Theoretical investigation of structure and stability of oligomers of LiH,NaH, LiF,and NaF

The molecules Li_nH_n, Na_nH_n, Li_nF_n, n=1,..., 4, and NaF and Na₂F₂ are investigated by means of extended basis set SCF and CEPA-PNO computations. In analogy to the D _2h structure of dimers, it is found that trimers have a planar cyclic D _3h equilibrium geometry. For the tetramer of LiH and NaH, the D _4h structure has about the same energy as the 3-dimensional T _d structure, whereas the latter is definitely favoured for Li₄F₄. Correlation effects are investigated for the oligomerization of LiH and the dimerization of LiF. The effect of electron correlation on corresponding E turns out to be small (<4 kJ/mol), except for the case that the T _d tetramer is involved which has a rather large correlation energy.