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PubMed2005

Reactions of the peroxo intermediate of soluble methane monooxygenase hydroxylase with ethers.

Soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) isolated from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) utilizes a carboxylate-bridged diiron center and dioxygen to catalyze the conversion of methane to methanol. Previous studies revealed that a di(mu-oxo)diiron(IV) intermediate termed Q is responsible for the catalytic activity with hydrocarbons. In addition, the peroxodiiron(III) intermediate (H(peroxo)) that precedes Q formation in the catalytic cycle has been demonstrated to react with propylene, but its reactivity has not been extensively investigated. Given the burgeoning interest in the existence of multiple oxidants in metalloenzymes, a more exhaustive study of the reactivity of H(peroxo) was undertaken. The kinetics of single turnover reactions of the two intermediates with ethyl vinyl ether and diethyl ether were monitored by single- and double-mixing stopped-flow optical spectroscopy. For both substrates, the rate constants for reaction with H(peroxo) are greater than those for Q. An analytical model for explaining the transient kinetics is described and used successfully to fit the observed data. Activation parameters were determined through temperature-dependent studies, and the kinetic isotope effects for the reactions with diethyl ether were measured. The rate constants indicate that H(peroxo) is a more electrophilic oxidant than Q. We propose that H(peroxo) reacts via two-electron transfer mechanisms, and that Q reacts by single-electron transfer steps.

Catalysis↗
PubMed2005

Intermolecular electron-transfer reactions in soluble methane monooxygenase: a role for hysteresis in protein function.

Electron transfer from reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) to the hydroxylase component (MMOH) of soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) primes its non-heme diiron centers for reaction with dioxygen to generate high-valent iron intermediates that convert methane to methanol. This intermolecular electron-transfer step is facilitated by a reductase (MMOR), which contains [2Fe-2S] and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) prosthetic groups. To investigate interprotein electron transfer, chemically reduced MMOR was mixed rapidly with oxidized MMOH in a stopped-flow apparatus, and optical changes associated with reductase oxidation were recorded. The reaction proceeds via four discrete kinetic phases corresponding to the transfer of four electrons into the two dinuclear iron sites of MMOH. Pre-equilibrating the hydroxylase with sMMO auxiliary proteins MMOB or MMOD severely diminishes electron-transfer throughput from MMOR, primarily by shifting the bulk of electron transfer to the slowest pathway. The biphasic reactions for electron transfer to MMOH from several MMOR ferredoxin analogues are also inhibited by MMOB and MMOD. These results, in conjunction with the previous finding that MMOB enhances electron-transfer rates from MMOR to MMOH when preformed MMOR-MMOH-MMOB complexes are allowed to react with NADH [Gassner, G. T.; Lippard, S. J. Biochemistry 1999, 38, 12768-12785], suggest that isomerization of the initial ternary complex is required for maximal electron-transfer rates. To account for the slow electron transfer observed for the ternary precomplex in this work, a model is proposed in which conformational changes imparted to the hydroxylase by MMOR are retained throughout the catalytic cycle. Several electron-transfer schemes are discussed with emphasis on those that invoke multiple interconverting MMOH populations.

Electron Transport↗
PubMed2006

Density functional theory analysis of the reaction pathway for methane oxidation to acetic acid catalyzed by Pd2+ in sulfuric acid.

Density functional theory has been used to investigate the thermodynamics and activation barriers associated with the direct oxidation of methane to acetic acid catalyzed by Pd2+ cation in concentrated sulfuric acid. Pd2+ cations in such solutions are ligated by two bisulfate anions and by one or two molecules of sulfuric acid. Methane oxidation is initiated by the addition of CH4 across one of the Pd-O bonds of a bisulfate ligand to form Pd(HSO4)(CH3)(H2SO4)2. The latter species will react with CO to produce Pd(HSO4)(CH3CO)(H2SO4)2. The most likely path to the final products is found to be via oxidation of Pd(HSO4)(CH3)(H2SO4)2 and Pd(HSO4)(CH3CO)(H2SO4)2 to form Pd(eta2-HSO4)(HSO4)2(CH3)(H2SO4) and Pd(eta2-HSO4)(HSO4)2(CH3CO)(H2SO4), respectively. CH3HSO4 or CH3COHSO4 is then produced by reductive elimination from the latter two species, and CH(3)COOH is then formed by hydrolysis of CH3COHSO4. The loss of Pd2+ from solution to form Pd(0) or Pd-black is predicted to occur via reduction with CO. This process is offset, though, by reoxidation of palladium by either H2SO4 or O2.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Combined redox couples for catalytic oxidation of methane by dioxygen at low temperatures.

The combination of three redox couples Pd2+/Pd0-quinone/hydroquinone-NO2/NO creates an electron-transfer loop, which facilitates one-pot catalytic oxidation of methane selectively to methanol by dioxygen in CF3COOH at a temperature as low as 80 degrees C. This is the first example where an organic cocatalyst significantly increases the catalytic efficiency of a transition metal in the selective oxidation of methane in the presence of dioxygen.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Gas-phase acidities of disubstituted methanes and of enols of carboxamides substituted by electron-withdrawing groups.

The gas-phase acidities DeltaG degrees (acid) of some 20 amides/enols of amides RNHCOCHYY'/RNHC(OH)=CYY' [R = Ph, i-Pr; Y, Y' = CO(2)R', CO(2)R' ', or CN, CO(2)R', R', R' ' = Me, CH(2)CF(3), CH(CF(3))(2)], the N-Ph and N-Pr-i amides of Meldrum's acid, 1,3-cyclopentanedione, dimedone, and 1,3-indanedione, and some N-p-BrC(6)H(4) derivatives and of nine CH(2)YY' (Y, Y' = CN, CO(2)R', CO(2)R' '), including the cyclic carbon acids listed above, were determined by ICR. The acidities were calculated at the B3LYP/6-31+G//B3LYP/6-31+G level for both the enol and the amide species or for the carbon acid and the enol on the CO in the CH(2)YY' series. For 12 of the compounds, calculations were also conducted with the larger base sets 6-311+G and G-311+G. The DeltaG degrees (acid) values changed from 341.3 kcal/mol for CH(2)(CO(2)Me)(2) to 301.0 kcal/mol for PhNHC(OH)=C(CN)CH(CF(3))(2). The acidities increased for combinations of Y and Y' based on the order CO(2)Me < CO(2)CH(2)CF(3) < CN, CO(2)CH(CF(3))(2) for a single group and reflect the increased electron-withdrawal ability of Y,Y' coupled with the ability to achieve planarity of the crowded anion. The acidities of corresponding YY'-substituted systems follow the order N-Ph enols > N-Pr-i enols >> CH(2)YY'. Better linear relationships between DeltaG degrees (acid) values calculated for the enols and the observed values than those for the values calculated for the amides suggest that the ionization site is the enolic O-H of most of the noncyclic trisubstituted methanes. The experimental DeltaG degrees (acid) value for Meldrum's acid matches the recently reported calculated value. The calculated structures and natural charges of all species are given, and the changes occurring in them on ionization are discussed. Correlations between the DeltaG degrees (acid) values and the pK(enol) values, which are linear for the trisubstituted methanes, excluding YY' = (CN)(2) and nonlinear for the CH(2)YY' systems, are discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1996

The Role of Spin-Orbit Coupling and Symmetry in Oxadi-pi-methane Rearrangements and Some Related Photochemical Reactions.

The spin-orbit coupling components in the effective one-electron Hamiltonian operator, with the inclusion of symmetry, have been used to formulate mechanisms of spin inversion in triplet reactions for the radiationless decay of triplet complexes to singlet ground state products. This has been applied to investigate the photochemical behavior of oxadi-pi-methane rearrangement in beta,gamma-unsaturated carbonyl cyclic and acyclic systems. It is found that the 1,2-acyl-migrated endo isomer is the most favorable product due to its larger spin-orbit coupling expression as well as better initial overlaps (owing to the less atomic motion). Other related photorearrangements of some molecular systems, such as azadi-pi-methane rearrangement, 4-aryl-substituted cyclopentenones, spirocyclic beta,gamma,delta,epsilon-unsaturated ketones, and heavy atom effect, have also been investigated.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Methanation of CO over nickel: Mechanism and kinetics at high H2/CO ratios.

The CO methanation reaction over nickel was studied at low CO concentrations and at hydrogen pressures slightly above ambient pressure. The kinetics of this reaction is well described by a first-order expression with CO dissociation at the nickel surface as the rate-determining step. At very low CO concentrations, adsorption of CO molecules and H atoms compete for the sites at the surface, whereas the coverage of CO is close to unity at higher CO pressures. The ratio of the equilibrium constants for CO and H atom adsorption, K(CO)/K(H), was obtained from the rate of CO methanation at various CO concentrations. K(H) was determined independently from temperature programmed adsorption/desorption of hydrogen to be K(H) = 7.7 x 10(-4) (bar(-0.5)) exp[43 (kJ/mol)/RT] and hence the equilibrium constants for adsorption of CO molecules may be calculated to be K(CO) = 3 x 10(-7) (bar(-1)) exp[122 (kJ/mol)/RT]. Furthermore, the rate of dissociation of CO at the catalyst surface was determined to be 5 x 10(9) (s(-1)) exp[-96.7 (kJ/mol)/RT] assuming that 5% of the surface nickel atoms are active for CO dissociation. The results are compared to equilibrium and rate constants reported in the literature.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Intramolecular triplet-triplet energy transfer in oxa- and aza-di-pi-methane photosensitized systems.

Two different mechanisms are proposed for the intramolecular triplet-triplet energy transfer in oxa- and aza-di-pi-methane systems, one thermally induced and the other photoinduced. These mechanisms involve a key structure that corresponds to an avoided crossing. The triplet sensitized photochemistry of these compounds, focusing attention in the di-pi-methane rearrangement, is discussed in light of these proposed mechanisms.

Letter↗
PubMed2005

Hierarchical multiscale mechanism development for methane partial oxidation and reforming and for thermal decomposition of oxygenates on Rh.

A thermodynamically consistent C1 microkinetic model is developed for methane partial oxidation and reforming and for oxygenate (methanol and formaldehyde) decomposition on Rh via a hierarchical multiscale methodology. Sensitivity analysis is employed to identify the important parameters of the semiempirical unity bond index quadratic exponential potential (UBI-QEP) method and these parameters are refined using quantum mechanical density functional theory. With adjustment of only two pre-exponentials in the CH4 oxidation subset, the C1 mechanism captures a multitude of catalytic partial oxidation (CPOX) and reforming experimental data as well as thermal decomposition of methanol and formaldehyde. We validate the microkinetic model against high-pressure, spatially resolved CPOX experimental data. Distinct oxidation and reforming zones are predicted to exist, in agreement with experiments, suggesting that hydrogen is produced from reforming of methane by H2O formed in the oxidation zone. CO is produced catalytically by partial oxidation up to moderately high pressures, with water-gas shift taking place in the gas-phase at sufficiently high pressures resulting in reduction of CO selectivity.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Clathrate-formation mediated adsorption of methane on Cu-complex crystals.

We measured adsorption and desorption isotherms of methane on [Cu(4, 4'-bipyridine)2(BF4)2] (LPC) at 258, 273, and 303 K. Adsorption proceeds almost vertically at a definite pressure, which is named gate pressure. The lower the measurement temperature, the smaller the gate pressure. The temperature dependence of the gate pressure is expressed by the Clapeyron-Clausius equation, giving a thermodynamic evidence on the clathrate formation between the Cu complex and methane.

Letter↗
PubMed2005

Local and global uncertainty analyses of a methane flame model.

Local and global uncertainty analyses of a flat, premixed, stationary, laminar methane flame model were carried out using the Leeds methane oxidation mechanism at lean (phi = 0.70), stoichiometric (phi = 1.00), and rich (phi = 1.20) equivalence ratios. Uncertainties of laminar flame velocity, maximal flame temperature, and maximal concentrations of radicals H, O, OH, CH, and CH(2) were investigated. Global uncertainty analysis methods included the Morris method, the Monte Carlo analysis with Latin hypercube sampling, and an improved version of the Sobol' method. Assumed probability density functions (pdf's) were assigned to the rate coefficients of all the 175 reactions and to the enthalpies of formation of the 37 species. The analyses provided the following answers: approximate pdf's and standard deviations of the model results, minimum and maximum values of the results at any physically realistic parameter combination, and the contribution of the uncertainty of each parameter to the uncertainty of the model result. The uncertainty of a few rate parameters and a few enthalpies of formation causes most of the uncertainty of the model results. Most uncertainty comes from the inappropriate knowledge of kinetic data, but the uncertainty caused by thermodynamic data is also significant.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Thermodynamic calculations in the system CH4-H2O and methane hydrate phase equilibria.

Using the Gibbs function of reaction, equilibrium pressure, temperature conditions for the formation of methane clathrate hydrate have been calculated from the thermodynamic properties of phases in the system CH4-H2O. The thermodynamic model accurately reproduces the published phase-equilibria data to within +/-2 K of the observed equilibrium boundaries in the range 0.08-117 MPa and 190-307 K. The model also provides an estimate of the third-law entropy of methane hydrate at 273.15 K, 0.1 MPa of 56.2 J mol(-1) K(-1) for 1/nCH4.H2O, where n is the hydrate number. Agreement between the calculated and published phase-equilibria data is optimized when the hydrate composition is fixed and independent of the pressure and temperature for the conditions modeled.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Study of the elementary processes involved in the selective oxidation of methane over MoOx/SiO2.

Isolated molybdate species supported on silica are reported to have the highest specific activity and selectivity for the direct oxidation of methane to formaldehyde. The present investigation was undertaken to understand the elementary redox processes involved in the formation of formaldehyde over such species. A MoO(x)/SiO(2) catalyst was prepared with a Mo loading of 0.44 Mo/nm(2). On the basis of evidence from extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and Raman spectroscopy, the Mo atoms in this catalyst are present as isolated, pentacoordinated molybdate species containing a single Mo=O bond. Isotopic labeling experiments in combination with in-situ Raman spectroscopy were used to examine the reducibility of the dispersed molybdate species and the exchange of O atoms between the gas phase and the catalyst. It was established that treatment of MoO(x)/SiO(2) at 873 K under pure methane reduces the dispersed molybdate species to only a limited extent and results mainly in the deposition of amorphous carbon. During CH(4) oxidation to formaldehyde, the catalyst undergoes only a very small degree of reduction and typically only approximately 50-500 ppm of Mo(VI) is reduced to Mo(IV). Reactions carried out using CH(4) and (18)O(2) show that there is extensive scrambling of O atoms between the species in the gas phase and the catalyst. Additional experiments revealed that H(2)O formed in the reaction is the principal species responsible for the exchange of O atoms between the gas phase and the SiO(2) support. Low concentrations of H(2)O were observed to enhance the activity of MoO(x)/SiO(2) for CH(4) oxidation to formaldehyde. A mechanism for the oxidation of CH(4) over MoO(x)/SiO(2) was formulated in light of the observations made here and is discussed in the light of previous studies. It is proposed that peroxides are produced by the reaction of O(2) with a small concentration of reduced molybdate species and that the reaction of CH(4) with these peroxide species leads to the formation of formaldehyde. The proposed mechanism also accounts for the positive effects of low concentrations of H(2)O on the rate of formaldehyde formation.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Magnitude of the CH/pi interaction in the gas phase: experimental and theoretical determination of the accurate interaction energy in benzene-methane.

The accurate CH/pi interaction energy of the benzene-methane model system was experimentally and theoretically determined. In the experiment, mass analyzed threshold ionization spectroscopy was applied to the benzene-methane cluster in the gas phase, prepared in a supersonic molecular beam. The binding energy in the neutral ground state of the cluster, which is regarded as the CH/pi interaction energy for this model system, was evaluated from the dissociation threshold measurements of the cluster cation. The experimentally determined binding energy (D(0)) was 1.03-1.13 kcal/mol. The interaction energy of the model system was calculated by ab initio molecular orbital methods. The estimated CCSD(T) interaction energy at the basis set limit (D(e)) was -1.43 kcal/mol. The calculated binding energy (D(0)) after the vibrational zero-point energy correction (1.13 kcal/mol) agrees well with the experimental value. The effects of basis set and electron correlation correction procedure on the calculated CH/pi interaction energy were evaluated. Accuracy of the calculated interaction energies by DFT methods using BLYP, B3LYP, PW91 and PBE functionals was also discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Competing evaporation and condensation processes during the boiling of methane.

The atomistic mechanism of the boiling of methane is explored from molecular dynamics simulations. The liquid --> vapor transition is initiated by local density fluctuations resulting in a nanometer-sized domain that exhibits both liquid and vapor characteristics. Though the rates of evaporation and condensation events increase dramatically in this area, the overall balance exhibits only a marginal net rate of evaporation. Growth of the precritical domain leads to the nucleation of a vapor phase in which isolated methane molecules are confined by a liquid-vapor interface. After crossing the transition state, the system experiences progressive destabilization of the liquid phase and the evaporation processes clearly outnumber the condensation events.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Unsteady-state direct partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas in a fixed-bed reactor using AFeO3 (A = La, Nd, Eu) perovskite-type oxides as oxygen storage.

Direct partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas on AFeO(3) (A = La, Nd, Eu) oxides by a novel sequential redox cyclic reaction in the absence of gaseous oxygen was investigated over a fixed-bed reactor. These oxides were prepared by the sol-gel method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. XRD analysis showed that all AFeO(3) (A = La, Nd, Eu) oxides, calcined at 1173 K, are single-phase perovskites. The CH(4)-TPSR/MS and continuous reaction experiments indicated that the AFeO(3) (A = La, Nd, Eu) oxides provide mostly oxygen species, as the sole oxidant originated from lattice oxygen instead of gaseous oxygen, which can oxidize CH(4) to synthesis gas with high selectivity in the absence of gaseous oxygen. In terms of material economics and the amount of oxygen species for synthesis gas formation, the LaFeO(3) sample exhibits the best performance among these tested AFeO(3) oxides for synthesis gas production. The pulse experiments at different temperatures showed that the rate of oxygen migration during the CH(4) reaction with LaFeO(3) is strongly affected by the reaction temperature, and increases with rising temperature, which is favorable to much more CH(4) selective oxidation at high temperature. The two types of oxygen species are identified by experiments of continuous reactions and pulses, and confirmed by XPS. Methane can be converted selectively to synthesis gas by consumption of lattice oxygen, and general carbonaceous deposits on the catalyst surface do not occur under the appropriate reaction conditions by sequential redox cycles. The performance of selective oxidation of CH(4) to synthesis gas can be recovered by reoxidation using gaseous molecular oxygen; the LaFeO(3) oxide maintains relatively high catalytic activity and structural stability in redox atmospheres.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Loading dependence of the diffusion coefficient of methane in nanoporous materials.

In this work, we use molecular simulations to study the loading dependence of the self-and collective diffusion coefficients of methane in various zeolite structures. To arrive at a microscopic interpretation of the loading dependence, we interpret the diffusion behavior in terms of hopping rates over a free-energy barrier. These free-energy barriers are computed directly from a molecular simulation. We show that these free-energy profiles are a convenient starting point to explain a particular loading dependence of the diffusion coefficient. On the basis of these observations, we present a classification of zeolite structures for the diffusion of methane as a function of loading: three-dimensional cagelike structures, one-dimensional channels, and intersecting channels. Structures in each of these classes have their loading dependence of the free-energy profiles in common. An important conclusion of this work is that diffusion in nanoporous materials can never be described by one single effect so that we need to distinguish different loading regimes to describe the diffusion over the entire loading range.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

New method to determine PSD using supercritical adsorption: Applied to methane adsorption in activated carbon.

Adsorption of supercritical fluids is increasingly carried out to determine the micropore size distribution. This is largely motivated by the advances in the use of supercritical adsorption in high energy applications, such as hydrogen and methane storage in porous media. Experimental data are reported as mass excess versus pressure, and when these data are matched against the theoretical mass excess, significant errors could occur if the void volume used in the calculation of the experimental mass excess is incorrectly determined [Malbrunot, P.; Vidal, D.; Vermesse, J.; Chahine, R.; Bose, T. K. Langmuir 1997, 13, 539]. The incorrect value for the void volume leads to a wrong description of the maximum in the plot of mass excess versus pressure as well as the part of the isotherm over the pressure region where the isotherm is decreasing. Because of this uncertainty in the maximum and the decreasing part of the isotherm, we propose a new method in which the problems associated with this are completely avoided. Our method involves only the relationship between the amount that is introduced into the adsorption cell and the equilibrium pressure. This information of "direct" experimental data has two distinct advantages. The first is that the data is the "raw" data without any manipulation (i.e., involving further calculations), and the second one is that this relationship always monotonically increases with pressure. We will illustrate this new method with the adsorption data of methane in a commercial sample of activated carbon.

Journal Article↗