Abstract
Computational studies with density functional theory (DFT) and MP2 have been done to investigate the interaction between the iridium dihydrogen pincer complex: (POCOP)IrH 2 (where POCOP=η 3-1,3(OPtBu 2) 2C 6H 3) and NH 2BH 2, the immediate product of ammonia borane (NH 3BH 3) dehydrogenation. A mechanism has been proposed for an oligomerisation process at the metal centre that involves competition between (i) insertion of an NH 2BH 2 molecule into the (NH 2BH 2) n chain and (ii) termination of the chain leading to the formation of the cyclic (NH 2BH 2) n oligomer. The calculated ΔG values show that the competition favours insertion over termination for the cases n=1 to n=4 but favours termination for n=5. The computational studies therefore indicate that the cyclic pentamer (NH 2BH 2) 5 would be formed during NH 3BH 3 dehydrogenation by the (POCOP)IrH 2 catalyst, agreeing with experimental findings. The mechanistic understanding gained has implications for the facile regeneration of ammonia borane.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 18-29 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Computational and Theoretical Chemistry |
Volume | 992 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 15 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Biochemistry
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Keywords
- Ammonia borane
- Hydrogen storage
- Iridium pincer ligand catalyst
- Mechanistic studies
- Oligomerisation cycle