Flexible Acyclic Polyol-Chloride Anion Complexes and Their Characterization by Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Variable Temperature Binding Constant Determinations

Journal Article · Thu Mar 17 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Physical Chemistry. A, Molecules, Spectroscopy, Kinetics, Environment, and General Theory

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.5b12286· OSTI ID:1254587

Shokri, Alireza; Wang, Xue B.; Wang, Yangping; O'Doherty, George A.; Kass, Steven R.

Flexible acyclic alcohols with 1–5 hydroxyl groups were bound to chloride anion and these complexes were interrogated by negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy and companion density functional theory computations. The resulting vertical detachment energies are reproduced on average to 0.10 eV by M06-2X/aug-cc-pVTZ predictions and range from 4.45 – 5.96 eV. These values are 0.84 – 2.35 eV larger than the adiabatic detachment energy of Cl– as a result of the larger hydrogen bond networks in the bigger polyols. Adiabatic detachment energies of the alcohol–Cl– clusters are more difficult to determine both experimentally and computationally. This is due to the large geometry changes that occur upon photodetachment and the large bond dissociation energy of H–Cl which enables the resulting chlorine atom to abstract a hydrogen from any of the methylene (CH2) or methine (CH) positions. Both ionic and non-ionic hydrogen bonds (i.e., OH•••Cl– and OH•••OH•••Cl–) form in the larger polyols complexes, and are found to be energetically comparable. Subtle structural differences, consequently can lead to the formation of different types of hydrogen bonds and maximizing the ionic ones is not always preferred. Solution equilibrium binding constants between the alcohols and tetrrabuylammonium chloride (TBACl) in acetonitrile at -24.2, 22.0, and 53.6 °C were also determined. The free energies of association are nearly identical for all of the substrates (i.e., ΔG° = -2.8 ± 0.7 kcal mol–1). Compensating enthalpy and entropy values reveal, contrary to expectation and the intrinsic gas-phase preferences, that the bigger systems with more hydroxyl groups are entropically favored and enthalpically disfavored relative to the smaller species. This suggests that more solvent molecules are released upon binding TBACl to alcohols with more hydroxyl groups and is consistent with the measured negative heat capacities. These quantities increase with molecular complexity of the substrate, however, contrary to common interpretation of these values.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US), Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1254587
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-114971; 49062; KC0301050
• Journal Information: Journal of Physical Chemistry. A, Molecules, Spectroscopy, Kinetics, Environment, and General Theory, Journal Name: Journal of Physical Chemistry. A, Molecules, Spectroscopy, Kinetics, Environment, and General Theory Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 120; ISSN 1089-5639
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory
Photoelectron spectroscopy
anion molecular recognition
compensating enthalpies and entropies
equilibrium binding constants