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Aryl Fluoride Reductive Elimination from Pd II Complexes: a Descriptor to Guide Ligand Selection
Author(s) -
Cui Luchao,
Saeys Mark
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201000461
Subject(s) - reductive elimination , antibonding molecular orbital , chemistry , denticity , aryl , nucleophile , lone pair , ligand (biochemistry) , homo/lumo , medicinal chemistry , population , computational chemistry , crystallography , organic chemistry , molecule , catalysis , physics , biochemistry , alkyl , receptor , demography , quantum mechanics , sociology , atomic orbital , crystal structure , electron
The effect of ligand selection on the reductive elimination barrier of Pd II aryl fluoride complexes was analyzed by using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. A separate Evans–Polanyi relationship between the activation barriers and the reaction energies is found for CF reductive elimination from monodentate and bis(monodentate) Pd II complexes. For comparable reaction energies, the reductive elimination barriers for monodentate complexes [LPd(Ar)F] (L=PR 3 , Ar=aryl) were calculated to be 80 kJ mol −1 lower than for bis(monodentate) complexes [L 2 Pd(Ar)F]. Natural population analysis demonstrated that the partial charges on the Pd center and on the aryl α‐carbon can be used as a descriptor for the reductive elimination barriers. The presence of a trans phosphine ligand in bis(monodentate) complexes increases the PdC charge density and hence increases the CF reductive elimination barrier. The importance of the PdC charge density can be understood by performing a natural bond orbital analysis. Indeed, CF reductive elimination is best described as the nucleophilic attack of one of the fluorine lone pairs on the antibonding PdC orbital, and the energy difference between this fluorine lone pair and the antibonding PdC orbital determines the rate of this nucleophilic attack.