Density Functional Theory Exchange Research Articles

A prediction of high temperature magnetic coupling in transition metal phthalocyanines.

In spintronics, a perennial goal has been the generation of organic spin-bearing semiconductor materials with magnetic ordering stable at room temperature. To this end, the class of transition metal phthalocyanines has shown much promise in fulfilling this ambition. In particular, alpha-phase cobalt (II) phthalocyanine (α-CoPc) exhibits strong antiferromagnetic exchange interactions producing a long range order up to ∼100K. However, the underlying mechanism by which this magnetic interaction proceeds is not well understood. In this report, a simple mechanism has been proposed based on the Hubbard Hamiltonian, which elucidates the exchange coupling in α-CoPc. The mechanism provides stipulations for increasing the magnetic coupling, and this directs to a proposal that substitution of the central cobalt ion for rhodium will lead to a significant increase in coupling strength. The strength of this exchange interaction has been evaluated using broken symmetry hybrid exchange density functional theory and indicates that the novel rhodium (II) phthalocyanine system is indeed predicted to exhibit significantly stronger magnetic ordering. This study, therefore, identifies the coupling mechanism in α-CoPc as primarily attributable to kinetic exchange, explains its previously reported strong coupling relative to its first-row transition metal counterparts, and suggests that rhodium (II) phthalocyanine is likely to exhibit stable magnetic ordering at room temperature.

Excited state dynamics of Rhodamine B and its excitonically coupled dimer: A computational and experimental approach

Rhodamine B (RhB) is widely used for its high fluorescent quantum yield and strong absorption in the visible range of the spectrum; however, its facile aggregation in aqueous solutions dramatically affects its photophysical properties. Surprisingly, the excited state dynamics of rhodamines are not fully understood despite the extensive literature around them. Here, we present a complete picture of the photophysics of RhB and the most likely dimer formed in aqueous solution. We deconvolved the excited state dynamics of RhB and its non-covalent dimer using a combination of steady-state (SS) and time-resolved spectroscopic methods supported by density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT). In particular, we have determined the dimerization equilibria constant in sodium perchlorate solutions and measured the dimer’s photo-induced charge separation and charge-recombination events. Additionally, we studied 12 DFT exchange–correlation functionals (XCF), and determined which are appropriate and which are not appropriate for studying and interpreting the excited state dynamics observed through femtosecond transient absorption (fsTA).

Distinct structure-activity relationship and reaction mechanism over BaCoO3/CeO2 catalysts for NO direct decomposition

The dependency on morphology is crucial for achieving highly efficient direct decomposition of NO. Herein, a BaCoO3/CeO2 catalyst is synthesized using CeO2 small particles (p), spheres (s) and rods (r) as supports. The NO conversion to N2 (NTN2) at 800 °C follows the order BaCoO3/CeO2-r (78.8 %) > BaCoO3/CeO2-s (75.9 %) > BaCoO3/CeO2-p (56.9 %) > BaCoO3 (8.6 %) at a space velocity 1 g s/cm3. BaCoO3/CeO2-r exhibts high tolerance to O2 and stability with conversion decreasing from 78.8 % to 74.6 %, 60.0 % and 50.0 % at 800 °C with 1, 5 and 10 vol% O2, respectively. The high redox activity, higher active oxygen mobility and NO adsorption capability ensures its superior performance, while the high surface area (31.29 m2/g) and uniform distribution of active sites on the surface further promote the activity. The mechanism of NO direct decomposition is elucidated by in situ Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, 18O2 isotopic transient exchange experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculation.

Strain-Tuneable Magnetism and Spintronics of Distorted Monovacancies in Graphene.

The electronic and spintronic properties of the monovacancies in freestanding and isotopically compressed graphene are investigated using hybrid exchange density functional perturbation theory. When the effects of electronic self-interaction are taken into account, an integer magnetic moment of 2 μB is identified for a Jahn-Teller reconstructed V1(5-9) monovacancy in freestanding graphene. For graphene with stable ripples induced by a compressive strain of 5%, a bond reconstruction produces a V1(55-66) structure for the monovacancy, which is localized at the saddle points of the ripple. The sizeable local distortion induced by reconstruction modifies both the geometric and electronic properties of rippled graphene and quenches the magnetic moment of the vacancy due to the sp3 hybridization of the central atom. The nonmagnetic V1(55-66) structure is found to be stable on rippled structures, with the formation energy ∼2.3 eV lower than that of the metastable distorted V1(5-9) structures localized at sites other than the saddle points. The electronic ground state of distorted V1(5-9) corresponds to a wide range of fractional magnetic moments (0.50-1.25 μB). The computed relative stabilities and the electronic and magnetic properties of the V1(5-9) structures are found to be closely related to their local distortions. This analysis of the fundamental properties of defective graphene under compression suggests a number of strategies for generating regular defect patterns with tuneable magnetic and electronic properties and may, therefore, be used as a novel technique to achieve more precise control of graphene electronic structure for various application scenarios such as transistors, strain sensors, and directed chemisorption.

Creating Frustrated Lewis Pairs in Defective Boron Carbon Nitride for Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction to Ammonia.

The electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) on metal-free catalysts is an attractive alternative to the industrial Haber-Bosch process. However, the state-of-the-art metal-free electrocatalysts still suffer from low Faraday efficiencies and low ammonia yields. Herein, we present a molecular design strategy to develop a defective boron carbon nitride (BCN) catalyst with the abundant unsaturated B and N atoms as Lewis acid and base sites, which upgrades the catalyst from a single "Lewis acid catalysis" to "frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) catalysis." 14 N2 /15 N2 exchange experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that FLPs can adsorb an N2 molecule to form a six-membered ring intermediate, which enables the cleavage of N2 via a pull-pull effect, thereby significantly reducing the energy barrier to -0.28 eV. Impressively, BCN achieves a high Faraday efficiency of 18.9 %, an ammonia yield of 20.9 μg h-1 mg-1 cat. , and long-term durability.

Creating Frustrated Lewis Pairs in Defective Boron Carbon Nitride for Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction to Ammonia

AbstractThe electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) on metal‐free catalysts is an attractive alternative to the industrial Haber–Bosch process. However, the state‐of‐the‐art metal‐free electrocatalysts still suffer from low Faraday efficiencies and low ammonia yields. Herein, we present a molecular design strategy to develop a defective boron carbon nitride (BCN) catalyst with the abundant unsaturated B and N atoms as Lewis acid and base sites, which upgrades the catalyst from a single “Lewis acid catalysis” to “frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) catalysis.” 14N2/15N2 exchange experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that FLPs can adsorb an N2 molecule to form a six‐membered ring intermediate, which enables the cleavage of N2 via a pull–pull effect, thereby significantly reducing the energy barrier to −0.28 eV. Impressively, BCN achieves a high Faraday efficiency of 18.9 %, an ammonia yield of 20.9 μg h−1 mg−1cat., and long‐term durability.

Crystal Structure Evolution of Fluorine under High Pressure

Fluorinated compounds in the last decade were applied as photo-thermo-refractive glasses, high-stress lubricants, and pharmaceutical drugs due to their good mechanical properties and biocompatibility. Although fluorinated materials are largely employed, the possibility of predicting new structures was limited by the impossibility to use density functional theory (DFT) to describe interatomic and intermolecular interactions correctly. This is seen linearly to increase with fluorine concentration. In crystal structure prediction, modern algorithms are usually combined with first-principles methods employed for global solution, which sometimes fail to describe systems as in the case of strongly correlated materials. Fluorine is one of the tricky elements, which is characterized by relativistic effects and no overlap between the DFT exchange hole and the exact exchange hole. Thus, no relativistic exchange–correlation functional was seen to adequately describe fluorine. In this work, we have found an excellent compromise to investigate fluorinated materials using a combination of SCAN (exchange) and rVV10 (correlation) functionals. This was found through the fundamental study of α- and β-fluorine phases, showing α-fluorine as the most stable structure at temperatures lower than 35 K and 0 GPa with respect to β-fluorine. Further, we have computed crystal structure evolution under pressure looking for new stable fluorine allotropes using the USPEX evolutionary algorithm coupled with the SCAN-rVV10 exchange–correlation functional discovering two phase transitions: one from C2/c (i.e., α-fluorine) to Cmca at ∼5.5 GPa and from Cmca to the P4̅21c phase at 220 GPa; all these structures possess metallic behavior. The achievements of this work lie far beyond the thermodynamic of fluorine crystals under pressure. It will give the right instrument to understand the chemical behavior of fluorinated materials under pressure with consequent great speed up to the crystal structure prediction of fluorinated and fluorine-based materials.

DFT exchange: sharing perspectives on the workhorse of quantum chemistry and materials science.

In this paper, the history, present status, and future of density-functional theory (DFT) is informally reviewed and discussed by 70 workers in the field, including molecular scientists, materials scientists, method developers and practitioners. The format of the paper is that of a roundtable discussion, in which the participants express and exchange views on DFT in the form of 302 individual contributions, formulated as responses to a preset list of 26 questions. Supported by a bibliography of 777 entries, the paper represents a broad snapshot of DFT, anno 2022.

A comparison of three DFT exchange-correlation functionals and two basis sets for the prediction of the conformation distribution of hydrated polyglycine.

The performance of three density functional theory (DFT) exchange-correlation functionals, namely, Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE), BP86, and B3LYP, in predicting conformational distributions of a hydrated glycine peptide is tested with two different basis sets in the framework of adaptive force matching (AFM). The conformational distributions yielded the free energy profiles of the DFT functional and basis set combinations. Unlike traditional validations of potential energy and structural parameters, our approach allows the free energy of DFT to be validated. When compared to experimental distributions, the def2-TZVP basis set provides better agreement than a slightly trimmed aug-cc-pVDZ basis set. B3LYP is shown to be better than BP86 and PBE. The glycine model fitted against B3LYP-D3(BJ) with the def2-TZVP basis set is the most accurate and named the AFM2021 model for glycine. The AFM2021 glycine model provides better agreement with experimental J-coupling constants than C36m and ff14SB, although the margin is very small when compared to C36m. Our previously published alanine model is also refitted with the slightly simplified AFM2021 energy expression. This work shows good promise of AFM for developing force fields for a range of proteinogenic peptides using only DFT as reference.

Short-range DFT energy correction to multiconfigurational wave functions for open-shell systems.

Electronic structure methods emerging from the combination of multiconfigurational wave functions and density functional theory (DFT) aim to take advantage of the strengths of the two nearly antagonistic theories. One of the common strategies employed to merge wave function theory (WFT) with DFT relies on the range separation of the Coulomb operator in which DFT functionals take care of the short-distance part, while long-range inter-electronic interactions are evaluated by using the chosen wave function method (WFT-srDFT). In this work, we uncover the limitations of WFT-srDFT in the characterization of open-shell systems. We show that spin polarization effects have a major impact on the (short-range) DFT exchange energy and are of vital importance in order to provide a balanced description between closed and open-shell configurations. We introduce different strategies to account for spin polarization in the short range based on the definition of a spin polarized electron density and with the use of short-range exact exchange. We test the performance of these approaches in the dissociation of the hydrogen molecule, the calculation of energy gaps in spin-triplet atoms and molecular diradicals, and the characterization of low-lying states of the gallium dimer. Our results indicate that the use of short-range DFT correlation in combination with a (full-range) multiconfigurational wave function might be an excellent approach for the study of open-shell molecules and largely improves the performance of WFT and WFT-srDFT.

Crystal structure and phase transition of TlReO4: a combined experimental and theoretical study

The present work describes a density-functional theory (DFT) study of TlReO4 in combination with powder x-ray diffraction experiments as a function of temperature and Raman measurements at ambient temperature. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal three different structures as a function of temperature. A monoclinic structure (space group P21/c) is observed at room temperature while two isostructural tetragonal structures (space group I41/a) are found at low- and high-temperature. In order to complement the experimental results first-principles DFT calculations were performed to compute the structural energy differences. From the total energies it is evident that the monoclinic structure has the lowest total energy when compared to the orthorhombic structure, which was originally proposed to be the structure at room temperature, which agrees with our experiments. The structural and vibrational properties of the low- and room-temperature phase of TlReO4 have been calculated using DFT. Inclusion of van der Waals correction to the standard DFT exchange correlation functional is found to improve the agreement with the observed structural and vibrational properties. The Born effective charge of these phases has also been studied which shows a combination of ionic and covalent nature, resembling metavalent bonding. Calculations of zone-center phonon frequencies lead to the symmetry assignment of previously reported low-temperature Raman modes. We have determined the frequencies of the eight infrared-active, 13 Raman-active and three silent modes of low-temperature TlReO4 along with 105 infrared-active and 108 Raman-active modes for room-temperature TlReO4. Phonons of these two phases of TlReO4 are mainly divided into three regions which are below 150 cm−1 due to vibration of whole crystal, 250 to 400 cm−1 due to wagging, scissoring, rocking and twisting and above 900 cm−1 due to stretching in ReO4 tetrahedron. The strongest infrared peak is associated to the internal asymmetric stretching of ReO4 whereas the strongest Raman peak is associated to the internal symmetric stretching of ReO4. We have also measured the room-temperature Raman spectra of monoclinic TlReO4 identifying up to 28 modes. This Raman spectrum has been interpreted by comparison with the previously reported Raman frequencies of the low-temperature phase and our calculated Raman frequencies of low- and room-temperature phases of TlReO4.

Electrospray ionization collision induced dissociation of thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidine derivatives

2,4-substituted thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidines, with different l-amino acid methyl ester substituent on 4-C and methyl or methylthio substituent on 2-C, showed a complex and analytically valuable fragmentation behaviour under positive ion electrospray ionization collision-induced dissociation ((+)-ESI-CID) mass spectrometry. Protonated 2,4-substituted thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidines firstly lose a neutral fragment C2H4O2 (MS2) and the ion [M + H - 60]+ thus formed, then dissociates by losing of extended series of neutral molecule fragmentation from amino acid methyl ester substituent, in competition with the expulsion of CS or CH3SH and other direct bond scissions. Moreover, losing of NH3, CHN and CH2NH from the precursor ions of [M + H - 60]+ were proposed to occur via rearrangements. The formation of diagnostic product ions and the series neutral eliminations provided information about the properties of substituents, assisting their characterization via MS/MS, high-resolution mass spectrometry, the hydrogen/deuterium exchange experiment and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The proposed fragmentation patterns of these compounds give an insight into the understanding of gas-phase reactions in mass spectrometric studies of thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidine derivatives.

Tuning range-separated DFT functionals for modeling the peak absorption of MEH-PPV polymer in various solvents

Density Functional Theory (DFT) and time-dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT) are powerful tools for modeling orbital energy in conjugated molecules. Range Separated (RS) functionals vary the percentage of Hartree-Fock and DFT exchange for long-range and short-range interactions and are used in cases involving charge transfer excitation. The accuracy of the computed results using RS functionals depends on the range-separation parameter (ω) whose optimal values are not always known. Conjugated polymers add additional difficulty because the length of the polymer can vary. In this study, accurate values of ω for three lengths of MEH-PPV polymer (trimer, tetramer, and pentamer) in five different solvents (chloroform, chlorobenzene, xylene, Tetrahydrofuran, and dichloromethane) are reported using the RS functionals wB97XD and CAM-B3LYP. Range separation parameters are predicted and used for longer polymer chains. The differences in the ω for different solvents is statistically significant and gives insight into the polymer/solvent interaction.

Using coligands to gain mechanistic insight into iridium complexes hyperpolarized with para-hydrogen.

We report the formation of a series of novel [Ir(H)2(IMes)(α-13C2-carboxyimine)L] complexes in which the identity of the coligand L is varied. When examined with para-hydrogen, complexes in which L is benzylamine or phenethylamine show significant 1H hydride and 13C2 imine enhancements and may exist in 13C2 singlet spin order. Isotopic labeling techniques are used to double 13C2 enhancements (up to 750-fold) and singlet state lifetimes (up to 20 seconds) compared to those previously reported. Exchange spectroscopy and Density Functional Theory are used to investigate the stability and mechanism of rapid hydrogen exchange in these complexes, a process driven by dissociative coligand loss to form a key five coordinate intermediate. When L is pyridine or imidazole, competitive binding to such intermediates leads to novel complexes whose formation, kinetics, behaviour, structure, and hyperpolarization is investigated. The ratio of the observed PHIP enhancements were found to be affected not only by the hydrogen exchange rates but the identity of the coligands. This ligand reactivity is accompanied by decoherence of any 13C2 singlet order which can be preserved by isotopic labeling. Addition of a thiol coligand proved to yield a thiol oxidative addition product which is characterized by NMR and MS techniques. Significant 870-fold 13C enhancements of pyridine can be achieved using the Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange (SABRE) process when α-carboxyimines are used to block active coordination sites. [Ir(H)2(IMes)(α-13C2-carboxyimine)L] therefore acts as unique sensors whose 1H hydride chemical shifts and corresponding hyperpolarization levels are indicative of the identity of a coligand and its binding strength.

Generalized Gradient Approximation Exchange Energy Functional with Near-Best Semilocal Performance.

We develop and validate a nonempirical generalized gradient approximation (GGA) exchange (X) density functional that performs as well as the SCAN (strongly constrained and appropriately normed) meta-GGA on standard thermochemistry tests. Additionally, the new functional (NCAP, nearly correct asymptotic potential) yields Kohn-Sham eigenvalues that are useful approximations of the density functional theory (DFT) ionization potential theorem values by inclusion of a systematic derivative discontinuity shift of the X potential. NCAP also enables time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) calculations of good-quality polarizabilities, hyper-polarizabilities, and one-Fermion excited states without modification (calculated or ad hoc) of the long-range behavior of the exchange potential or other patches. NCAP is constructed by reconsidering the imposition of the asymptotic correctness of the X potential (-1/ r) as a constraint. Inclusion of derivative discontinuity and approximate integer self-interaction correction treatments along with first-principles determination of the effective second-order gradient expansion coefficient yields a major advance over our earlier correct asymptotic potential functional [CAP; J. Chem. Phys. 2015 , 142 , 054105 ]. The new functional reduces a spurious bump in the CAP atomic exchange potential and moves it to distances irrelevantly far from the nucleus (outside the tail of essentially all practical basis functions). It therefore has nearly correct atomic exchange-potential behavior out to rather large finite distances r from the nucleus but eventually goes as - c/ r with an estimated value for the constant c of around 0.3, so as to achieve other important properties of exact DFT exchange within the restrictions of the GGA form. We illustrate the results with the Ne atom optimized effective potentials and with standard molecular benchmark test data sets for thermochemical, structural, and response properties.

Assessing the Predictive Power of Density Functional Theory in Finite-Temperature Hydrogen Adsorption/Desorption Thermodynamics

Density functional theory (DFT) has been widely employed to study the gas adsorption properties of surface-based or nanoscale structures. However, recent indications raise questions about the trustworthiness of some literature values, especially in terms of the DFT exchange–correlation (XC) functional. Using hydrogen adsorption on metalloporphyrin-incorporated graphenes (MPIGs) as an example, we diagnosed the trustworthiness of DFT results, meaning the range of expected variations in the DFT prediction of experimentally measurable quantities, in characterizing the gas adsorption/desorption thermodynamics. DFT results were compared in terms of XC functionals and vibrational effects that have been overlooked in the community. We decomposed free energy associated with gas adsorption into constituting components (binding energy, zero-point energy, and vibrational free energy) to systematically analyze the origin of deviations associated with the most commonly adopted DFT functionals in the field. We then quantify the deviations in the measurable quantities, such as operating temperature or pressure for hydrogen adsorption/desorption depending on the level of approximations. Using chemical potential change associated with gas adsorption as a descriptor, we identify the required calculational accuracy of DFT to predict the room-temperature hydrogen storage material.

First-principles study of strain-induced Jahn–Teller distortions in BaFeO3

The effect of epitaxial strain on structural, magnetic and electronic properties of BaFeO3 perovskite oxide are investigated from first principles calculations, using the density functional theory (DFT) plus the Hubbard approach (DFT+U) within the generalized gradient approximation. Hybrid functional calculations, based on mixed exact Hartree–Fock and DFT exchange energy functionals, are also performed. For the ground state calculations, the DFT+U is found more suitable to describe the half metallic and ferromagnetic state of cubic BaFeO3. Jahn–Teller distortions, oxygen octahedra rotations and charge orderings in BaFeO3 under biaxial strain are explored. The obtained results reveal that structural changes associated with Jahn–Teller distortions are induced under tensile biaxial strain while the oxygen octahedra rotations and breathing are unusually not observed. Then, the strained BaFeO3 is considered as a particular Jahn–Teller distorted perovskite with exceptional properties when compared to CaFeO3 and SrFeO3. These findings lead to a strain engineering of the JT distortions in BaFeO3, and thus for high fundamental and technological interests.

Assessment of DFT functionals for calculating intermolecular interaction of nitrogen-containing heterocyclic complexes

Nitrogen-containing heterocyclic complexes are important parts of many biological molecules including DNA, RNA, proteins and drug molecules, which often have weak intermolecular interactions. Theoretical understanding based on the density functional theory (DFT) of such subtle interactions is of importance but challenging since it is strongly dependent on the choice of the DFT exchange–correlational (XC) functionals. In this study, the performances of 20 DFT XC functionals at the different DFT levels for calculating the intermolecular interactions of nitrogen-containing heterocycles have been evaluated using 23 representative complexes. The benchmark intermolecular interactions are derived from the calculations using the “golden standard” CCSD(T)/CBS method. Our results demonstrate that the XC functionals with the consideration of dispersion forces have the better performance on evaluation of intermolecular interaction. Overall, the functional with the best performance is ωB97M-V for calculating non-bonding interactions of nitrogen-containing heterocyclic complexes, while other XC functionals may outperform it for individual stacking configurations. To reduce the computation cost, the relatively small basis set can be used when the Boys-Bernardi counterpoise corrections are applied.

Isolated hydrogen configurations in zirconia as seen by muon spin spectroscopy andab initiocalculations

We present a systematic study of isolated hydrogen in diverse forms of ${\mathrm{ZrO}}_{2}$ (zirconia), both undoped and stabilized in the cubic phase by additions of transition-metal oxides $({\mathrm{Y}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3},{\mathrm{Sc}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$, MgO, CaO). Hydrogen is modeled by using muonium as a pseudoisotope in muon-spin spectroscopy experiments. The muon study is also supplemented with first-principles calculations of the hydrogen states in scandia-stabilized zirconia by conventional density-functional theory (DFT) as well as a hybrid-functional approach which admixes a portion of exact exchange to the semilocal DFT exchange. The experimentally observable metastable states accessible by means of the muon implantation allowed us to probe two distinct hydrogen configurations predicted theoretically: an oxygen-bound configuration and a quasiatomic interstitial one with a large isotropic hyperfine constant. The neutral-oxygen-bound configuration is characterized by an electron spreading over the neighboring zirconium cations, forming a polaronic state with a vanishingly small hyperfine interaction at the muon. The atom-like interstitial muonium is observed also in all samples but with different fractions. The hyperfine interaction is isotropic in calcia-doped zirconia $[{A}_{\mathrm{iso}}=3.02(8)$ GHz], but slightly anisotropic in the nanograin yttria-doped zirconia $[{A}_{\mathrm{iso}}=2.1(1)$ GHz, $D=0.13(2)$ GHz] probably due to muons stopping close to the interface regions between the nanograins in the latter case.

Friedel-Crafts dealkylation reaction mediated by a stereoselective proton transfer in the fragmentation of protonated cyclic indolyl α-amino esters.

Chiral cyclic indolyl α-amino esters are valuable substructures of peptides and peptidomimetics. Systematically exploring the fragmentation behavior of the protonated cyclic indolyl α-amino esters by a combination of high-resolution high-energy collisional dissociation mass spectrometry, hydrogen-deuterium exchange experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations is useful for further understanding their intrinsic properties and the fragmentation mechanisms of peptidomimetics constructed with them. All high-resolution high-energy collisional dissociation tandem mass spectrometry experiments were carried out using electrospray ionization hybrid Quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry in positive ion mode. Only the labile hydrogens were exchanged with deuterium in hydrogen-deuterium exchange experiments. Theoretical calculations were carried out by the DFT method at the B3LYP level with the 6-311G(d,p) basis set in the Gaussian 03 package of programs. In the fragmentation of protonated cyclic indolyl α-amino esters, when the two labile hydrogens on the N(8) position are successively transferred to the C(3) and C(4) positions, a Friedel-Crafts dealkylation reaction takes place spontaneously, with concomitant formation of an ion-neutral complex of [cyclic N-sulfonyl ketimino esters/protonated indoles]. Direct separation of this complex formed the protonated indoles, while a stereoselective proton transfer between the two components in the complex gave rise to protonated cyclic N-sulfonyl ketimino esters, which coincided with the hydrogen-deuterium experiments. Using H/D exchange experiments combined with theoretical calculations, a Friedel-Crafts dealkylation reaction mediated by a stereoselective proton transfer in the [cyclic N-sulfonyl ketimino esters/protonated indoles] complex was proposed for the fragmentation of protonated cyclic indolyl α-amino esters in high-energy collisional dissociation tandem mass spectrometry for the first time. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.