Lewis acid-bases stability constants

At present, the correlation contains one transition metal complex, Cu(Hfacac)2. The results on this complex are very interesting and somewhat unusual for a transition metal system in that enthalpies have been obtained in a poorly solvating solvent with nonionic donors (52), instead of the t5 ical stability constant study on a metal cation in some highly polar solvent. Data from this latter type of investigation have many practical uses, but are impossible to interpret and understand. The transition metal ion complex we have studied can be incorporated into the E and C scheme using the same base parameters that are used to correlate the enthalpies of formation of all the other Lewis acid-base adducts in the scheme. 

Ahrland et al. (1958) classified a number of Lewis acids as of (a) or (b) type based on the relative affinities for various ions of the ligand atoms. The sequence of stability of complexes is different for classes (a) and (b). With acceptor metal ions of class (a), the affinities of the halide ions lie in the sequence F > Cl > Br > I , whereas with class (b), the sequence is F < Cl" < Br < I . Pearson (1963, 1968) classified acids and bases as hard (class (a)), soft (class (b)) and borderline (Table 1.23). Class (a) acids prefer to link with hard bases, whereas class (b) acids prefer soft bases. Yamada and Tanaka (1975) proposed a softness parameter of metal ions, on the basis of the parameters En (electron donor constant) and H (basicity constant) given by Edwards (1954) (Table 1.24). The softness parameter a is given by a/ a - - P), where a and p are constants characteristic of metal ions. 

With this in mind, the coordination chemistry of 52 with different diazine structural isomers was investigated. There were no detectable changes in the H NMR spectrum of 52 in a THF-Jg solution when either pyrazine or pyrimidine were added in 1 1 or 1 2 molar ratios, which suggested that only weak interactions might occur between 52 and these bases. In contrast, incremental addition of pyridazine or phthalazine to a THF-Jg solution of 52 at 25 °C resulted in an upheld shift of the aromatic NMR resonances of the diindacycle 52 thus reflecting the formation of complexes between 52 and the 1,2-diazines. Analysis of the tritration data clearly indicated the formation of 1 1 Lewis acid-diazine complexes 52-pyridazine-(THF)2 and 52-phthalazine-(THF)2 whose stability constants are equal to 80 ( 10) and 1000 ( 150) M respectively (Scheme 29). These data, as a whole, indicate that 52 is a selective receptor for 1,2-diazines. 

At the same time as more organic chemists were using spectroscopic measurements to assess acidity and basicity, inorganic methodology was also being applied. In particular, silyl substituted bases were reacted with Lewis acids and thermodynamic parameters were assessed for complex formation. In many cases direct measurement of heats of formation or stability constants proved difficult to obtain, but relative Lewis basicities were measured. 

We will illustrate this also for water adsorption. The low dielectric constant of the zeolite leads to the unexpected result that contact of a single water molecule with a proton does not lead to its protonation. Bonding of a water molecule can be considered as Bronsted acid-Lewis base assisted adsorption. Only when two water molecules adsorb around a proton, protonation occurs. The hydronium-ion now is stabilized by the second polar water molecule (compare Figs. 4.55a and 4.55b). 

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