Charge-Flow Profiles along Curvilinear Paths: A Flexible Scheme for the Analysis of Charge Displacement upon Intermolecular Interactions

The Charge-Displacement (CD) analysis has proven to be a powerful tool for a quantitative characterization of the electron-density flow occurring upon chemical bonding along a suitably chosen interaction axis. In several classes of interesting intermolecular interactions, however, an interaction axis cannot be straightforwardly defined, and the CD analysis loses consistency and usefulness. In this article, we propose a general, flexible reformulation of the CD analysis capable of providing a quantitative view of the charge displacement along custom curvilinear paths. The new scheme naturally reduces to ordinary CD analysis if the path is chosen to be a straight line. An implementation based on a discrete sampling of the electron densities and a Voronoi space partitioning is described and shown in action on two test cases of a metal-carbonyl and a pyridine-ammonia complex.

Testing the Capacity of Staphylococcus equorum for Calcium and Copper Removal through MICP Process

This research focused on the evaluation of the potential use of a soil-isolated bacteria, identified as Staphylococcus equorum, for microbial-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) and copper removal. Isolated bacteria were characterized considering growth rate, urease activity, calcium carbonate precipitation, copper tolerance as minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and copper precipitation. Results were compared with Sporosarcina pasteurii, which is considered a model bacteria strain for MICP processes. The results indicated that the S. equorum strain had lower urease activity, calcium removal capacity and copper tolerance than the S. pasteurii strain. However, the culture conditions tested in this study did not consider the halophilic feature of the S. equorum, which could make it a promising bacterial strain to be applied in process water from mining operations when seawater is used as process water. On the other hand, copper removal was insufficient when applying any of the bacteria strains evaluated, most likely due to the formation of a copper–ammonia complex. Thus, the implementation of S. equorum for copper removal needs to be further studied, considering the optimization of culture conditions, which may promote better performance when considering calcium, copper or other metals precipitation.

Ligand-Free (Z)-Selective Transfer Semihydrogenation of Alkynes Catalyzed by in situ Generated Oxidizable Copper Nanoparticles

Herein, we present (<i>Z</i>)-selective transfer semihydrogenation of alkynes based on in situ generated CuNPs in the presence of hydrogen donors, such as ammonia-borane and a protic solvent. This environmentally-friendly method is characterized by operational simplicity combined with high stereo- and chemoselectivity and functional group compatibility. Auto-oxidation of CuNPs after the semihydrogenation reaction is completed results in the formation of water-soluble ammonia complex, so that the catalyst may be reused several times by simple phase-separation with no need of any special regeneration process. Formed NH₄B(OR)₄ can be easily transformed back to ammonia-borane or to boric acid. In addition, one-pot tandem sequence involving Suzuki reaction followed by semihydrogenation was presented.<br>

Ligand-Free (Z)-Selective Transfer Semihydrogenation of Alkynes Catalyzed by in situ Generated Oxidizable Copper Nanoparticles

Herein, we present (<i>Z</i>)-selective transfer semihydrogenation of alkynes based on in situ generated CuNPs in the presence of hydrogen donors, such as ammonia-borane and a protic solvent. This environmentally-friendly method is characterized by operational simplicity combined with high stereo- and chemoselectivity and functional group compatibility. Auto-oxidation of CuNPs after the semihydrogenation reaction is completed results in the formation of water-soluble ammonia complex, so that the catalyst may be reused several times by simple phase-separation with no need of any special regeneration process. Formed NH₄B(OR)₄ can be easily transformed back to ammonia-borane or to boric acid. In addition, one-pot tandem sequence involving Suzuki reaction followed by semihydrogenation was presented.<br>

A recyclable cobalt (III) ammonia complex catalyst for catalytic epoxidation of olefins with air

[Co(NH3)6]Cl3 and other ammonia complexes with different external anions or metal ions were synthesized to catalyze the epoxidation of α-pinene. The synthesized complexes were characterized by XRD, SEM, TGA, FTIR...

Activation of Ammonia and Hydrazine by Electron Rich Fe(II) Complexes Supported by a Dianionic Pentadentate Ligand Platform Through a Common Terminal Fe(III) Amido Intermediate

We report the use of electron rich iron complexes supported by a dianionic diborate pentadentate ligand system, B2Pz4Py, for the coordination and activation of ammonia (NH3) and hydrazine (NH2NH2). For ammonia, coordination to neutral (B2Pz4Py)Fe(II) or cationic [(B2Pz4Py)Fe(III)]+ platforms leads to well characterized ammine complexes from which hydrogen atoms or protons can be removed to generate, fleetingly, a proposed (B2Pz4Py)Fe(III)- NH2 complex (3Ar-NH2). DFT computations suggest a high degree of spin density on the amido ligand, giving it significant aminyl radical character. It rapidly traps the H atom abstracting agent 2,4,6-tri-tert-butylphenoxy radical (ArO•) to form a C-N bond in a fully characterized product (2Ar), or scavenges hydrogen atoms to return to the ammonia complex (B2Pz4Py)Fe(II)-NH3 (1ArNH3). Interestingly, when (B2Pz4Py)Fe(II) is reacted with NH2NH2, a fully characterized bridging diazene complex, 4Ar, is formed along with ammonia adduct 1Ar-NH3 as the spectroscopically observed (-78˚C) (B2Pz4Py)Fe(II)-NH2NH2-Fe(II)( B2Pz4Py) dimer (1Ar)2-NH2NH2 is allowed to warm to room temperature. Experimental and computational evidence is presented to suggest that (B2Pz4Py)Fe(II) induces reductive cleavage of the N-N bond in hydrazine to produce the Fe(III)-NH2 complex 3Ar-NH2, which abstracts H• atoms from (1Ar)2-NH2NH2 to generate the observed products. All of these transformations are relevant to proposed steps in the ammonia oxidation reaction, an important process for the use of nitrogen-based fuels enabled by abundant first row transition metals. <br>

Activation of Ammonia and Hydrazine by Electron Rich Fe(II) Complexes Supported by a Dianionic Pentadentate Ligand Platform Through a Common Terminal Fe(III) Amido Intermediate

We report the use of electron rich iron complexes supported by a dianionic diborate pentadentate ligand system, B2Pz4Py, for the coordination and activation of ammonia (NH3) and hydrazine (NH2NH2). For ammonia, coordination to neutral (B2Pz4Py)Fe(II) or cationic [(B2Pz4Py)Fe(III)]+ platforms leads to well characterized ammine complexes from which hydrogen atoms or protons can be removed to generate, fleetingly, a proposed (B2Pz4Py)Fe(III)- NH2 complex (3Ar-NH2). DFT computations suggest a high degree of spin density on the amido ligand, giving it significant aminyl radical character. It rapidly traps the H atom abstracting agent 2,4,6-tri-tert-butylphenoxy radical (ArO•) to form a C-N bond in a fully characterized product (2Ar), or scavenges hydrogen atoms to return to the ammonia complex (B2Pz4Py)Fe(II)-NH3 (1ArNH3). Interestingly, when (B2Pz4Py)Fe(II) is reacted with NH2NH2, a fully characterized bridging diazene complex, 4Ar, is formed along with ammonia adduct 1Ar-NH3 as the spectroscopically observed (-78˚C) (B2Pz4Py)Fe(II)-NH2NH2-Fe(II)( B2Pz4Py) dimer (1Ar)2-NH2NH2 is allowed to warm to room temperature. Experimental and computational evidence is presented to suggest that (B2Pz4Py)Fe(II) induces reductive cleavage of the N-N bond in hydrazine to produce the Fe(III)-NH2 complex 3Ar-NH2, which abstracts H• atoms from (1Ar)2-NH2NH2 to generate the observed products. All of these transformations are relevant to proposed steps in the ammonia oxidation reaction, an important process for the use of nitrogen-based fuels enabled by abundant first row transition metals. <br>