Reaction mechanism of acetonitrile, olefins, and amines catalyzed by Ag2CO3: A DFT investigation

The mechanism of Ag₂CO₃-catalyzed reactions of acetonitrile, olefins, and amines was investigated by using the M06-L-D3/6-311 + G(d,p) method and level, and solvation model based on solute electron density (SMD) model was applied to simulate the solvent effect. Calculations show that the Ag₂CO₃ could achieve the Csp³-H activation by coordinating with the terminal nitrogen atom of CH₃CN; then, the addition reaction happened between the obtained Ag-complex intermediate and olefin via the coordination of Ag and benzene ring; finally, the obtained radical intermediate continues to go through one single electron transfer (SET) process, addition reaction, and H-shift reaction to yield the final product. The computational results reveal that Fe³⁺ cation would have assisted the SET process successfully and the path of direct addition with the amine is the optimal. Fukui function and dual descriptor can be used to predict the reactive sites, and electron spin density isosurface graphs can analyze the structures and reveal the substances.