Metal hydride kinetics

Keywords solar-to-hydrogen conversion, photoanode, metal hydride, kinetic characteristics, equilibrium potential... 

Kinetic data for the decompositions of several metal hydrides are summarized in Table 12 to which the following information can be added. The acceleratory period in the decomposition of BeH2 (a < 0.35) is ascribed [673] to the random formation of metal nuclei followed by linear growth. The increase in rate consequent upon exposure to X-irradia-tion is attributed to enhanced nucleation. Grinding similarly increased the... 

Summary of kinetic characteristics for decompositions of some metal hydrides (interface reactions)... 

There is no clear reason to prefer either of these mechanisms, since stereochemical and kinetic data are lacking. Solvent effects also give no suggestion about the problem. It is possible that the carbon-carbon bond is weakened by an increasing number of phenyl substituents, resulting in more carbon-carbon bond cleavage products, as is indeed found experimentally. All these reductive reactions of thiirane dioxides with metal hydrides are accompanied by the formation of the corresponding alkenes via the usual elimination of sulfur dioxide. 

The addition of metal hydrides to C—C or C—O multiple bonds is a fundamental step in the transition metal catalyzed reactions of many substrates. Both kinetic and thermodynamic effects are important in the success of these reactions, and the rhodium porphyrin chemistry has been important in understanding the thermochemical aspects of these processes, particularly in terms of bond energies. For example, for first-row elements. M—C bond energies arc typically in the range of 2, i-. i() kcal mol. M—H bond energies are usually 25-30 kcal mol. stronger, and as a result, addition of M—CH bonds to CO or simple hydrocarbons is thermodynamically unfavorable. 

Careful kinetic analysis of this thermal reaction shows that the rate of disappearance of the CT band is identical to that of the adduct formation in equation (50). Most importantly, the relative reactivity of the metal hydrides in Table 8 decreases with the increasing ionization potential in the order Bu3SnH < Bu3GeH < Et3SiH. 

The existence of tr-complex intermediates in C-H activation chemistry has been suggested to explain inverse kinetic isotope effects in reductive elimination processes whereby alkanes are formed from alkyl metal hydrides (Scheme 3).9... 

Systematic studies of the thermodynamic and kinetic acidity of metal hydrides in acetonitrile were carried out by Norton et al. [10, 11]. A review of the acidity of metal hydrides presents extensive tabulations of pKa data [12] only a few of the trends will be mentioned here. Metal hydrides span a wide range of pKa values considering only metal carbonyl hydrides shown in Table 7.1, the range exceeds 20 pfCa units. As expected, a substantial decrease in acidity is... 

The kinetics of the ionic hydrogenation of isobutyraldehyde were studied using [CpMo(CO)3H] as the hydride and CF3C02H as the acid [41]. The apparent rate decreases as the reaction proceeds, since the acid is consumed. However, when the acidity is held constant by a buffered solution in the presence of excess metal hydride, the reaction is first-order in acid. The reaction is also first-order in metal hydride concentration. A mechanism consistent with these kinetics results is shown in Scheme 7.8. Pre-equilibrium protonation of the aldehyde is followed by rate-determining hydride transfer. 

Table I. Thermodynamic and Kinetic Acidities of Metal Hydrides in Acetonitrile...

This review focuses on the kinetics of reactions of the silicon, germanium, and tin hydrides with radicals. In the past two decades, progress in determining the absolute kinetics of radical reactions in general has been rapid. The quantitation of kinetics of radical reactions involving the Group 14 metal hydrides in condensed phase has been particularly noteworthy, progressing from a few absolute rate constants available before 1980 to a considerable body of data we summarize here. 

The review is divided into sections according to the type of metal hydride for convenience in discussing the information systematically. At one extreme, kinetic studies have been performed with many types of silicon hydrides, and much of the data can be interpreted in terms of the electronic properties of the silanes imparted by substituents. At the other extreme, kinetic studies of tin hydrides are limited to a few stannanes, but the rate constants of reactions of a wide range of radical types with the archetypal tin hydride, tributylstannane, are available. Kinetic isotope effects for the various hydrides are collected in a short section, and this is followed by a section that compares the kinetics of reactions of silicon, germanium, and tin hydrides. 

Improvement in metal hydride hydrogen storage has been slow in achieving the targets needed for several applications. But slow, steady progress is foreseen as material processing in the nano-range improves the kinetics, thermodynamics, and capacity of the metal hydride systems so that they become acceptable for some applications perhaps for stationary systems. 

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