Solvent effects on Diels-Alder reaction in ionic liquids:A reaction density functional study

Extensive experimental studies have been performed on the Diels-Alder(DA)reactions in ionic liquids(ILs),which demonstrate that the IL environment can significantly influence the reaction rates and selectivity.However,the underlying microscopic mechanism remains ambiguous.In this work,the multiscale reaction density functional theory is applied to explore the effect of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate([BMIM][PF_(6)])solvent on the reaction of cyclopentadiene(CP)with acrolein,methyl acrylate,or acrylonitrile.By analyzing the free energy landscape during the reaction,it is found that the polarization effect has a relatively small influence,while the solvation effect makes both the activation free energy and reaction free energy decrease.In addition,the rearrangement of local solvent structure shows that the cation spatial distribution responds more evidently to the reaction than the anion,and this indicates that the cation plays a dominant role in the solvation effect and so as to affect the reaction rates and selectivity of the DA reactions.

A reaction density functional theory study of solvent effects on keto-enol tautomerism and isomerization in pyruvic acid

It is important to study the solvent effect on keto-enol tautomerism that has applications in many areas of chemical engineering.In this work,we use a multiscale reaction density functional theory(Rx DFT)to study the keto-enol tautomerism and isomerization of pyruvic acid.The results show that both effects of solvation and water assistance could reduce the reaction barriers.The water molecule participates the reaction as a catalyst to accept/give the protons with forming a hexagonal ring in the transition state.As a result of this temporary and intermediate hexagonal ring,the solute configuration undergoes a small variation during the reaction,giving a diminished contribution to the intrinsic reaction free energy.The solvent distribution shows a local ordering behavior near the solute that also reduces the contribution of solvation effect to the reaction barrier.Water assistance plays a major role in both pre-reaction and postreaction process.In terms of the driving force for the reaction,the effects of both solvation and water assistance are important.