A comparative study of the counterion effect on the perrhenate-catalyzed deoxydehydration reaction

Abstract

Counterions have a significant effect on the efficiency of the deoxydehydration (DODH) reaction. Four perrhenate salts, Z+ReO4− (Z = Na+, K+, NH4+, and Bu4N+), were tested in the DODH reaction of a vicinal diol in the presence of PPh3 as the reductant. In addition, a new perrhenate salt, (2-ppyH)[ReO4] (2-ppyH+ = 2-phenylpyridinium cation), has been synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography and utilized as an efficient catalyst in the DODH reaction. Since so far computational studies related to the influence of the counterion in the different steps of the DODH mechanism are scarce, we have carried out a comparative investigation of the counterion effect using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The DODH mechanism of the conversion of phenyl-1,2-ethanediol to styrene in the presence of the five perrhenate salts mentioned above, as well as bare perrhenate (ReO4−) was studied from an energetic point of view. The catalytic tests and concomitant DFT computations confirmed the general mechanistic aspect in which the counterion plays an active role in all stages of the reaction mechanism including intermediate structures, Gibbs free energy changes (ΔG°g and ΔG°sol), transition states, and activation barrier energies. The role of counterion type has been considered in three key steps of the reaction mechanism, including the proton-transfer from diol to oxo-ligand in the rhenium moiety, the nucleophilic attack of the P atom from PPh3 on the oxo-ligand, the dissociation of the OPPh3 ligand, and the olefin extrusion from the Re(V)-diolate intermediate for each perrhenate salt. The crucial roles played by the counterion in terms of structure arrangement during transition states and the activation energy barriers are finally discussed.