Hydrogenation of conjugated CC and CO bonds: Quantum chemical preview before metal catalysis

Hydrogenation of acrolein, ethylene and formaldehyde by molecular hydrogen in gas phases, as a preview before metal catalysis, is investigated using density functional theory (PW91 and B3LYP), ab initio (MP2), and composite theoretical methods (G2, CBS-QB3, and CBS-APNO). Compared to the most accurate CBS-APNO method used in this paper, PW91 functional underestimates the barrier while B3LYP reproduces close results. All the reaction barriers are predicted to be no less than 70 kcal/mol and the CC hydrogenation is thermodynamically favored. Kinetically, however, the hydrogenation of CO bond is more favorable than that of the CC bond, especially for the isolated CO. The conjugation effect in acrolein greatly reduces the kinetic preference for the isolated CO hydrogenation. It is revealed that there is a good relationship between the energy barrier and the increase of the molecular H2 bond length from the reactant to transition state.