Density functional theory calculations of nuclear quadrupole coupling constants with calibrated 14N quadrupole moments

Density functional calculations of the electric field gradient tensor at the nitrogen nucleus in 13 test molecules, containing 14 nitrogen sites, have been performed using the linear combination of Gaussian-type orbital Kohn-Sham density functional theory (LCGTO-KSDFT) approach. Local and gradient corrected functionals were used for all-electron calculations. All the molecular structures were optimized at their respective levels of theory with extended basis sets. Calibrated ¹⁴N nuclear quadrupole moments were obtained through a fitting procedure between calculated electric field gradients and experimental nuclear quadrupole coupling constants of the test set of molecules for each basis set and functional considered. With these calibrated ¹⁴N nuclear quadrupole moments, the nuclear quadrupole coupling constants of the following selected systems were determined: fluoromethylisonitrile, pyridine, pyrrole, imadazole, pyrazole, 1,8-bis(dimethyl-amino)naphthalene, cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine, cocaine and heroin.