Alcohol clusters, hydrogen bonds cooperativity

Figure 1. Illustration of lone electron pair preferences in alcohol dimers, cooperative and anticooperative binding sites for a third monomer, ring strain and steric repulsion in alcohol trimers, alternation of residues in alcohol tetramers, and chain, branch, and cyclic hydrogen bond topologies in larger clusters.

For understanding the catalytic properties of HFIP, it is necessary to take a closer look at the hydrogen bond donor properties of HFIP, and the factors by which they are influenced [50]. The hydrogen bond donor ability of fluorinated alcohols, and in particular HFIP, is mainly dependent on two parameters (1) the conformation of the alcohol monomer along the C-0 bond [49, 50, 51] and (2) the cooperative aggregation to hydrogen bonded alcohol clusters [49, 50]. 

All protic solvents undergo multiple relaxation processes due to the presence of hydrogen bonding. In the case of water and formamide (F), the data can be described in terms of two Debye relaxations. For the alcohols and A-methyl-formamide (NMF), three Debye relaxations are required for the description. In all of these solvents, the low-frequency process involves the cooperative motion of hydrogen-bonded clusters. In the case of water and the alcohols the high-frequency process involves the formation and breaking of hydrogen bonds. The intermediate process in the alcohols is ascribed to rotational diffusion of monomers. Studies of dielectric relaxation in these systems have been carried out for the -alkyl alcohols up to dodecanol [8]. Values of the relaxation parameters for water and the lower alcohols are summarized in table 4.5. 

Berkessel A, Adrio JA (2004) Kinetic studies of olefin epoxidation with hydrogen peroxide in l,l,l,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol reveal a crucial catalytic role for solvent clusters. Adv Synth Catal 346 275-280 Berkessel A, Adrio JA (2006) Dramatic acceleration of olefin epoxidation in fluorinated alcohols activation of hydrogen peroxide by multiple H-bond networks. J Am Chem Soc 128 13412-13420 Berkessel A, Adrio JA, Huttenhain D, Neudorfl JM (2006a) Unveiling the booster effect of fluorinated alcohol solvents aggregation-induced conformational changes, and cooperatively enhanced H-bonding. J Am Chem Soc 128 8421-8426... 

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