We report results from a computational investigation of the oxidative deboronation of BoroGlycine, H2N–CH2–B(OH)2, using H2O and H2O2 as the reactive oxygen species (ROS) to yield aminomethanol, H2N–CH2–OH; these results complement our study on the protodeboronation of BoroGlycine to produce methylamine, H2N–CH3 (Larkin et al. J. Phys. Chem. A, 111, 6489–6500, 2007). Second-order Møller-Plesset (MP2) perturbation theory with Dunning-Woon correlation-consistent (cc) basis sets were used for the calculations with comparisons made to results from Density Functional Theory (DFT) at the PBE1PBE/6-311++G(d,p)(cc-pVDZ) levels. The effects of a bulk aqueous environment were also incorporated into the calculations employing PCM and CPCM methodology. Using H2O as the ROS, the reaction H2O + H2N–CH2–B(OH)2 → H2N–CH2–OH + H–B(OH)2 was calculated to be endothermic, the value of normalΔH2980 was +12.0 kcal/mol at the MP2(FC)/cc-pVTZ computational level in vacuo and +13.7 kcal/mol in PCM aqueous media; the corresponding value for the activation barrier, ΔH‡, was +94.3 kcal/mol relative to the separated reactants in vacuo and +89.9 kcal/mol in PCM aqueous media. In contrast, the reaction H2O2 + H2N–CH2–B(OH)2 → H2N–CH2–OH + B(OH)3 was calculated to be highly exothermic with a normalΔH2980 value of −100.9 kcal/mol at the MP2(FC)/cc-pVTZ computational level in vacuo and −99.6 kcal/mol in CPCM aqueous media; the highest-energy transition state for the multi-step process associated with this reaction involved the rearrangement of H2N–CH2–B(OH)(OOH) to H2N–CH2–O–B(OH)2 with a ΔH‡ value of +23.2 kcal/mol in vacuo relative to the separated reactants. These computational results for BoroGlycine are in accord with the experimental observations for the deboronation of the FDA approved anti-cancer drug Bortezomib (Velcade™, PS-341) where it was found to be the principle deactivation pathway. (Labutti et al. Chem. Res. Toxicol., 19, 539–546, 2006).

Boronic acids are widely used in materials science, pharmacology, and the synthesis of biologically active compounds. In this Article, geometrical structures and relative energies of dimers of boroglycine, H2N-CH2-B(OH)2, and its constitutional isomer H3C-NH-B(OH)2, were computed using second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory and density functional theory; Dunning-Woon correlation-consistent cc-pVDZ, aug-cc-pVDZ, cc-pVTZ, and aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets were employed for the MP2 calculations, and the Pople 6-311++G(d,p) basis set was employed for a majority of the DFT calculations. Effects of an aqueous environment were incorporated into the results using PCM and COSMO-RS methodology. The lowest-energy conformer of the H2N-CH2-B(OH)2 dimer was a six-membered ring structure (chair conformation; Ci symmetry) with two intermolecular B:N dative-bonds; it was 14.0 kcal/mol lower in energy at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ computational level than a conformer with the classic eight-centered ring structure (Ci symmetry) in which the boroglycine monomers are linked by a pair of H-O...H bonds. Compared to the results of MP2 calculations with correlation-consistent basis sets, DFT calculations using the PBE1PBE and TPSS functionals with the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set were significantly better at predicting relative conformational energies of the H2N-CH2-B(OH)2 and H3C-NH-B(OH)2 dimers than corresponding calculations using the BLYP, B3LYP, OLYP, and O3LYP functionals, particularly with respect to dative-bonded structures.