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Hans-Beat Bürgi

Publications and source records attributed to Hans-Beat Bürgi.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Specific heat of molecular crystals from atomic mean square displacements with the Einstein, Debye, and Nernst-Lindemann models.

Analysis of atomic displacement parameters (ADPs) from multitemperature diffraction data provides mean-field molecular translation and libration frequencies. These quantities have been combined with molecular deformation frequencies calculated ab initio, e.g. by DFT methods, to calculate the specific heat Cv of molecular crystals of naphthalene, anthracene, and hexamethylenetetramine. If the difference Cp - Cv is represented by the Nernst-Lindemann relation, Cp curves from diffraction experiments and ab initio calculations agree well with those based on calorimetry. Agreement is better if the Debye rather than the Einstein model is chosen to represent the contribution of the translational vibrations. Compressibilities estimated from the differences Cp - Cv are 2-5 times higher than those obtained from compressibility measurements at 298 K and Grüneisen constants derived from the temperature dependence of ADPs.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Interplay of spin conversion and structural phase transformations: re-entrant phase transitions in the 2-propanol solvate of tris(2-picolylamine)iron(II) dichloride.

Crystal structures, magnetic and thermodynamic properties of the spin-crossover compound tris(2-picolylamine)iron(II) dichloride (with 2-propanol solvent molecules) have been measured in the temperature range from 15 to 293 K. X-ray diffraction, SQUID, and calorimetric experiments all showed two first-order phase transitions with hysteresis loops, a narrow one at T(1) approximately 196 K and a broad, triangular one covering the range 153<T(2)<166 K. Crystal structures were analysed at fourteen temperatures in a cooling cycle and at seven temperatures in a heating cycle. They reveal a complex, temperature-dependent ordering behaviour of both the complex cations and the alcohol molecules. A phenomenological model accounting for spin conversion, solvent ordering and coupling between the two processes describes the observed phase transitions and ordering phenomena reasonably well. Similarities and differences in the behaviour of the corresponding ethanol solvate with the same crystal architecture are discussed. It is concluded that spin-crossover behaviour depends as much on molecular properties as it does on intermolecular interactions, both of the spin active and the spin inactive components.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Crystalline, mixed-valence manganese analogue of prussian blue: magnetic, spectroscopic, X-ray and neutron diffraction studies.

The compound of stoichiometry Mn(II)3[Mn(III)(CN)6]2.zH2O (z = 12-16) (1) forms air-stable, transparent red crystals. Low-temperature single crystal optical spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction provide compelling evidence for N-bonded high-spin manganese(II), and C-bonded low-spin manganese(III) ions arranged in a disordered, face-centered cubic lattice analogous to that of Prussian Blue. X-ray and neutron diffraction show structured diffuse scattering indicative of partially correlated (rather than random) substitutions of [Mn(III)(CN)6] ions by (H2O)6 clusters. Magnetic susceptibility measurements and elastic neutron scattering experiments indicate a ferrimagnetic structure below the critical temperature Tc = 35.5 K.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Phosphoenolpyruvate- and ATP-dependent dihydroxyacetone kinases: covalent substrate-binding and kinetic mechanism.

Dihydroxyacetone (Dha) kinases are a sequence-conserved family of enzymes, which utilize two different phosphoryldonors, ATP in animals, plants, and some bacteria, and a multiphosphoprotein of the phosphoenolpyruvate carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) in most bacteria. Here, we compare the PTS-dependent kinase of Escherichia coli and the ATP-dependent kinase of Citrobacter freundii. They display 30% sequence identity. The binding constants of the E. coli kinase for eleven short-chain carbonyl compounds were determined by acetone precipitation of the enzyme-substrate complexes. They are 3.4 microM for Dha, 780 microM for Dha-phosphate (DhaP), 50 microM for D,L-glyceraldehyde (GA), and 90 microM for D,L-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. The k(cat) for Dha of the PTS-dependent kinase is 290 min(-1), and that of the ATP-dependent kinase is 1050 min(-1). The Km for Dha of both kinases is <6 microM. The X-ray structures of the enzyme-GA and the enzyme-DhaP complex show that substrates as well as products are bound in hemiaminal linkage to an active-site histidine. Quantum-mechanical calculations offer no indication for activation of the reacting hydroxyl group by the formation of the hemiaminal. However, the formation of the hemiaminal bond allows selection for short-chain carbonyl compounds and discrimination against structurally similar polyols. The Dha kinase remains fully active in the presence of 2 M glycerol, and phosphorylates trace impurities of carbonyl compounds present in glycerol.

Acetone↗
PubMed2003

Low-temperature single-crystal Raman and neutron-diffraction study of the hydrogenous ammonium copper(II) Tutton salt and the deuterated analogue in the metastable state.

Low-temperature (15 K) single-crystal neutron-diffraction structures and Raman spectra of the salts (NX4)2[Cu(OX2)6](SO4)2, where X=H or D, are reported. This study is concerned with the origin of the structural phase change that is known to occur upon deuteration. Data for the deuterated salt were measured in the metastable state, achieved by application of 500 bar of hydrostatic pressure at approximately 303 K followed by cooling to 281 K and the subsequent release of pressure. This allows for the direct comparison between the hydrogenous and deuterated salts, in the same modification, at ambient pressure and low temperature. The Raman spectra provide no intimation of any significant change in the intermolecular bonding. Furthermore, structural differences are few, the largest being for the long Cu-O bond, which is 2.2834(5) and 2.2802(4) A for the hydrogenous and the deuterated salts, respectively. Calorimetric data for the deuterated salt are also presented, providing an estimate of 0.17(2) kJ/mol for the enthalpy difference between the two structural forms at 295.8(5) K. The structural data suggest that substitution of hydrogen for deuterium gives rise to changes in the hydrogen-bonding interactions that result in a slightly reduced force field about the copper(II) center. The small structural differences suggest different relative stabilities for the hydrogenous and deuterated salts, which may be sufficient to stabilize the hydrogenous salt in the anomalous structural form.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

What we can learn about fast chemical processes from slow diffraction experiments.

The potential energy surface is an important determinant of a chemical reaction. Three ways of deducing non-trivial properties of such surfaces from the results of crystal structure analyses are discussed and illustrated with examples. (1) The mapping approach brings together structures of the same molecular fragment from different environments to outline reaction coordinates and vibrations. (2) Correlations between molecular structures and activation energies for a given reaction type reveal general and quantitative relations between seemingly independent entities such as ground state structure, force constants, reaction path length, activation energy and catalysis. (3) The evolution of atomic mean square amplitudes (displacement parameters) with temperature uncovers frequencies and atomic displacement patterns of large-amplitude vibrations in molecular crystals. Examples include the vibrations of molecular zeolite building blocks, the crankshaft motion of stilbenes, the dynamic coupling between pyramidal deformation of the amide NH2 group and hydrogen bonding, the bowl inversion of corannulenes and nucleophilic addition/elimination reactions.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Determination and refinement of disordered crystal structures using evolutionary algorithms in combination with Monte Carlo methods.

An evolutionary algorithm called 'differential evolution' is combined with Monte Carlo simulation to determine and optimize models of disordered crystal structures. Requirements for successfully finding the parameters describing disorder from diffuse scattering data are discussed and the algorithm is applied to resolving the racemic and associated displacive disorder of the host substructure in a perhydrotriphenylene inclusion compound. Refinement resulted in a very good visual agreement between observed and calculated intensities and in a relatively low value of R(diffuse) = 0.148 (3). The computations for determining and refining the structure took 29 d with five to ten workstations running in parallel. Analysis of the progress of the structure determination shows that the essential information can be obtained within a few hours. Limits of the technique and strategies to optimize the procedure are discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Electron distribution and molecular motion in crystalline benzene: an accurate experimental study combining CCD X-ray data on C6H6 with multitemperature neutron-diffraction results on C6D6.

The electronic properties of the benzene molecule, for example its quadrupole moment and the electric field gradients (EFG's) at the H nuclei, are of fundamental importance in theoretical and experimental chemistry. With this in mind, single-crystal X-ray diffraction data on C(6)H(6) were collected with a charge-coupled device detector at T approximately 110 K. As accurate modelling of the thermal motion in the crystal was regarded as vital, especially for the hydrogen atoms, anisotropic-displacement parameters (ADP's) for the C and H atoms in C(6)H(6) were derived in a straightforward fashion from analysis of the temperature dependence of ADP's for the C and D atoms in C(6)D(6) at 15 K and 123 K obtained by neutron diffraction. Agreement between C-atom ADP's derived from thermal-motion analysis of neutron data and those obtained from multipole refinement by using the X-ray data is extraordinarily good; this gives confidence in the modelling of vibrational motion for the H atoms. The molecular quadrupole moment derived from the total charge density of the molecule in the crystal is (-29.7+/-2.4)x10(-40) C m(2), in excellent agreement with measurements made in the gas phase and in solution. The average deuterium nuclear quadrupole coupling constant (DQCC) derived from EFG tensors at H atoms is 182+/-17 kHz, also in excellent agreement with independent measurements. The strategy employed in this work may be of more general applicability for future accurate electron density studies.

Benzene↗
PubMed1997

Ligand Dehydrogenation in Ruthenium-Amine Complexes: Reactivity of 1,2-Ethanediamine and 1,1,1-Tris(aminomethyl)ethane.

The mechanisms of oxidative ligand dehydrogenation in high-valent ruthenium hexaamine complexes of bidentate 1,2-ethanediamine (en) and tridentate 1,1,1-tris(aminomethyl)ethane (tame) are elucidated in detail. In basic aqueous solution, [Ru(III)(tame)(2)](3+) undergoes rapid initial deprotonation (pK(III) = 10.3). This is followed by a pH-dependent disproportionation step involving either [Ru(III)(tame)(2)-H(+)](2+) + [Ru(III)(tame)(2)](3+) (k(1d) = 8300 M(-)(1) s(-)(1)) or two singly deprotonated [Ru(III)(tame)(2)-H(+)](2+) ions (k(2d) = 3900 M(-)(1) s(-)(1)). The products are [Ru(II)(tame)(2)](2+) and either the singly deprotonated species [Ru(IV)(tame)(2)-H(+)](3+) (pK(IV) = 8.2) or the doubly deprotonated [Ru(IV)(tame)(2)-2H(+)](2+). These Ru(IV) complexes undergo spontaneous dehydrogenation to give the imine [Ru(II)(imtame)(tame)](2+) (imtame = 1,1-bis(aminomethyl)-1-(iminomethyl)ethane), with first-order rate constants of k(1im) = 320 s(-)(1) and k(2im) = 1.1 s(-)(1), respectively. In the [Ru(III)(en)(3)](3+) system, the initial deprotonation (pK(III) = 10.4) is followed by the corresponding disproportionation reactions (k(1d) = 9000 M(-)(1) s(-)(1), k(2d) = 3800 M(-)(1) s(-)(1)). The complex [Ru(IV)(en)(3)-H(+)](3+) (pK(IV) = 8.9) and its deprotonated counterpart, [Ru(IV)(en)(3)-2H(+)](2+), undergo dehydrogenation to give [Ru(II)(imen)(en)(2)](2+) (imen = 2-aminoethanimine) with first-order rate constants of k(1im) = 600 s(-)(1) and k(2im) = 1.0 s(-)(1), respectively. In the light of this analysis, the disproportionation and ligand oxidation of the [Ru(III)(sar)](3+) ion are reexamined (k(1d) = 4 x 10(7) M(-)(1) s(-)(1), k(2d) >/= 2 x 10(7) M(-)(1) s(-)(1), pK(IV) = 2.0, k(1im) = 17 s(-)(1), k(2im) = 5 x 10(-)(4) s(-)(1) at 25 degrees C). While the disproportionation to Ru(II) and Ru(IV) has been recognized in such systems, the complexity of the paths has not been realized previously; the surprising variation in the rates of the intramolecular redox reaction (from days to milliseconds) is now dissected and understood. Other facets of the intramolecular redox reaction are also analyzed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1996

Temperature Dependence of the Crystal Structure and EPR Spectrum of Bis(1,3,5-Trihydroxycyclohexane)copper(II) Tosylate. A Unified Interpretation Using a Model of Dynamic Vibronic Coupling.

The crystal structure of bis(1,3,5-trihydroxycyclohexane)copper(II) tosylate is reported at temperatures of 293, 233, 188, 163, and 93 K, as are the structures of the Zn(II) and Ni(II) analogues at room temperature for comparison. The isomorphous compounds are triclinic, space group P&onemacr;, with one formula unit in the unit cell. The unit cell parameters of the Cu compound at 293 K are a = 6.456(5) Å, b = 9.505(3) Å, c = 12.544(3) Å, alpha = 76.57(2) degrees, beta = 87.48(4) degrees, gamma = 76.65(4) degrees. The centrosymmetric ZnO(6) and NiO(6) octahedra are tetragonally compressed with a slight orthorhombic distortion. The Cu(2+) polyhedra exhibit similar geometries, but with considerably larger deviations from a regular octahedron. Two of the three independent Cu-O bond lengths and two of the g-values change significantly as a function of temperature. A model of dynamic vibronic coupling is presented which explains both the EPR and structural data. Vibronic wave functions associated with a Jahn-Teller potential energy surface modified by an orthorhombic lattice "strain" are given. The temperature dependence of the structures is calculated from the nuclear parts and that of the g-values from the electronic parts of the wave functions. The temperature dependence of the structures and g-values is also interpreted using a simpler model involving an equilibrium between two forms of the complex which differ solely in their orientation in the crystal lattice, and the results of the two approaches are compared.

Journal Article↗