyl)trimethylammonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide [Ch][NTf2] by using a combination of NMR relaxation time experiments, density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Due to fast proton exchange, the determination of rotational correlation times is challenging. For molecular liquids, 17O-enhanced proton relaxation time experiments have been used to determine the rotational correlation times for the OH vectors in water or alcohols. As an alternative to those expensive isotopic substitution experiments, we employed a recently introduced approach which is providing access to the rotational dynamics from a single NMR deuteron quadrupolar relaxation time experiment. Here, the deuteron quadrupole coupling constants (DQCCs) are obtained from a relation between the DQCC and the δ1H proton chemical shifts determined from a set of DFT calculated clusters in combination with experimentally determined proton chemical shifts. The NMR-obtained rotational correlation times were compared to those obtained from MD simulations and then related to viscosities for testing the applicability of popular hydrodynamic models. In addition, hydrogen bond lifetimes were derived, using hydrogen bond population correlation functions computed from MD simulations. Here, two different time domains were observed: The short-time contributions to the hydrogen lifetimes and the reorientational correlation times have roughly the same size and are located in the picosecond range, whereas the long-time contributions decay with relaxation times in the nanosecond regime and are related to rather slow diffusion processes. The computed average hydrogen bond lifetime is dominated by the long-time process, highlighting the importance and longevity of hydrogen-bonded ion pairs in these ionic liquids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]