Abstract
Superoxide is a strong base that can induce base-catalyzed autoxidation of weakly acidic solvents. We report on the performance of several computational protocols for predicting pKa values for a wide range of aliphatic C-H acids in DMSO. Calculations at the MP2/CBS level with CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ corrections and solvent effects calculated using the SVPE model provide the best overall performance (rms deviation is 0.65 pKa). The B3LYP, M06, and M06-2X functionals can also achieve high accuracy (<1 pKa) by employing empirical corrections to fit the experimental data. Computational results provide a convenient means of screening for suitable solvents in Li-air batteries.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 42-47 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Chemical Physics Letters |
| Volume | 558 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 12 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This work is supported by Liox Power, Inc. , Pasadena, CA.