A DFT investigation of axial N-donor ligands effects on the high valent manganese-oxo meso-tetraphenyl porphyrin

Abstract

The effect of different electronic and structural nitrogen donors (L) on the N ( ax )- Mn - O properties in the high valent manganese-oxo meso-tetraphenylporphyrin intermediate is investigated by the density functional B3LYP method with 6-31g* basis set. The geometric structures, frontier molecular orbitals, thermodynamic parameters and physical properties such as chemical potential and chemical hardness of [( TPP )( L ) MnO ]+ complexes in the gas phase as well as water solution are calculated. Our theoretical results confirm that the Mn - O distances in [( TPP )( L ) MnO ]+ species decrease by replacing imidazoles with pyridines, amins as well as electron-poor and hindered nitrogen donors resulting from extending the Mn – N ( ax ) bonds. These results are supported by vibrational frequencies, atoms in molecules (AIM) and natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. It is worth mentioning that the co-catalytic activity trend of different nitrogen donors observed experimentally in the presence of title Mn porphyrin is consistent with the calculated Mn – N ( ax ) and Mn – O bond lengths in this work.