TY - JOUR
T1 - Tunneling and conformational flexibility play critical roles in the isomerization mechanism of vitamin D
AU - Meana-Pañeda, Rubén
AU - Fernández-Ramos, Antonio
PY - 2012/1/11
Y1 - 2012/1/11
N2 - The thermal isomerization reaction converting previtamin D to vitamin D is an intramolecular [1,7]-sigmatropic hydrogen shift with antarafacial stereochemistry. We have studied the dynamics of this reaction by means of the variational transition-state theory with multidimensional corrections for tunneling in both gas-phase and n-hexane environments. Two issues that may have important effects on the dynamics were analyzed in depth, i.e., the conformations of previtamin D and the quantum effects associated with the hydrogen-transfer reaction. Of the large number of conformers of previtamin D that were located, there are 16 that have the right disposition to react. The transition-state structures associated with these reaction paths are very close in energy, so all of them should be taken into account for an accurate calculation of both the thermal rate constants and the kinetic isotope effects. This issue is particularly important because the contribution of each of the reaction paths to the total thermal rate constant is quite sensitive to the environment. The dynamics results confirm that tunneling plays an important role and that model systems that were considered previously to study the hydrogen shift reaction cannot mimic the complexity introduced by the flexibility of the rings of previtamin D. Finally, the characterization of the conformers of both previtamin D and vitamin D allowed the calculation of the thermal equilibrium constants of the isomerization process.
AB - The thermal isomerization reaction converting previtamin D to vitamin D is an intramolecular [1,7]-sigmatropic hydrogen shift with antarafacial stereochemistry. We have studied the dynamics of this reaction by means of the variational transition-state theory with multidimensional corrections for tunneling in both gas-phase and n-hexane environments. Two issues that may have important effects on the dynamics were analyzed in depth, i.e., the conformations of previtamin D and the quantum effects associated with the hydrogen-transfer reaction. Of the large number of conformers of previtamin D that were located, there are 16 that have the right disposition to react. The transition-state structures associated with these reaction paths are very close in energy, so all of them should be taken into account for an accurate calculation of both the thermal rate constants and the kinetic isotope effects. This issue is particularly important because the contribution of each of the reaction paths to the total thermal rate constant is quite sensitive to the environment. The dynamics results confirm that tunneling plays an important role and that model systems that were considered previously to study the hydrogen shift reaction cannot mimic the complexity introduced by the flexibility of the rings of previtamin D. Finally, the characterization of the conformers of both previtamin D and vitamin D allowed the calculation of the thermal equilibrium constants of the isomerization process.
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U2 - 10.1021/ja2077075
DO - 10.1021/ja2077075
M3 - Article
C2 - 22118472
AN - SCOPUS:84855655530
SN - 0002-7863
VL - 134
SP - 346
EP - 354
JO - Journal of the American Chemical Society
JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society
IS - 1
ER -