Insights into the Mechanistic Role of Diphenylphosphine Selenide, Diphenylphosphine, and Primary Amines in the Formation of CdSe Monomers.

The formation mechanism of CdSe monomers from the reaction of cadmium oleate (Cd(OA)2) and SePPh2H in the presence of HPPh2 and RNH2 was studied systematically at the M06//B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p),SDD level in 1-octadecene solution. Herein, SePPh2H, HPPh2, and RNH2 act as hydrogen/proton donors with a decreased capacity, leading to the release of oleic acid (RCOOH). The longer the radius of the coordinated atom is, the larger the size of the cyclic transition state is, which lowers the activation strain and the Gibbs free energy of activation for the release of RCOOH. From the resulting RCOOCdSe-PPh2, for the formation of Ph2P-CdSe-PPh2 (G), SePPh2H acts as a catalyst, in which the turnover frequency determining transition state (TDTS) is characteristic of the Se-P bond cleavage. For the formation of RHN-CdSe-PPh2 (H), SePPh2H also serves as a catalyst, in which the TDTS is representative of the N-H bond cleavage. For the formation of Ph2PSe-CdSe-NHR (I), HPPh2 behaves as a catalyst, in which the TDTS is typical of the Se-P and N-H bond cleavage. The rate constants increase as kI < kH < kG, which is in good agreement with our previous experimental observations reported. The present study brings insight into the use of additives such as HPPh2 and RNH2 to synthesize colloidal quantum dots.