Modeling the oxidation of ebselen and other organoselenium compounds using explicit solvent networks

The oxidation of dimethylselenide, dimethyldiselenide, S-methylselenenyl-methylmercaptan, and truncated and full models of ebselen (N-phenyl-1,2-benzisoselenazol-3(2H)-one) by methyl hydrogen peroxide has been modeled using density functional theory (DFT) and solvent-assisted proton exchange (SAPE), a method of microsolvation that employs explicit solvent networks to facilitate proton transfer reactions. The calculated activation barriers for these systems were substantially lower in energy (DeltaG(double dagger) + DeltaG(solv) = 13 to 26 kcal/mol) than models that neglect the participation of solvent in proton exchange. The comparison of two- and three-water SAPE networks showed a reduction in the strain in the model system but without a substantial reduction in the activation barriers. Truncating the ebselen model to N-methylisoselenazol-3(2H)-one gave a larger activation barrier than ebselen or N-methyl-1,2-benzisoselenazol-3(2H)-one but provided an efficient means of determining an initial guess for larger transition-state models. The similar barriers obtained for ebselen and Me(2)Se(2) (DeltaG(double dagger) + DeltaG(solv) = 20.65 and 20.40 kcal/mol, respectively) were consistent with experimentally determined rate constants. The activation barrier for MeSeSMe (DeltaG(double dagger) + DeltaG(solv) = 21.25 kcal/mol) was similar to that of ebselen and Me(2)Se(2) despite its significantly lower experimental rate for oxidation of an ebselen selenenyl sulfide by hydrogen peroxide relative to ebselen and ebselen diselenide. The disparity is attributed to intramolecular Se-O interactions, which decrease the nucleophilicity of the selenium center of the selenenyl sulfide.