TY - JOUR
T1 - Competing E2 and SN2 Mechanisms for the F- + CH3CH2I Reaction
AU - Yang, Li
AU - Zhang, Jiaxu
AU - Xie, Jing
AU - Ma, Xinyou
AU - Zhang, Linyao
AU - Zhao, Chenyang
AU - Hase, William L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2017/2/9
Y1 - 2017/2/9
N2 - Anti-E2, syn-E2, inv-, and ret-SN2 reaction channels for the gas-phase reaction of F- + CH3CH2I were characterized with a variety of electronic structure calculations. Geometrical analysis confirmed synchronous E2-type transition states for the elimination of the current reaction, instead of nonconcerted processes through E1cb-like and E1-like mechanisms. Importantly, the controversy concerning the reactant complex for anti-E2 and inv-SN2 paths has been clarified in the present work. A positive barrier of +19.2 kcal/mol for ret-SN2 shows the least feasibility to occur at room temperature. Negative activation energies (-16.9, -16.0, and -4.9 kcal/mol, respectively) for inv-SN2, anti-E2, and syn-E2 indicate that inv-SN2 and anti-E2 mechanisms significantly prevail over the eclipsed elimination. Varying the leaving group for a series of reactions F- + CH3CH2Y (Y = F, Cl, Br, and I) leads to monotonically decreasing barriers, which relates to the gradually looser TS structures following the order F > Cl > Br > I. The reactivity of each channel nearly holds unchanged except for the perturbation between anti-E2 and inv-SN2. RRKM calculation reveals that the reaction of the fluorine ion with ethyl iodide occurs predominately via anti-E2 elimination, and the inv-SN2 pathway is suppressed, although it is energetically favored. This phenomenon indicates that, in evaluating the competition between E2 and SN2 processes, the kinetic or dynamical factors may play a significant role. By comparison with benchmark CCSD(T) energies, MP2, CAM-B3LYP, and M06 methods are recommended to perform dynamics simulations of the title reaction.
AB - Anti-E2, syn-E2, inv-, and ret-SN2 reaction channels for the gas-phase reaction of F- + CH3CH2I were characterized with a variety of electronic structure calculations. Geometrical analysis confirmed synchronous E2-type transition states for the elimination of the current reaction, instead of nonconcerted processes through E1cb-like and E1-like mechanisms. Importantly, the controversy concerning the reactant complex for anti-E2 and inv-SN2 paths has been clarified in the present work. A positive barrier of +19.2 kcal/mol for ret-SN2 shows the least feasibility to occur at room temperature. Negative activation energies (-16.9, -16.0, and -4.9 kcal/mol, respectively) for inv-SN2, anti-E2, and syn-E2 indicate that inv-SN2 and anti-E2 mechanisms significantly prevail over the eclipsed elimination. Varying the leaving group for a series of reactions F- + CH3CH2Y (Y = F, Cl, Br, and I) leads to monotonically decreasing barriers, which relates to the gradually looser TS structures following the order F > Cl > Br > I. The reactivity of each channel nearly holds unchanged except for the perturbation between anti-E2 and inv-SN2. RRKM calculation reveals that the reaction of the fluorine ion with ethyl iodide occurs predominately via anti-E2 elimination, and the inv-SN2 pathway is suppressed, although it is energetically favored. This phenomenon indicates that, in evaluating the competition between E2 and SN2 processes, the kinetic or dynamical factors may play a significant role. By comparison with benchmark CCSD(T) energies, MP2, CAM-B3LYP, and M06 methods are recommended to perform dynamics simulations of the title reaction.
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U2 - 10.1021/acs.jpca.6b09546
DO - 10.1021/acs.jpca.6b09546
M3 - Article
C2 - 28094946
AN - SCOPUS:85020003233
SN - 1089-5639
VL - 121
SP - 1078
EP - 1085
JO - Journal of Physical Chemistry A
JF - Journal of Physical Chemistry A
IS - 5
ER -