Kinetic UV-Vis Spectroscopic and DFT Mechanistic Study of the Redox Reaction of [OsVIIIO4(OH)n]n- (n = 1, 2) and Methanol in a Basic Aqueous Matrix.

This combined experimental and computational study builds on our previous studies to elucidate the reaction mechanism of methanol oxidation by OsVIII oxido/hydroxido species (in basic aqueous media) while accounting for the simultaneous formation of OsVII species via a comproportionation reaction between OsVIII and OsVI. UV-Vis spectroscopy kinetic analyses with either CH3OH or the deuterated analogue CD3OH as a reducing agent revealed that transfer of α-carbon-hydrogen of methanol is the partial rate-limiting step. The resulting relatively large KIE value of approximately 11.82 is a combination of primary and secondary isotope effects. The Eyring plots for the oxidation of these isotopologues of methanol under the same reaction conditions are parallel to each other and hence have the same activation enthalpy [Δ⧧H° = 14.4 ± 1.2 kcal mol-1 (CH3OH) and 14.5 ± 1.3 kcal mol-1 (CD3OH)] but lowered activation entropy (Δ⧧S°) from -12.5 ± 4.1 cal mol-1 K-1 (CH3OH) to -17.1 ± 4.4 cal mol-1 K-1 (CD3OH). DFT computational studies at the PBE-D3 level with QZ4P (Os) and pVQZ (O and H) basis sets provide clear evidence to support the data and interpretations derived from the experimental kinetic work. Comparative DFT mechanistic investigations in a simulated aqueous phase (COSMO) indicate that methanol and OsVIII first associate to form a noncovalent adduct bound together by intermolecular H-bonding interactions. This is followed by spin-forbidden α-carbon-hydrogen transfer (not O-H transfer) from methanol to OsVIII by means of HAT, which is found to be the partial rate-limiting step. Without the organic and inorganic fragments dissociating from each other during the entire stepwise redox reaction (in order to avoid formation of highly energetically unfavorable monomer species), the HAT step is followed by PT and then ET before the final product monomers formaldehyde and OsVI dissociate from each other. DFT-calculated Δ⧧H° is within 5 kcal mol-1 of the experimentally obtained value, while the DFT Δ⧧S° is three times larger than that found from the experiment.