TY - GEN
T1 - One-electron reduction potentials from chemical structure theory calculations
AU - Bylaska, Eric J.
AU - Salter-Blanc, Alexandra J.
AU - Tratnyek, Paul G.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Many redox reactions of importance in aquatic chemistry involve elementary steps that occur by single-electron transfer (SET). This step is often the first and rate limiting step in redox reactions of environmental contaminants, so there has been a great deal of interest in the corresponding one-electron reduction potentials (E1). Although E1 can be obtained by experimental methods, calculation from first-principles chemical structure theory is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative. Sufficient data are now available to perform a critical assessment of these methods-and their results-for two types of contaminant degradation reactions: dehalogenation of chlorinated aliphatic compounds (CACs) and reduction of nitro aromatic compounds (NACs). Early datasets containing E1's for dehalogenation of CACs by dissociative SET contained a variety of errors and inconsistencies, but the preferred datasets show good agreement between values calculated from thermodynamic data and quantum mechanical models. All of the datasets with E1's for reduction of NACs by SET are relatively new, were calculated with similar methods, and yet yield a variety of systematic differences. Further analysis of these differences is likely to yield computational methods for E1's of NAC nitro reduction that are similar in reliability to those for CAC dechlorination. However, comparison of the E1 data compiled here with those calculated with a more universal predictive model (like SPARC) highlight a number of challenges with implementation of models for predicting properties over a wide range of chemical structures.
AB - Many redox reactions of importance in aquatic chemistry involve elementary steps that occur by single-electron transfer (SET). This step is often the first and rate limiting step in redox reactions of environmental contaminants, so there has been a great deal of interest in the corresponding one-electron reduction potentials (E1). Although E1 can be obtained by experimental methods, calculation from first-principles chemical structure theory is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative. Sufficient data are now available to perform a critical assessment of these methods-and their results-for two types of contaminant degradation reactions: dehalogenation of chlorinated aliphatic compounds (CACs) and reduction of nitro aromatic compounds (NACs). Early datasets containing E1's for dehalogenation of CACs by dissociative SET contained a variety of errors and inconsistencies, but the preferred datasets show good agreement between values calculated from thermodynamic data and quantum mechanical models. All of the datasets with E1's for reduction of NACs by SET are relatively new, were calculated with similar methods, and yet yield a variety of systematic differences. Further analysis of these differences is likely to yield computational methods for E1's of NAC nitro reduction that are similar in reliability to those for CAC dechlorination. However, comparison of the E1 data compiled here with those calculated with a more universal predictive model (like SPARC) highlight a number of challenges with implementation of models for predicting properties over a wide range of chemical structures.
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U2 - 10.1021/bk-2011-1071.ch003
DO - 10.1021/bk-2011-1071.ch003
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84905501585
SN - 9780841226524
T3 - ACS Symposium Series
SP - 37
EP - 64
BT - Aquatic Redox Chemistry
PB - American Chemical Society
ER -