Experimental and theoretical study of molecular response of amine bases in organic solvents.

Reorientational correlation times of various amine bases (namely, pyridine, 2,6-lutidine, 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine) and organic solvents (dichloromethane, toluene) were determined by solution-state NMR relaxation time measurements and compared with predictions from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The amine bases are reagents in complex reactions catalyzed by frustrated Lewis pairs (FLP), which display remarkable activity in metal-free H2 scission. The comparison of measured and simulated correlation times is a key test of the ability of recent MD and quantum electronic structure calculations to elucidate the mechanism of FLP activity. Correlation times were found to be in the range of 1.4-3.4 (NMR) and 1.23-5.28 ps (MD) for the amines and 0.9-2.3 (NMR) and 0.2-1.7 ps (MD) for the solvent molecules.