Origins of Protons in C-H Bond Insertion Products of Phenols: Proton-Self-Sufficient Function via Water Molecules

Zhoujie Luo, Ya Gao, Tong Zhu, John Zenghui Zhang, Fei Xia

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Water molecules can serve as proton shuttles for proton transfer in the C-H bond insertion reactions catalyzed by transition metal complexes. Recently, the control experiments performed for C-H bond insertion of phenol and anisol by gold carbenes show that large discrepancy exists in the yields of hydrogenated and deuterated products. Thus, we conducted a detailed theoretical analysis on the function of water molecules in the C-H bond insertion reactions. The comparison of calculated results and control experiments indicates that the solution water molecules play a crucial role of proton shuttle in C-H bond insertion. In particular, it was found that the hydroxyl groups in phenols were capable of donating protons via water shuttles for the production of C-H products, which had a substantial influence on the yields of inserted products. The hydroxyl groups instead of C-H bonds in phenols function like "proton reservoirs" in the C-H bond insertion, which we call the "proton self-sufficient" (PSS) function of phenol. The PSS function of phenol indicates that the substrates with and without proton reservoirs will lead to different C-H bond insertion products.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)6523-6529
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry A
Volume121
Issue number34
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 31 2017

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

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