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Jo6b02962 Si 001 PDF
Jo6b02962 Si 001 PDF
Jo6b02962 Si 001 PDF
Contents
2. Additional calculated results mentioned but not shown in the main text.........S6
Table S2. Relative energies of triplet and singlet spin states for selected CoIII-
species at different DFT levels.
Figure S5. Comparisons of CMD and outer-sphere mechanisms for C-H bond
activation.
Figure S6. Comparisons of C-H bond activation and metal-carbene formation
catalyzed by a1 or b1 for reactions I, II and III.
Figure S7. Energy profile of the pathway which first undergoes Co-carbene
formation then followed by C-H bond activation.
Figure S8. Energy profile of the C-H bond activation step of reaction II.
Figure S9. Energy profile of Rh-carbene formation, migratory insertion and proto-
demetalation of reaction II.
Figure S10. Comparisons of transition states of steps metal-carbene formation,
migratory insertion and proto-demetalation catalyzed by b1 for reactions II and III.
Figure S11. Energy profiles of ‘acetate-assisted pathways’ for reactions I and II.
Figure S12. Energy profiles of C-H bond activation assisted by the neutral MeCN
ligand or the pyridine group of substrate s3.
Figure S13. Comparisons of C-H bond activation and metal-carbene formation
catalyzed by c1 for the reaction III.
3. Energies (Hartree) and Cartesian coordinates of all the structures................S11
Supporting Information
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Table S1. Comparisons energy cost for direct dissociation of acetate ion from [Cp*CoIII(OAc)2]
to form the active species [Cp*CoIIIOAc]+ in different solvents.
Entry Solvent(a)Dielectric constant △Gsol
ε (kcal/mol)
1 Gas phase 138.6
2 Benzene 2.271 69.4
3 Toluene 2.374 67.6
4 THF 7.426 38.9
5 DCE 10.125 33.3
6 Acetone 20.493 29.0
7 TFE 26.726 19.7
8 Water 78.355 14.3
(a) Solvation effects of different solvents are accounted by SMD.
Figure S1. Optimized structures of hydrogen bonding complexes between acetate and methanol
(a), TFE (b) and acetic acid (c), respectively. Energies (in kcal/mol) are relative to separated
species. Bond lengths are in are in Angstroms.
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Figure S2. Coordination of TFE (a) or methanol (b) to the cationic active Co-species.
Secondly, the TFE is helpful to maintain a certain concentration of AcOH in the system,
which is significant for the proto-demetalation process. The proto-demetalation process is a key
step involved in the catalytic cycle with a barrier of 28.8 kcal/mol, which consumes one
molecule of AcOH that is in situ formed in the C-H bond activation step (see Scheme 2 and
Figure 5 in the main text). Thus, maintaining a certain concentration of AcOH in the system is
critical for promoting the catalytic cycle. However, the reaction system is slightly basic with
excessive KOAc. The excessive acetate ion would form an adduct complex with the in situ
formed AcOH via hydrogen bonding (Figure S1, c), which would significantly decrease the
concentration of free AcOH. The weak acidity of the solvent TFE would help to neutralize the
excessive base to some extent by forming hydrogen bonding adduct (Figure S1, b). Although the
acidity of TFE is weaker than AcOH, considering that the quantity of TFE is much more than
AcOH in the system, the excessive acetate ion would form hydrogen bonding adduct with the
surrounded solvent molecules of TFE rather than the minor AcOH, which is beneficial to
maintain a certain concentration of AcOH in the system.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the TFE can act as a H-transfer shuttle, greatly
facilitating the methanol elimination step (turnover-limiting step), which reduces its barrier from
37.7 kcal/mol to 32.1 kcal/mol (see Figure 5 in the main text). Another protonic solvent
methanol could also act as H-transfer shuttle. However, methanol is less effective than TFE. The
calculated barrier for methanol elimination after incorporating one methanol molecule as H-
S3
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transfer shuttle is 36.6 kcal/mol (see Figure S3), higher than that using TFE as H-transfer shuttle
by 4.5 kcal/mol. MeOH itself would further disfavor formation of product MeOH if it were to be
present as solvent.
Based on discussions above, the solvent TFE plays important roles in facilitating active
species generation, maintaining a certain concentration of AcOH and acting as a H-transfer
shuttle facilitating the turnover-limiting step methanol elimination, which greatly facilitates the
overall transformation. As for all these three roles, the TFE is more effective than another
protonic solvent methanol. Our calculations well rationalize that TFE is a good solvent for this
transformation, which is in good agreement with the experimental observation that TFE is more
effective than other non-protonic solvents or the protonic solvent methanol (see ref. 18).
After understanding the roles of the TFE, we suppose that addition of a certain amount of
AcOH to form a ‘buffered’ solution with the excessive KOAc already present in the system
would further improve the catalytic efficiency. First of all, due to the higher acidity of the AcOH
than the TFE, the AcOH would be more effective than the TFE to facilitate the generation of
active catalyst by forming hydrogen bond with the acetate ion (see Figure S1). Furthermore,
addition of AcOH to form a ‘buffered’ solution with KOAc is surely more effective than TFE to
maintain the concentration of AcOH beneficial for the proto-demetalation process. More
importantly, the AcOH would be a better H-transfer shuttle than TFE due to its lower pKa (4.76).
To support this, we examined the pathway of the methanol elimination step utilizing the AcOH
as H-transfer shuttle. As shown in Figure S4, the methanol elimination process using the AcOH
as H-transfer shuttle proceeds through a stepwise pathway: the hydrogen atom of AcOH is first
transferred to the methoxyl group via TS8_Ac1 with a barrier of 23.4 kcal/mol, leading to an
S4
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intermediate IM_Ac, in which the methanol is already formed. Next, the acetate ion abstracts the
proton adjacent to the original leaving methoxyl group via TS8_Ac2, leading to a12 after
releasing AcOH and MeoH. The dissociation of p2 from a12 has been discussed in Figure 5 in
the main text. Overall, the barrier for the stepwise methanol elimination process using the AcOH
as H-transfer shuttle is only 24.1 kcal/mol (TS8_Ac2 relative to a11 + AcOH), which is 8.0
kcal/mol lower than that using the TFE as H-transfer shuttle. Therefore, as an H-trasnfer shuttle,
AcOH is also more effective than TFE to facilitate the methanol elimination step. On the basis
above comparisons of AcOH with TFE, we believe that addition of a certain amount of AcOH to
the system could further enhance the catalytic efficiency.
Figure S4. Energy profile methanol elimination process using AcOH as H-transfer shuttle.
S5
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2. Additional calculated results mentioned but not shown in the main text
Table S2. Relative energies of triplet and singlet spin states for selected CoIII-species at different
DFT levels.[a]
△E = (Etriplet-Esinglet) (kcal/mol)
Entry CoIII-species
M06-L M06 TPSSTPSS BP86
[a] Energies were calculated at DFT/BSII level at the M06-L/BSI optimized geometries.
Figure S5. Comparisons of CMD and outer-sphere mechanisms for C-H bond activation.
S6
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Figure S6. Comparisons of C-H bond activation and metal-carbene formation catalyzed by a1 or
b1 for reactions I, II and III.
Figure S7. Energy profile of the pathway which first undergoes Co-carbene formation then
followed by C-H bond activation.
S7
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Figure S8. Energy profile of the C-H bond activation catalyzed by b1.
Figure S9. Energy profile of Rh-carbene formation, migratory insertion and proto-demetalation
of reaction II. (Both the blue and the black pathways undergo stepwise through metal-carbene
formation and migratory insertion, no concerted pathway (1,2-aryl shift) was located). The
intermediate b4 is the same structure as c4 in Figure 10 in the main text.
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Figure S11. Energy profiles of ‘acetate-assisted pathways’ for reactions I and II (Because of
high barriers of the first step (deprotonation), it is unnecessary to pursue details of followed
steps).
Figure S12. Energy profiles of C-H bond activation assisted by the neutral MeCN ligand
(TSc1’) or the pyridine group of substrate s3 (TSc1’’).
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Figure S13. Comparisons of C-H bond activation and metal-carbene formation catalyzed by c1
for the reaction III.
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