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Combined molecular mechanical and quantum mechanical potential study of a nucleophilic addition reaction in solution
Author(s) -
Liu Haiyan,
Shi Yunyu
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of computational chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.907
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1096-987X
pISSN - 0192-8651
DOI - 10.1002/jcc.540151112
Subject(s) - quantum , nucleophile , computational chemistry , nucleophilic addition , chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , organic chemistry , catalysis
The procedure of combined semiempirical quantum mechanical (AM1) and molecular mechanical potential 7 was used to study the nucleophilic addition of hydroxide to formaldehyde in solution. The gas phase AM1 potential surface is approximately 26 kcal/mol more exothermic than the corresponding ab initio 6‐31 + G* calculation results. The free energy profile for the reaction in solution was determined by means of molecular dynamic simulations. The resulting free energy of activation is approximately 5 kcal/mol. The difference of the free energy of solvation between the reactant and the product states is about 38 kcal/mol. As the reaction goes on, the number of hydrogen bonds formed by the hydroxide oxygen with the surrounding water molecules decreases, whereas the number of hydrogen bonds formed by the carbonyl oxygen increases. There is no significant change in the total number of hydrogen bonds between the solute and the solvent molecules, and the average number of these hydrogen bonds is between five and six during the entire reaction process. These results are consistent with previous studies using a model based on ad initio 6‐31 + G* calculations in the gas phase. The reaction path in solution is different from the gas phase minimum energy reaction path. When the two reactants are at a large distance, the attack route of the hydroxide anion in solution is close to perpendicular to the formaldehyde plane, whereas in the gas phase the route is collinear with the carbonyl group. These results suggests that although AM1 does not yield accurate energies in the gas phase, valuable insights into the solvent effects can be obtained through computer simulations with this combined potential. This combined procedure could be applied to chemical reactions within macromolecules, in which a quantitative estimation of the effects of the environment would not be easily attainable by another technique. © 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.