Lithium molecular orbitals

Dinitrogen has a dissociation energy of 941 kj/mol (225 kcal/mol) and an ionisation potential of 15.6 eV. Both values indicate that it is difficult to either cleave or oxidize N2. For reduction, electrons must be added to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of N2 at —7 eV. This occurs only in the presence of highly electropositive metals such as lithium. However, lithium also reacts with water. Thus, such highly energetic interactions ate unlikely to occur in the aqueous environment of the natural enzymic system. Even so, highly reducing systems have achieved some success in N2 reduction even in aqueous solvents. 

Compare atomic charges for the enolate anion and the lithium salt. Are there major differences, in particular, for the oxygen and the a carbon Also compare the highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) in the two molecules. This identifies the most nucleophilic sites, that is, the most likely sites for attack by electrophiles. Are the two orbitals similar or do they differ substantially Elaborate. 

Some electrophile-nucleophile reactions are guided more by orbital interactions than by electrostatics. The key interaction involves the donor orbital on the nucleophile, i.e., the highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO). Examine the HOMO of enamine, silyl enol ether, lithium enolate and enol. Which atom is most nucleophilic, i.e., which site would produce the best orbital overlap with an electrophile ... 

Now, examine the orbital on cyclohexanone lithium enolate most able to donate electrons. This is the highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO). Identify where the best HOMO-electrophile overlap can occur. Is this also the most electron-rich site An electrophile will choose the best HOMO overlap site if it is not strongly affected by electrostatic effects, and if it contains a good electron-acceptor orbital (this is the lowest-unoccupied molecular orbital or LUMO). Examine the LUMO of methyl iodide and trimethylsilyl chloride. Is backside overlap likely to be successful for each The LUMO energies of methyl iodide and trimethylsilyl chloride are 0.11 and 0.21 au, respectively. Assuming that the lower the LUMO energy the more effective the interaction, which reaction, methylation or silylation, appears to be guided by favorable orbital interactions Explain. 

For purposes of illustration, consider a lithium crystal weighing one gram, which contains roughly 1023 atoms. Each Li atom has a half-filled 2s atomic orbital (elect conf. Li = ls22s1). When these atomic orbitals combine, they form an equal number, 1023, of molecular orbitals. These orbitals are spread over an energy band covering about 100 kJ/moL It follows that the spacing between adjacent MOs is of the order of... 

Because each lithium atom has one valence electron and each molecular orbital can hold two electrons, it follows that the lower half of the valence band (shown in color in Figure 5) is filled with electrons. The upper half of the band is empty. Electrons near the top of the filled MOs can readily jump to empty MOs only an infinitesimal distance above them. This is what happens when an electrical field is applied to the crystal the movement of electrons through delocalized MOs accounts for the electrical conductivity of lithium metal. 

The situation in beryllium metal is more complex. We might expect all of the 2s molecular orbitals to be filled because beryllium has the electron configuration ls22s2. However, in a crystal of beryllium, the 2p MO band overlaps the 2s (Figure 5). This means that, once again, there are vacant MOs that differ only infinitesimally in energy from filled MOs below them. This is indeed the basic requirement for electron conductivity it is characteristic of all metals, including lithium and beryllium. 

Let us consider lithium as an example. In the usual treatment of this metal a set of molecular orbitals is formulated, each of which is a Bloch function built from the 2s orbitals of the atoms, or, in the more refined cell treatment, from 2s orbitals that are slightly perturbed to satisfy the boundary conditions for the cells. These molecular orbitals correspond to electron energies that constitute a Brillouin zone, and the normal state of the metal is that in which half of the orbitals, the more stable ones, are occupied by two electrons apiece, with opposed spins. 

Roothaan CCJ (1951) New developments in molecular orbital theory. Rev Modem Phys 23 69-89 Rudolph W, Brooker MH, Pye CC (1995) Hydration of the lithium ion in aqueous-solution. J Phys Chem 99 3793-3797... 

Endo et al. investigated the reductive decomposition of various electrolytes on graphite anode materials by electron spin resonance (ESR). In all of the electrolyte compositions investigated, which included LiC104, LiBF4, and LiPFe as salts and PC, DMC, and other esters or ethers as solvents, the solvent-related radical species, which were considered to be the intermediates of reductive decomposition, were detected only after prolonged cathodic electrolysis. With the aid of molecular orbital calculation, they found that the reduction of salt anion species is very difficult, as indicated by their positive reduction enthalpy and that of free solvent (A/4 — 1 kcal mol ). However, the coordination of lithium ions with these solvents dramatically reduces the corresponding reduction enthalpy (A/ —10 kcal mol ) and renders the reaction thermodynamically favored. In other words, if no kinetic factors were to be considered, the SEI formed on carbonaceous anodes... 

In 1998, Hasanayn and Streitwieser reported the kinetics and isotope effects of the Aldol-Tishchenko reaction . They studied the reaction between lithium enolates of isobu-tyrophenone and two molecule of beuzaldehyde, which results iu the formation of a 1,3-diol monoester after protonation (Figure 28). They analyzed several aspects of this mechanism experimentally. Ab initio molecular orbital calculatious ou models are used to study the equilibrium and transition state structures. The spectroscopic properties of the lithium enolate of p-(phenylsulfonyl) isobutyrophenone (LiSIBP) have allowed kinetic study of the reaction. The computed equilibrium and transition state structures for the compounds in the sequence of reactions in Figure 28 are given along with the computed reaction barriers and energy in Figure 29 and Table 6. 

The band of molecular orbitals formed by the 2s orbitals of the lithium atoms, described above, is half filled by the available electrons. Metallic beryllium, with twice the number of electrons, might be expected to have a full 2s band . If that were so the material would not exist, since the anti-bonding half of the band would be fully occupied. Metallic beryllium exists because the band of MOs produced from the 2p atomic orbitals overlaps (in terms of energy) the 2s band. This makes possible the partial filling of both the 2s and the 2p bands, giving metallic beryllium a greater cohesiveness and a higher electrical conductivity than lithium. 

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