Structure, stability and vibrational spectrum of the hydrogen-bonded complex between HNO3 and H2O. Ab initio and DFT studies

The structure, stability and vibrational spectrum of the binary complex between HONO2 and H2O have been investigated using ab initio calculations at SCF and MP2 levels with different basis sets and B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) calculations. Full geometry optimization was made for the complex studied. It was established that the hydrogen-bonded H2O...HONO2 complex has a planar structure. The corrected values of the dissociation energy at the SCF and MP2 levels and B3LYP calculations are indicative of relatively strong OH...O hydrogen-bonded interaction. The changes in the vibrational characteristics (vibrational frequencies and infrared intensities) arising from the hydrogen bonding between HONO2 and H2O have been estimated by using the ab initio calculations at SCF and MP2 levels and B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) calculations. It was established that the most sensitive to the complexation is the stretching O-H vibration from HONO2. In agreement with the experiment, its vibrational frequency in the complex is shifted to lower wavenumbers. The predicted frequency shift with the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) calculations (-439 cm(-1)) is in the best agreement with the experimentally measured (-498 cm(-1)). The intensity of this vibration increases dramatically upon hydrogen bonding. The ab initio calculations at the SCF level predict an increase up to five times; at the MP2 level up to 10 times and the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) predicted increase is up to 17 times. The good agreement between the predicted values of the frequency shifts and those experimentally observed show that the structure of the hydrogen-bonded complex H2O...HONO2 is reliable.     

Ab initio study of the vibrational spectra of the hydrogen-bonded nitric acid dimer.

The changes in the vibrational characteristics characterizing the dimerization of nitric acid have been investigated by ab initio calculations at the MP2 level, with 6-31G(d,p) and 6-31 + G(d,p) basis sets, and B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) calculations. The most consistent agreement between the computed values of the frequency shifts for the planar fully symmetric structure (2A) and those experimentally observed suggests that this structure is preferred. It was established that the most sensitive to the complexation is the stretching O-H vibration. The values of the frequency shift (-306 cm(-1)) is indicative for the formation of the relatively strong hydrogen bonds. The calculations predict an increase of the infrared intensity of the stretching O-H vibration in the nitric acid dimer more than 26 times.     

The behavior of silicalite-1 under high pressure conditions studied by computational simulation

Completely siliceous zeolite ZSM-5 (silicalite-1) under high external pressures, up to 7 GPa, was investigated by energy minimization techniques. Classical empirical potentials have been used to study the phase transformation of the silicalite crystal to a new one with a lower symmetry. The analysis of the unit cell geometry and vibrational spectra at selected pressures suggest the loss of crystallinity of the silicalite structure. We found that a low-density amorphous phase is reached at pressures around 2.5–3.5 GPa. These results are compatible with recent Raman and X-Ray diffraction studies. We report the structural and vibrational properties of the new phase. In addition, we report the simulated elastic constants and the Young’s modulus of silicalite at selected pressures. The simulated results are in semi-quantitative agreement with the experiment.     

Are dispersive forces relevant for CO adsorption on the MgO(0 0 1) surface?

Periodic ab initio B3-LYP calculations on the MgO(0 0 1)/CO system underestimate the CO binding energy value with respect to experiment. The flaw is in the B3-LYP functional, unable to compute dispersive interactions. Here we show how to evaluate this contribution by adopting a two-layer ONIOM scheme in which the B3-LYP crystal energy is improved by the MP2 energy computed on the Mg₉O₉/CO cluster. The final complete basis set extrapolated (MP2/∞:B3-LYP/VTZ) CO/Mg(0 0 1) binding energy of 13 kJ/mol is in good agreement with experiment, with about 7 kJ/mol deriving from dispersive interactions.     

The performance of B3-LYP density functional theory in describing SN2 reactions at saturated carbon

The performance of the B3-LYP variant of density functional theory when used in conjunction with the 6-31G(d) and 6-311 + G(3df, 2p) basis sets in describing the prototypical gas-phase S_N2 reactions of Cl⁻ + CH₃Cl and CH₃Br has been examined in detail. Reasonable values of the complexation energies (ΔH_comp) for the ion-molecule complexes formed in these reactions are obtained. However, the overall (ΔH_ovr^#) and central (ΔH_cent^#) barriers for these reactions calculated using the B3-LYP functional are significantly underestimated when compared with G2(+) or experimental results. This implies that the B3-LYP energies for the Cl(H₃C)Cl⁻ (D_3h) and Cl(H₃C)Br⁻ (C_3v) transition structures are relatively too low. The B3-LYP errors appear to be systematic, with similar errors being found for corresponding quantities for the two reactions examined.     

Vibrational spectrum of katoite Ca3Al2[(OH)4]3: a periodic ab initio study

The vibrational spectrum of the Si-free katoite hydrogarnet (116 atoms in the unit cell) has been calculated at the periodic ab initio quantum mechanical level with the CRYSTAL program, by using a Gaussian type basis set and the hybrid B3LYP Hamiltonian. The harmonic frequencies at the Gamma point have been obtained by diagonalizing the mass-weighted Hessian matrix, that is evaluated by numerical differentiation of the analytical first derivatives of the energy with respect to the atomic Cartesian coordinates. The parameters controlling the numerical differentiation, as well as the numerical integration of the exchange-correlation functional for the self-consistent field (SCF) calculation, are shown to affect the obtained frequencies by less than 3 cm-1. Before diagonalization, the dynamical matrix is transformed to a block diagonal form according to the irreducible representations of the point group, so that the 345 vibrational modes are automatically classified by symmetry. Various tools are adopted (graphical representation, isotopic substitution, "freezing" part of the unit cell) that permit a complete classification of normal modes and, in particular, an analysis of the modes in terms of simple models (octahedra modes, Ca modes, H stretching, bending, rotations). The harmonic OH stretching band (48 modes) is quite narrow (20 cm-1), indicating that the interaction among OH groups is very weak. As the OH stretching modes are known to be totally separable from the other modes and strongly anharmonic, the one-dimensional Schroedinger equation for the anharmonic oscillator is solved numerically for the two extreme situations, corresponding to the vibration of one decoupled OH and of all 48 OH groups moving in phase. The anharmonic frequencies are 3682 and 3673 cm-1, respectively, in good agreement with IR experiments (a single band at 3661 cm-1 with a width at half band height of 33 cm-1) and confirming that the interaction between OH groups is extremely weak.     

BH3 under pressure: leaving the molecular diborane motif

Molecular and crystalline structures of (BH(3))(n) have been theoretically studied in the pressure regime from 1 atm to 100 GPa. At lower pressures, crystals of the familiar molecular dimer are the structure of choice. At 1 atm, in addition to the well-characterized β diborane structure, we suggest a new polymorph of B(2)H(6), fitting the diffraction lines observed in the very first X-ray diffraction investigation of solid diborane, that of Mark and Pohland in 1925. We also find a number of metastable structures for oligomers of BH(3), including cyclic trimers, tetramers, and hexamers. While the higher oligomers as well as one-dimensional infinite chains (bent at the bridging hydrogens) are less stable than the dimer at ambient pressure, they are stabilized, for reasons of molecular compactness, by application of external pressure. Using periodic DFT calculations, we predict that near 4 GPa a molecular crystal constructed from discrete trimers replaces the β diborane structure as the most stable phase and remains as such until 36 GPa. At higher pressures, a crystal of polymeric, one-dimensional chains is preferred, until at least 100 GPa.     

Anharmonic vibrational frequency shifts upon interaction of phenol+ with the open shell ligand O2. The performance of DFT methods versus MP2

Anharmonic vibrational frequency shifts of the phenol(+) O-H stretching mode upon complex formation with the open-shell ligand O(2) were computed at several DFT and MP2 levels of theory, with various basis sets, up to 6-311++G(2df,2pd). It was found that all DFT levels of theory significantly outperform the MP2 method with this respect. The best agreement with the experimental frequency shift for the hydrogen-bonded minimum on the potential energy surfaces was obtained with the HCTH/407 functional (-93.7 cm(-1) theoretical vs -86 cm(-1) experimental), which is a significant improvement over other, more standard DFT functionals (such as, e.g., B3LYP, PBE1PBE), which predict too large downshifts (-139.9 and -147.7 cm(-1), respectively). Good agreement with the experiment was also obtained with the mPW1B95 functional proposed by Truhlar et al. (-109.2 cm(-1)). We have attributed this trend due to the corrected long-range behavior of the HCTH/407 and mPW1B95 functionals, despite the fact that they have been designed primarily for other purposes. MP2 method, even with the largest basis set used, manages to reproduce only less than 50% of the experimentally detected frequency downshift for the hydrogen-bonded dimer. This was attributed to the much more significant spin contamination of the reference HF wave function (compared to DFT Kohn-Sham wave functions), which was found to be strongly dependent on the O-H stretching vibrational coordinate. All DFT levels of theory outperform MP2 in the case of computed anharmonic OH stretching frequency shifts upon ionization of the neutral phenol molecule as well. Besides the hydrogen-bonded minimum, DFT levels of theory also predict existence of two other minima, corresponding to stacked arrangement of the phenol(+) and O(2) subunits. mPW1B95 and PBE1PBE functionals predict a very slight blue shift of the phenol(+) O-H stretching mode in the case of stacked dimer with the nearly perpendicular orientation of oxygen molecule with respect to the phenolic ring, which is entirely of electrostatic origin, in agreement with the experimental observations of an additional band in the IR photodissociation spectra of phenol(+)-O(2) dimer [Patzer, A.; Knorke, H.; Langer, J.; Dopfer, O. Chem. Phys. Lett. 2008, 457, 298]. The structural features of the minima on the studied PESs were discussed in details as well, on the basis of NBO and AIM analyses.     

Structure and vibrational spectrum of the hydrogen-bonded system between 4-tert-butylphenol and N-bases: Ab initio and DFT studies

The structural and vibrational characteristics of the hydrogen-bonded system between 1,5,7-triazabicyclo [4.4.0] dec-5-ene (TBD) and 4-tert-butylphenol have been investigated employing ab initio and DFT calculations at different basis sets. The calculations show that the optimized structure of the studied system is cyclic. The corrected values of the dissociation energy for the hydrogen-bonded complex have been calculated in order to estimate its stability. The influence of the hydrogen bonding on the properties of the monomers (TBD and 4-tert-butylphenol) has been investigated. The hydrogen bonding between TBD and 4-tert-butylphenol leads to changes in the structural (bond lengths and angles) and vibrational (vibrational frequencies and infrared intensities) characteristics of the monomers. It was established that the TBD molecule is considerably deformed upon hydrogen bonding, while the deformation of the 4-t-BuPhOH is smaller. In agreement with the experiment, the calculations show that the stretching O-H vibration from 4-tert-butylphenol is shifted to lower frequency upon hydrogen bonding. The predicted frequency shift Deltanu(O-H) (-338cm(-1)) is in very good agreement with the experimentally observed (-351cm(-1)). In the same time the IR intensity of the nu(O-H) increases dramatically in the hydrogen-bonded system.     

Structural and vibrational properties of tetraoxaporphyrin dication, the oxygen analogue of porphyrin, and of isoelectronic diprotonated porphyrin

Structural calculations by means of the density functional method have been performed on tetraoxaporphyrin dication and on isoelectronic diprotonated porphyrin as well as on the sulfur and carbon analogues of porphyrin. A detailed study of the stable conformations of these compounds is reported starting with the most symmetrical conformations and lowering the symmetry along the vibrational coordinates with imaginary frequency. The calculated geometries are related to experimental structures available from X-ray diffraction studies. The Raman spectra of tetraoxaporphyrin dication exciting with micro-Raman instrumentation at 785 nm and of diprotonated porphyrin in near-resonance conditions with the Soret band have been measured. The correlation between frequencies calculated with the DF/B3-LYP/cc-pVDZ procedure for porphyrin, diprotonated porphyrin, and tetraoxaporphyrin dication has allowed for making a vibrational assignment for the latter two systems in excellent agreement with experiment using a single frequency scale factor.     

Harmonic frequency scaling factors for Hartree-Fock, S-VWN, B-LYP, B3-LYP, B3-PW91 and MP2 with the Sadlej pVTZ electric property basis set

Scaling factors for obtaining fundamental vibrational frequencies from harmonic frequencies calculated at six of the most commonly used levels of theory have been determined from regression analysis for the polarized-valence triple-zeta (pVTZ) Sadlej electric property basis set. The Sadlej harmonic frequency scaling factors for first- and second-row molecules were derived from a comparison of a total of 900 individual vibrations for 111 molecules with available experimental frequencies. Overall, the best performers were the hybrid density functional theory (DFT) methods, Becke's three-parameter exchange functional with the Lee–Yang–Parr fit for the correlation functional (B3-LYP) and Becke's three-parameter exchange functional with Perdew and Wang's gradient-corrected correlation functional (B3-PW91). The uniform scaling factors for use with the Sadlej pVTZ basis set are 0.9066, 0.9946, 1.0047, 0.9726, 0.9674 and 0.9649 for Hartree–Fock, the Slater–Dirac exchange functional with the Vosko–Wilk–Nusair fit for the correlation functional (S-VWN), Becke's gradient-corrected exchange functional with the Lee–Yang–Parr fit for the correlation functional (B-LYP), B3-LYP, B3-PW91 and second-order M?ller–Plesset theory with frozen core (MP2(fc)), respectively. In addition to uniform frequency scaling factors, dual scaling factors were determined to improve the agreement between computed and observed frequencies. The scaling factors for the wavenumber regions below 1800 cm⁻¹ and above 1800 cm⁻¹ are 0.8981 and 0.9097, 1.0216 and 0.9857, 1.0352 and 0.9948, 0.9927 and 0.9659, 0.9873 and 0.9607, 0.9844 and 0.9584 for Hartree–Fock, S-VWN, B-LYP, B3-LYP, B3-PW91 and MP2(fc), respectively. Hybrid DFT methods along with the Sadlej pVTZ basis set provides reliable theoretical vibrational spectra in a cost-effective manner. Received: 22 May 2000 / Accepted: 30 August 2000 / Published online: 28 February 2001     

Effects of water and methanol on the molecular organization of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate as functions of pressure and concentration

The structural organization in mixtures of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim][BF(4)])/water or methanol was studied by infrared spectroscopy. No drastic change in the concentration dependence of the alkyl C-H band frequency was observed at high concentration of the ionic liquid. This behavior indicates a clustering of the ionic liquid in alkyl regions. Nevertheless, the presence of methanol significantly perturbs the ionic liquid-ionic liquid associations in the imidazolium region. On the basis of the responses to change in pressure and concentration, two different types of O-H species, i.e., free O-H and bonded O-H, were observed in the O-H stretching region. For [bmim][BF(4)]/water mixtures, the compression leads to loss of the free O-H band intensity. It is likely that free O-H is switched to bonded O-H as high pressures are applied. For [bmim][BF(4)]/methanol mixtures, the free O-H is still stable under high pressures.     

DFT B3-LYP/3-21G geometry optimisation and effective charge values calculations for azodiazaphenanthrenes and acylaminodiazaphenanthrenes

For four azodiazaphenanthrenes 1–4 and three acylaminodiazaphenanthrenes 5–7 the geometry was optimised and their effective charge and dipole moment values were calculated using DFT B3-LYP/3-21G method. For 5–7 the results have been compared with those obtained by AM1 method. The UV experimental values of 1–4 are presented. With the use of DFT B3-LYP/6-31G^** optimised geometry the simulation of UV spectra of 5–7 by AM1 and ZINDO/S methods was made and correlations with experimental UV values have been performed.     

Thermoelasticity of MgO at High Pressures

The thermoelastic properties of MgO over a wide range of pressure and temperature are studied using the first-principles plane wave pseudopotential method within the generalized gradient approximation. It is shown that MgO remains in the B1 (NaCl) structure at all pressures existing within the Earth, and transforms into the CsCl-type structure at 397 GPa. The athermal elastic moduli of MgO are calculated, as a function of pressure up to 150 GPa. The calculated results are in excellent agreement with experimental data at zero pressure and compare favorably with other pseudopotential predictions over the pressure regime studied. MgO is found to be highly anisotropic in its elastic properties, with the magnitude of the anisotropy first decreasing between 0 and 20 GPa and then increasing from 20 GPa to 150 GPa. The Cauchy condition is found to be strongly violated in MgO, reflecting the importance of noncentral many-body forces. The thermodynamic properties of MgO are consistent with the experimental data at ambient condition.     

High-pressure vibrational spectroscopy of energetic materials: hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine

Vibrational spectroscopy has been used to investigate the room-temperature high-pressure phases of the energetic material hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX). The pressure-induced alterations in the spectral profiles were studied in a compression sequence to 30.2 GPa using Raman spectroscopy and to 26.6 GPa using far-infrared spectroscopy. At pressures near 4.0 GPa, several changes become immediately apparent in the Raman spectrum, such as large frequency shifts, mode splittings, and intensity changes, which are associated with a phase transition from alpha-RDX to gamma-RDX. Our study extends the kinetic stability of gamma-RDX to pressures near 18.0 GPa. Evidence for a new phase was found at pressures between 17.8 and 18.8 GPa and is based on the appearance of new vibrational bands and associated changes in intensity patterns. The new phase has vibrational characteristics that are similar to those of beta-RDX, suggesting the two polymorphs share a related crystal structure.     

Ca3N2 and Mg3N2: unpredicted high-pressure behavior of binary nitrides

High-pressure synthesis allows both fundamental and materials science research to gain unprecedented insight into the inner nature of materials properties at extreme environment conditions. Here, we report on the high-pressure synthesis and characterization of γ-Ca(3)N(2) and the high-pressure behavior of Mg(3)N(2). Investigation of M(3)N(2) (M = Ca, Mg) at high-pressure has been quite challenging due to the high reactivity of these compounds. Ex situ experiments have been performed using a multianvil press at pressures from 8 to 18 GPa (1000-1200 °C). Additional in situ experiments from 0 to 6 GPa (at RT) at the multianvil press MAX 80 (HASYLAB, Beamline F.2.1, Hamburg) have been carried out. The new cubic high-pressure phase γ-Ca(3)N(2) with anti-Th(3)P(4) defect structure exhibits a significant increase in coordination numbers compared to α-Ca(3)N(2). Contrary, Mg(3)N(2) shows decomposition starting at surprisingly low pressures, thereby acting as a precursor for Mg nanoparticle formation with bcc structure. Soft X-ray spectroscopy in conjunction with first principles DFT calculations have been used to explore the electronic structure and show that γ-Ca(3)N(2) is a semiconductor with inherent nitrogen vacancies.     

砷原子团簇结构的量子化学密度泛函理论研究

采用密度泛函理论的三种方法:局域自旋密度近似SVWN、梯度修正BLYP、杂化密度泛函B3LYP,优化了中性Asn、负离子Asn-(n=2～5)的结构,在优化结构基础上计算了它们的振动光谱,获得它们稳定的最低能量态的结构.其中中性Asn(n=2～5)的稳定结构的计算结果,与已有的理论结果以及实验数据进行了比较.而对负离子Asn-(n=2～5))的稳定结构作了预言.同时计算了Asn(n=2～5)的绝热电子亲和能(EAa),与有关光电子谱学的实验值符合较好.     

Combined ab initio and density functional study of ring chain tautomerism in benzofurazan-1-oxide

The ring chain tautomerism of benzofurazan-1-oxide (benzofuroxan) has been reinvestigated using ab initio as well as nonlocal density functional theory. The failure in predicting energies and geometries of this reaction by wave functions at the Hartree-Fock or even at the MP2 level could be overcome by using the nonlocal three-parameter hybrid exchange correlation functional of Becke and Lee, Young, and Parr (B3-LYP). Two possible reaction paths via ortho-dinitrosobenzene have been studied, considering both ground and transition states. At the B3-LYP level of theory, both mechanisms show very similar activation energies which are in excellent agreement with experimental results. Solvent effects, simulated by a self-consistent reaction field (SCRF) model, cause alternations in the preferred mechanism as well as in the most stable intermediates. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Density functional theory study on molecular structure and vibrational IR spectra of isocytosine

Density functional theory with the combined Becke3-LYP exchange-correlation energy functional [DFT(B3-LYP) method] using the 6-31G(d, p) basis set is applied to predict molecular parameters (geometries, rotational constants, dipole moments) and vibrational IR spectra (harmonic wavenumbers, absolute intensities) of six tautomers of the isocytosine molecule. The results are compared with the corresponding data calculated at the conventional ab initio Hartree-Fock (HF) level using the same basis set and with available experimental data. Calculations show that (a) three amino tautomers are slightly nonplanar species with, evidently, a distorted amino group, (b) the DFT (B3-LYP)/6-31G(d, p) method predicts better molecular parameters, than do the HF calculations, and (c) the DFT(B3-LYP)-calculated vibrational IR spectra of isocytosine agree well with the available recorded IR spectra, and they show marked improvement over the IR spectra predicted at the HF/6-31G(d, p) level. Tautomeric stabilities of isocytosine are discussed on the basis of computed electronic energies by the DFT(B3-LYP) and ab initio approaches [including the MP2 and MP4(SDQ) calculations of electronic energies] and predicted zero-point vibrational energies by DFT(B3-LYP) and HF methods. This relative energies at 0 K of the tautomeric forms of isocytosine predicted by both conventional ab initio and DFT(B3-LYP) methods correlate well with the experimental data, showing the predominance of the aminohydroxy tautomer of isocytosine for an isolated molecule. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

High-pressure- and low-temperature-induced changes in [(CH3)2NH(CH2)2NH3][SbCl5

The structure of N,N-dimethylethylenediammonium pentachloroantimonate(III), [(CH3)2NH(CH2)2NH3][SbCl5], NNDP, was investigated at 100 and 15 K at ambient pressure, as well as at pressures up to 4.00 GPa at room temperature in the diamond-anvil cell. The stable structure at low temperatures and low pressures consists of isolated [SbCl5]2- anions and [(CH3)2NH(CH2)2NH3]2+ cations. The inorganic anions have a distorted square pyramidal geometry. They are arranged in linear chains parallel to the c axis. In contrast to the low-temperature studies, where no phase transition was detected, pressure induces a P2(1)/c --> P2(1)/n phase transition between 0.55 and 1.00 GPa, accompanied by a doubling of the a unit-cell parameter. This solid-solid transition results from changes in the electron configuration of the Sb(III) atom and formation of the Sb-Cl bridging bonds between inorganic polyhedra to form, at approximately 1.0 GPa, isolated [Sb2Cl10]4- units consisting of [SbCl6]3- octahedra and [SbCl5]2- square pyramids connected by a common corner. The intermolecular distances continuously decrease with further increase in pressure, and at approximately 3.1 GPa, zigzag [{SbCl5}n]2n- chains containing corner-sharing [SbCl6]3- octahedra are formed. The unit-cell volume of NNDP decreases by 18.15% between room pressure and 4.00 GPa. The linear distortions of the [SbCl5]2- and [SbCl6]3- polyhedra decrease with increasing pressure and decreasing temperature and indicate a reduction in the stereochemical activity of the lone electron pair on the Sb(III) atom.