Abstract:
The mechanism and potential energy profile of the addition reactions between digermene (H
2Ge=GeH
2) and several nucleophilic reagents (CH
3OH, C
4H
9OH, PhOH and CF
3OH) were studied by using density functional theory (DFT), and the addition reactivity of these reagents was explored. The computed results show that the addition reactions between H
2Ge=GeH
2 and monomer of CH
3OH, C
4H
9OH or PhOH can occur in two different ways, i.e., nucleophilic addition and electrophilic addition, and electrophilic addition is relatively easier to happen. However, the addition reactions of H
2Ge=GeH
2 with dimer or trimer of CH
3OH can proceed only by nucleophilic addition. The reactivity of the CH
3OH dimer as a nucleophile is higher than that of the corresponding monomer, but the addition activity of the C
4H
9OH dimer is lower than that of the monomer. The order of reactivity of CH
3OH, C
4H
9OH, PhOH and CF
3OH as nucleophilic reagents from high to low is as follows: CH
3OH > C
4H
9OH > PhOH > CF
3OH.