Density functional theory study on frustrated Lewis pairs catalyzed C-H activation of heteroarenes: Mechanism variation tuning by electronic effect

Unreactive C-H bond activation is a new horizon for frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) chemistry. Although concerted mechanism (Science 2015, 349, 513) and stepwise carbene mechanism (Org. Lett. 2018, 20, 1102) have been proposed for the FLPs catalyzed C-H bond activation of 1-methylpyrrole, the influence of electronic properties of FLPs on the reaction mechanism is far away from well-understood. In this study, an assortment of P-B type FLPs with different electronic characteristic was employed to study the catalyzed C-H bond activation of 1-methylpyrrole by using density functional theory calculations. Detailed calculations demonstrated that the reactivity variation and the reaction mechanism binary of FLPs catalyzed C-H activation can be varied by tuning electronic effect of Lewis base center. On the one hand, the concerted C-H activation reactivity is mainly controlled by the electron donation of the lone pair of Lewis base center; thus, the FLPs with electron-donating substituents (FLP1, FLP2, and FLP3) catalyzed the C-H bond activation through concerted mechanism. On the other hand, the reactivity of stepwise carbene mechanism is mostly attributed to the vacant orbital of Lewis acid center; as a result, the FLP5 bearing -P(C₆F₅)₂ preferred to catalyzed the bond activation through concerted mechanism. In contrast, a metathesis mechanism through strained four-membered ring transition state is less feasible. These results should provide deeper insight and broader perspective to understand the structure and function of FLPs for rational design of FLPs catalyzed C-H bond activation.