Computed vibrational frequencies of actinide oxides AnO(0/+/2+) and AnO2(0/+/2+) (An = Th, Pa, U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm)

The vibrational frequencies of the actinide oxides AnO and AnO(2) (An = Th, Pa, U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm) and of their mono- and dications have been calculated using advanced quantum chemical techniques. The stretching fundamental frequencies of the monoxides have been determined by fitting the potential function to single-point energies obtained by relativistic CASPT2 calculations along the stretching coordinate and on this basis solving numerically the ro-vibrational Schro?dinger equation. To obtain reliable fundamental frequencies of the dioxides, we developed an empirical approach. In this approach the harmonic vibrational frequencies of the AnO(2)(0/+/2+) species were calculated using eight different exchange-correlation DFT functionals. On the basis of the good correlation found between the vibrational frequencies and computed bond distances, the final frequency values were derived for the CASPT2 reference bond distances from linear regression equations fitted to the DFT data of each species. As a test, the approach provided excellent agreement with accurate experimental data of ThO, ThO(+), UO, and UO(+). The joint analysis of literature experimental and our computed data facilitated the prediction of reliable gas-phase molecular properties for some oxides. They include the stretching frequencies of PuO, ThO(2), UO(2), and UO(2)(+) and the bond distance of PuO (1.818 ?, being likely within 0.002 ? of the real value). Also the derived equilibrium bond distances of ThO(2), UO(2), and UO(2)(+) (1.896, 1.790, and 1.758 ?, respectively) should approximate closely the (yet unknown) experimental values. On the basis of the present results, we suggest that the ground electronic state of PuO(2) in Ar and Kr matrices is probably different from that in the gaseous phase, similarly to UO(2) observed previously.     

Relative energy of the high-(5T2g) and low-(1A1g) spin states of [Fe(H2O)6]2+, [Fe(NH3)6]2+, and [Fe(bpy)3]2+: CASPT2 versus density functional theory

High-level ab initio calculations using the CASPT2 method and extensive basis sets were performed on the energy differences of the high-[(5)T(2g):t(2g) (4)e(g) (2)] and low-[(1)A(1g):t(2g) (6)] spin states of the pseudo-octahedral Fe(II) complexes [Fe(H(2)O)(6)](2+), [Fe(NH(3))(6)](2+), and [Fe(bpy)(3)](2+). The results are compared to the results obtained from density functional theory calculations with the generalized gradient approximation functional BP86 and two hybrid functionals B3LYP and PBE0, and serve as a calibration for the latter methods. We find that large basis set CASPT2 calculations may provide results for the high-spin/low-spin splitting DeltaE(HL) that are accurate to within 1000 cm(-1), provided they are based on an adequately large CAS[10,12] reference wave function. The latter condition was found to be much more stringent for [Fe(bpy)(3)](2+) than for the other two complexes. Our "best" results for DeltaE(HL) (including a zero-point energy correction) are -17 690 cm(-1) for [Fe(H(2)O)(6)](2+), -8389 cm(-1) for [Fe(NH(3))(6)](2+), and 3820 cm(-1) for [Fe(bpy)(3)](2+).     

Ab initio quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical simulation of electron transfer process: fractional electron approach

Electron transfer (ET) reactions are one of the most important processes in chemistry and biology. Because of the quantum nature of the processes and the complicated roles of the solvent, theoretical study of ET processes is challenging. To simulate ET processes at the electronic level, we have developed an efficient density functional theory (DFT) quantum mechanical (QM)/molecular mechanical (MM) approach that uses the fractional number of electrons as the order parameter to calculate the redox free energy of ET reactions in solution. We applied this method to study the ET reactions of the aqueous metal complexes Fe(H(2)O)(6)(2+/3+) and Ru(H(2)O)(6)(2+/3+). The calculated oxidation potentials, 5.82 eV for Fe(II/III) and 5.14 eV for Ru(II/III), agree well with the experimental data, 5.50 and 4.96 eV, for iron and ruthenium, respectively. Furthermore, we have constructed the diabatic free energy surfaces from histogram analysis based on the molecular dynamics trajectories. The resulting reorganization energy and the diabatic activation energy also show good agreement with experimental data. Our calculations show that using the fractional number of electrons (FNE) as the order parameter in the thermodynamic integration process leads to efficient sampling and validate the ab initio QM/MM approach in the calculation of redox free energies.     

Water solvent effects using continuum and discrete models: The nitromethane molecule,CH3NO2

The first three valence transitions of the two nitromethane conformers (CH₃NO₂) are two dark n → π* transitions and a very intense π → π* transition. In this work, these transitions in gas‐phase and solvated in water of both conformers were investigated theoretically. The polarizable continuum model (PCM), two conductor‐like screening (COSMO) models, and the discrete sequential quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (S‐QM/MM) method were used to describe the solvation effect on the electronic spectra. Time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), configuration interaction including all single substitutions and perturbed double excitations (CIS(D)), the symmetry‐adapted‐cluster CI (SAC‐CI), the multistate complete active space second order perturbation theory (CASPT2), and the algebraic‐diagrammatic construction (ADC(2)) electronic structure methods were used. Gas‐phase CASPT2, SAC‐CI, and ADC(2) results are in very good agreement with published experimental and theoretical spectra. Among the continuum models, PCM combined either with CASPT2, SAC‐CI, or B3LYP provided good agreement with available experimental data. COSMO combined with ADC(2) described the overall trends of the transition energy shifts. The effect of increasing the number of explicit water molecules in the S‐QM/MM approach was discussed and the formation of hydrogen bonds was clearly established. By including explicitly 24 water molecules corresponding to the complete first solvation shell in the S‐QM/MM approach, the ADC(2) method gives more accurate results as compared to the TDDFT approach and with similar computational demands. The ADC(2) with S‐QM/MM model is, therefore, the best compromise for accurate solvent calculations in a polar environment. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Ab initio QM/MM dynamics of H3O+ in water

A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation based on a combined ab initio quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) method has been performed to investigate the solvation structure and dynamics of H3O+ in water. The QM region is a sphere around the central H3O+ ion, and contains about 6-8 water molecules. It is treated at the Hartree-Fock (HF) level, while the rest of the system is described by means of classical pair potentials. The Eigen complex (H9O4+) is found to be the most prevalent species in the aqueous solution, partly due to the selection scheme of the center of the QM region. The QM/MM results show that the Eigen complex frequently converts back and forth into the Zundel (H5O2+) structure. Besides the three nearest-neighbor water molecules directly hydrogen-bonded to H3O+, other neighbor waters, such as a fourth water molecule which interacts preferentially with the oxygen atom of the hydronium ion, are found occasionally near the ion. Analyses of the water exchange processes and the mean residence times of water molecules in the ion's hydration shell indicate that such next-nearest neighbor water molecules participate in the rearrangement of the hydrogen bond network during fluctuative formation of the Zundel ion and, thus, contribute to the Grotthuss transport of the proton.     

The Jahn-Teller effect of the Cr(2+) ion in aqueous solution: Ab initio QM/MM molecular dynamics simulations

The hydration structure of Cr(2+) has been studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations including three-body corrections and combined ab initio quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) MD simulations at the Hartree-Fock level. The structural properties are determined in terms of radial distribution functions, coordination numbers, and several angle distributions. The mean residence time was evaluated for describing ligand exchange processes in the second hydration shell. The Jahn-Teller distorted octahedral [Cr(H(2)O)(6)](2+) complex was pronounced in the QM/MM MD simulation. The first-shell distances of Cr(2+) are in the range of 1.9-2.8 A, which are slightly larger than those observed in the cases of Cu(2+) and Ti(3+). No first-shell water exchange occurred during the simulation time of 35 ps. Several water-exchange processes were observed in the second hydration shell with a mean residence time of 7.3 ps.     

Development of a 3-body:many-body integrated fragmentation method for weakly bound clusters and application to water clusters (H2O)(n = 3-10, 16, 17)

A 3-body:many-body integrated quantum mechanical (QM) fragmentation method for non-covalent clusters is introduced within the ONIOM formalism. The technique captures all 1-, 2-, and 3-body interactions with a high-level electronic structure method, while a less demanding low-level method is employed to recover 4-body and higher-order interactions. When systematically applied to 40 low-lying (H(2)O)(n) isomers ranging in size from n = 3 to 10, the CCSD(T):MP2 3-body:many-body fragmentation scheme deviates from the full CCSD(T) interaction energy by no more than 0.07 kcal mol(-1) (or <0.01 kcal mol(-1) per water). The errors for this QM:QM method increase only slightly for various low-lying isomers of (H(2)O)(16) and (H(2)O)(17) (always within 0.13 kcal mol(-1) of the recently reported canonical CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ energies). The 3-body:many-body CCSD(T):MP2 procedure is also very efficient because the CCSD(T) computations only need to be performed on subsets of the cluster containing 1, 2, or 3 monomers, which in the current context means the largest CCSD(T) calculations are for 3 water molecules, regardless of the cluster size.     

Interfacing Q-Chem and CHARMM to perform QM/MM reaction path calculations

A hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) potential energy function with Hartree-Fock, density functional theory (DFT), and post-HF (RIMP2, MP2, CCSD) capability has been implemented in the CHARMM and Q-Chem software packages. In addition, we have modified CHARMM and Q-Chem to take advantage of the newly introduced replica path and the nudged elastic band methods, which are powerful techniques for studying reaction pathways in a highly parallel (i.e., parallel/parallel) fashion, with each pathway point being distributed to a different node of a large cluster. To test our implementation, a series of systems were studied and comparisons were made to both full QM calculations and previous QM/MM studies and experiments. For instance, the differences between HF, DFT, MP2, and CCSD QM/MM calculations of H2O...H2O, H2O...Na+, and H2O...Cl- complexes have been explored. Furthermore, the recently implemented polarizable Drude water model was used to make comparisons to the popular TIP3P and TIP4P water models for doing QM/MM calculations. We have also computed the energetic profile of the chorismate mutase catalyzed Claisen rearrangement at various QM/MM levels of theory and have compared the results with previous studies. Our best estimate for the activation energy is 8.20 kcal/mol and for the reaction energy is -23.1 kcal/mol, both calculated at the MP2/6-31+G(d)//MP2/6-31+G(d)/C22 level of theory.     

Oxidation studies of dipositive actinide ions, An2+ (An = Th, U, Np, Pu, Am) in the gas phase: synthesis and characterization of the isolated uranyl, neptunyl, and plutonyl ions UO2(2+)(g), NpO2(2+)(g), and PuO2(2+)(g)

Reactions of atomic and ligated dipositive actinide ions, An2+, AnO2+, AnOH2+, and AnO2(2+) (An = Th, U, Np, Pu, Am) were systematically studied by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. Kinetics were measured for reactions with the oxidants, N2O, C2H4O (ethylene oxide), H2O, O2, CO2, NO, and CH2O. Each of the five An2+ ions reacted with one or more of these oxidants to produce AnO2+, and reacted with H2O to produce AnOH2+. The measured pseudo-first-order reaction rate constants, k, revealed disparate reaction efficiencies, k/k(COL): Th2+ was generally the most reactive and Am2+ the least. Whereas each oxidant reacted with Th2+ to give ThO2+, only C2H4O oxidized Am2+ to AmO2+. The other An2+ exhibited intermediate reactivities. Based on the oxidation reactions, bond energies and formation enthalpies were derived for the AnO2+, as were second ionization energies for the monoxides, IE[AnO+]. The bare dipositive actinyl ions, UO2(2+), NpO2(2+), and PuO2(2+), were produced from the oxidation of the corresponding AnO2+ by N2O, and by O2 in the cases of UO2+ and NpO2+. Thermodynamic properties were derived for these three actinyls, including enthalpies of formation and electron affinities. It is concluded that bare UO2(2+), NpO2(2+), and PuO2(2+) are thermodynamically stable toward Coulomb dissociation to [AnO+ + O+] or [An+ + O2+]. It is predicted that bare AmO2(2+) is thermodynamically stable. In accord with the expected instability of Th(VI), ThO(2+) was not oxidized to ThO2(2+) by any of the seven oxidants. The gas-phase results are compared with the aqueous thermochemistry. Hydration enthalpies were derived here for uranyl and plutonyl; our deltaH(hyd)[UO2(2+)] is substantially more negative than the previously reported value, but is essentially the same as our deltaH(hyd)[PuO2(2+)].     

A ratiometric fluorescent chemosensor for iron: discrimination of Fe2+ and Fe3+ and living cell application

A newly designed probe, 6-thiophen-2-yl-5,6-dihydrobenzo[4,5]imidazo-[1,2-c] quinazoline (HL(1)) behaves as a highly selective ratiometric fluorescent sensor for Fe(2+) at pH 4.0-5.0 and Fe(3+) at pH 6.5-8.0 in acetonitrile-HEPES buffer (1/4) (v/v) medium. A decrease in fluorescence at 412 nm and increase in fluorescence at 472 nm with an isoemissive point at 436 nm with the addition of Fe(2+) salt solution is due to the formation of mononuclear Fe(2+) complex [Fe(II)(HL)(ClO(4))(2)(CH(3)CN)(2)] (1) in acetonitrile-HEPES buffer (100 mM, 1/4, v/v) at pH 4.5 and a decrease in fluorescence at 412 nm and increase in fluorescence at 482 nm with an isoemissive point at 445 nm during titration by Fe(3+) salt due to the formation of binary Fe(3+) complex, [Fe(III)(L)(2)(ClO(4))(H(2)O)] (2) with co-solvent at biological pH 7.4 have been established. Binding constants (K(a)) in the solution state were calculated to be 3.88 × 10(5) M(-1) for Fe(2+) and 0.21 × 10(3) M(-1/2) for Fe(3+) and ratiometric detection limits for Fe(2+) and Fe(3+) were found to be 2.0 μM and 3.5 μM, respectively. The probe is a "naked eye" chemosensor for two states of iron. Theoretical calculations were studied to establish the configurations of probe-iron complexes. The sensor is efficient for detecting Fe(3+)in vitro by developing a good image of the biological organelles.     

Synthesis and characterization of iron(III)-substituted, dimeric polyoxotungstates, [Fe(4)(H(2)O)(10)(beta-XW(9)O(33))(2)](n-) (n = 6, X = As(III), Sb(III); n = 4, X = Se(IV), Te(IV))

Interaction of the lacunary [alpha-XW(9)O(33)](9-) (X = As(III), Sb(III)) with Fe(3+) ions in acidic, aqueous medium leads to the formation of dimeric polyoxoanions, [Fe(4)(H(2)O)(10)(beta-XW(9)O(33))(2)](6-) (X = As(III), Sb(III)) in high yield. X-ray single-crystal analyses were carried out on Na(6)[Fe(4)(H(2)O)(10)(beta-AsW(9)O(33))(2)] x 32H(2)O, which crystallizes in the monoclinic system, space group C2/m, with a = 20.2493(18) A, b = 15.2678(13) A, c = 16.0689(14) A, beta = 95.766(2) degrees, and Z = 2; Na(6)[Fe(4)(H(2)O)(10)(beta-SbW(9)O(33))(2)] x 32H(2)O is isomorphous with a = 20.1542(18) A, b = 15.2204(13) A, c = 16.1469(14) A, and beta = 95.795(2) degrees. The selenium and tellurium analogues are also reported, [Fe(4)(H(2)O)(10)(beta-XW(9)O(33))(2)](4-) (X = Se(IV), Te(IV)). They are synthesized from sodium tungstate and a source of the heteroatom as precursors. X-ray single-crystal analysis was carried out on Cs(4)[Fe(4)(H(2)O)(10)(beta-SeW(9)O(33))(2)] x 21H(2)O, which crystallizes in the triclinic system, space group P macro 1, with a = 12.6648(10) A, b = 12.8247(10) A, c = 16.1588(13) A, alpha = 75.6540(10) degrees, beta = 87.9550(10) degrees, gamma = 64.3610(10) gamma, and Z = 1. All title polyanions consist of two (beta-XW(9)O(33)) units joined by a central pair and a peripheral pair of Fe(3+) ions leading to a structure with idealized C(2h) symmetry. It was also possible to synthesize the Cr(III) derivatives [Cr(4)(H(2)O)(10)(beta-XW(9)O(33))(2)](6-) (X = As(III), Sb(III)), the tungstoselenates(IV) [M(4)(H(2)O)(10)(beta-SeW(9)O(33))(2)]((16)(-)(4n)-) (M(n+) = Cr(3+), Mn(2+), Co(2+), Ni(2+), Zn(2+), Cd(2+), and Hg(2+)), and the tungstotellurates(IV) [M(4)(H(2)O)(10)(beta-TeW(9)O(33))(2)]((16-4n)-) (M(n+) = Cr(3+), Mn(2+), Co(2+), Ni(2+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+), Cd(2+), and Hg(2+)), as determined by FTIR. The electrochemical properties of the iron-containing species were also studied. Cyclic voltammetry and controlled potential coulometry aided in distinguishing between Fe(3+) and W(6+) waves. By variation of pH and scan rate, it was possible to observe the stepwise reduction of the Fe(3+) centers.     

Effect of spin-orbit coupling on reduction potentials of octahedral ruthenium(II/III) and osmium(II/III) complexes

Reduction potentials of several M(2+/3+) (M = Ru, Os) octahedral complexes, namely, [M(H2O)6](2+/3+), [MCl6](4-/3-), [M(NH3)6](2+/3+), [M(en)3](2+/3+) [M(bipy)3](2+/3+), and [M(CN)6](4-/3-), were calculated using the CASSCF/CASPT2/CASSI and MRCI methods including spin-orbit coupling (SOC) by means of first-order quasi-degenerate perturbation theory. It was shown that the effect of SOC accounts for a systematic shift of approximately -70 mV in the reduction potentials of the studied ruthenium (II/III) complexes and an approximately -300 mV shift for the osmium(II/III) complexes. SOC splits the sixfold-degenerate (2)T(2g) ground electronic state (in ideal octahedral symmetry) of the M(3+) ions into the E((5/2)g) Kramers doublet and G((3/2)g) quartet, which were calculated to split by 1354-1573 cm(-1) in the Ru(3+) complexes and 4155-5061 cm(-1) in the Os(3+) complexes. It was demonstrated that this splitting represents the main contribution to the stabilization of the M(3+) ground state with respect to the closed-shell (1)A(1g) ground state in M(2+) systems. Moreover, it was shown that the accuracy of the calculated reduction potentials depends on the calculated solvation energies of both the oxidized and reduced forms. For smaller ligands, it involves explicit inclusion of the second solvation sphere into the calculations, whereas implicit solvation models yield results of sufficient accuracy for complexes with larger ligands. In such cases (e.g., [M(bipy)3](2+/3+) and its derivatives), very good agreement between the calculated (SOC-corrected) values of the reduction potentials and the available experimental values was obtained. These results led us to the conclusion that especially for Os(2+/3+) complexes, inclusion of SOC is necessary to avoid systematic errors of approximately 300 mV in the calculated reduction potentials.     

Theoretical determination of the standard reduction potentials of pheophytin-a in N,N-dimethyl formamide and membrane

Quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations were performed on the neutral, anionic, and dianionic forms of Pheophytin-a (Pheo-a) in N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) in order to calculate the absolute free energy of reduction of Pheo-a in solution. The geometry of the solvated species was optimized by restricted open-shell density functional treatment (ROB3LYP) using the 6-31G(d) basis set for the molecular species while the primary solvent shell consisting of 45 DMF molecules was treated by the MM method using the universal force field (UFF). Electronic energies of the neutral, anionic, and dianionic species were obtained by carrying out single point density functional theory (DFT) calculations using the 6-311+G(2d,2p) basis set on the respective ONIOM optimized geometries. The CHARMM27 force field was used to account for the dynamical nature of the primary solvation shell of 45 DMF molecules. In the calculations using solvent shells, the required atomic charges for each solvent molecule were obtained from ROB3LYP/6-31G(d) calculation on a single isolated DMF molecule. Randomly sampled configurations generated by the Monte Carlo (MC) technique were used to determine the contribution of the primary shell to the free energy of solvation of the three species. The dynamical nature of the primary shell significantly corrects the free energy of solvation. Frequency calculations at the ROB3LYP/6-31G(d) level were carried out on the optimized geometries of truncated 47-atom models of the neutral and ionic species in vacuum so as to determine the differences in thermal energy and molecular entropy. The Born energy of ion-dielectric interaction, the Onsager energy of dipole-dielectric interaction, and the Debye-Hückel energy of ion-ionic cloud interaction for the pheophytin-solvent aggregate were added as perturbative corrections. The Born interaction also makes a large contribution to the absolute free energy of reduction. An implicit solvation model (DPCM) was also employed for the calculation of standard reduction potentials in DMF. Both the models were successful in reproducing the standard reduction potentials. An explicit solvent treatment(QM/MM/MC + Born + Onsager + Debye corrections) yielded the one electron reduction potential of Pheo-a as -0.92 +/- 0.27 V and the two electron reduction potential as -1.34 +/- 0.25 V at 298.15 K, while the implicit solvent treatment yielded the corresponding values as -1.03 +/- 0.17 and -1.30 +/- 0.17 V, respectively. The calculated values more or less agree with the experimental midpoint potentials of -0.90 and -1.25 V, respectively. Moreover, a numerical finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann solver (FDPB) along with the DPCM methodology was employed to obtain the reduction potential of pheophytin in the thylakoid membrane. The calculated reduction potential value of -0.58 V is in excellent agreement with the reported value -0.61 V.     

VBEFP: a valence bond approach that incorporates effective fragment potential method

An ab initio explicit solvation valence bond (VB) method, called VBEFP, is presented. The VBEFP method is one type of QM/MM approach in which the QM part of system is treated within the ab initio valence bond scheme and the solvent water molecules are accounted by the effective fragment potential (EFP) method, which is a polarized force field approach developed by Gordon et al. (J. Chem. Phys. 1996, 105, 1968). This hybrid method enables one to take the first-solvation shell and heterogeneous solvation effects into account explicitly with VB wave function. Therefore, the nature of chemical bonding and the mechanism of chemical reactions with explicit solvent environments can be explored at the ab inito VB level. In this paper, the hydrated metal-ligand complexes [M(2+)L](H(2)O)(n) (M(2+): Mg(2+), Zn(2+); L: NH(3), CH(2)O) are studied by the VBEFP method. Resonance energy and bond order are computed, and the influence of the solvent coordination and hydrogen bonding to the metal-ligand bonding are explored in the paper.     

Theoretical studies of UO2(H2O)n(2+), NpO2(H2O)n(+), and PuO2(H2O)n(2+) complexes (n=4-6) in aqueous solution and gas phase

Extensive ab initio calculations both in gas phase and solution have been carried out to study the equilibrium structure, vibrational frequencies, and bonding characteristics of various actinyl (UO2(2+), NpO2(+), and PuO2(2+)) and their hydrated forms, AnO2(H2O)n(z+) (n=4, 5, and 6). Bulk solvent effects were studied using a continuum method. The geometries were fully optimized at the coupled-cluster singles + doubles (CCSD), density-functional theory (DFT), and M?ller-Plesset (MP2) level of theories. In addition vibrational frequencies have been obtained at the CCSD as well as MP2/DFT levels. The results show that both the short-range and long-range solvent effects are important. The combined discrete-continuum model, in which the ionic solute and the solvent molecules in the first and second solvation shells are treated quantum mechanically while the solvent is simulated by a continuum model, can predict accurately the bonding characteristics. Moreover, our values of solvation free energies suggest that five- and six-coordinations are equally preferred for UO2(2+), and five-coordinated species are preferred for NpO2(+) and PuO2(2+). On the basis of combined quantum-chemical and continuum treatments of the hydrated complexes, we are able to determine the optimal cavity radii for the solvation models. The coupled-cluster computations with large basis sets were employed for the vibrational spectra and equilibrium geometries both of which compare quite favorably with experiment. Our most accurate computations reveal that both five- and six-coordination complexes are important for these species.     

Theoretical study of oxidative additions of H2 and MeCN to a nickel(0) complex: significantly large correlation effects and characteristic features of the reaction

Oxidative addition of H2 to Ni(PH3)2 was theoretically studied as a prototype of nickel-catalyzed sigma-bond activation reaction, where CASSCF, CASPT2, CCSD(T), broken symmetry (Bs) MP2 to MP4(SDTQ), and DFT methods were employed. The CASPT2 method yields a reliable potential energy curve (PEC) when the active space consists of 10 electrons and 10 orbitals including five outer 3d' orbitals. The CCSD(T) method presents almost the same PEC as the CASPT2-calculated one, when either the ANO or the cc-pVTZ basis set is used for Ni. Bs-MP4(SDTQ)-calculated PEC is similar to those calculated by the CASPT2/ANO method, while the PEC is not smooth around the transition state. In the DFT calculation, ANO, cc-pVTZ, and triple-zeta quality basis sets (SDB) with Stuttgart-Dresden-Bonn effective core potentials (ECPs) must be used for Ni. The DFT-calculated reaction energy is somewhat smaller than the CASPT2- and CCSD(T)-calculated values, while B3PW91 and mPW1PW91 present moderately better energy changes than BLYP, B1LYP, and B3LYP. Oxidative addition of MeCN to Ni(PH3)2 was investigated by the DFT(B3PW91) and CCSD(T) methods. Almost the same activation barrier was calculated by these methods, when cc-pVTZ was employed for Ni. However, the DFT method moderately underestimates the binding energy of the reactant complex and the reaction energy compared to the CCSD(T) method. This oxidative addition exhibits interesting characteristic features, as follows: The barrier height relative to infinite separation is lower, and the product is more stable than those of the oxidative addition of C2H6. These differences are discussed in detail in terms of Ni-Me and Ni-CN bond energies and the participation of the CN pi* orbital to stabilization interaction in the transition state.     

Reduction potentials and acidity constants of Mn superoxide dismutase calculated by QM/MM free-energy methods

We used two theoretical methods to estimate reduction potentials and acidity constants in Mn superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), namely combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanics (QM/MM) thermodynamic cycle perturbation (QTCP) and the QM/MM-PBSA approach. In the latter, QM/MM energies are combined with continuum solvation energies calculated by solving the Poisson-Boltzmann equation (PB) or by the generalised Born approach (GB) and non-polar solvation energies calculated from the solvent-exposed surface area. We show that using the QTCP method, we can obtain accurate and precise estimates of the proton-coupled reduction potential for MnSOD, 0.30±0.01 V, which compares favourably with experimental estimates of 0.26-0.40 V. However, the calculated potentials depend strongly on the DFT functional used: The B3LYP functional gives 0.6 V more positive potentials than the PBE functional. The QM/MM-PBSA approach leads to somewhat too high reduction potentials for the coupled reaction and the results depend on the solvation model used. For reactions involving a change in the net charge of the metal site, the corresponding results differ by up to 1.3 V or 24 pK(a) units, rendering the QM/MM-PBSA method useless to determine absolute potentials. However, it may still be useful to estimate relative shifts, although the QTCP method is expected to be more accurate.     

Theoretical Modeling of Water Exchange on [Pd(H(2)O)(4)](2+), [Pt(H(2)O)(4)](2+), and trans-[PtCl(2)(H(2)O)(2)

Density functional theory is applied to modeling the exchange in aqueous solution of H(2)O on [Pd(H(2)O)(4)](2+), [Pt(H(2)O)(4)](2+), and trans-[PtCl(2)(H(2)O)(2)]. Optimized structures for the starting molecules are reported together with trigonal bipyramidal (tbp) systems relevant to an associative mechanism. While a rigorous tbp geometry cannot by symmetry be the actual transition state, it appears that the energy differences between model tbp structures and the actual transition states are small. Ground state geometries calculated via the local density approximation (LDA) for [Pd(H(2)O)(4)](2+) and relativistically corrected LDA for the Pt complexes are in good agreement with available experimental data. Nonlocal gradient corrections to the LDA lead to relatively inferior structures. The computed structures for analogous Pd and Pt species are very similar. The equatorial M-OH(2) bonds of all the LDA-optimized tbp structures are predicted to expand by 0.25-0.30 ?, while the axial bonds change little relative to the planar precursors. This bond stretching in the transition state counteracts the decrease in partial molar volume caused by coordination of the entering water molecule and can explain qualitatively the small and closely similar volumes of activation observed. The relatively higher activation enthalpies of the Pt species can be traced to the relativistic correction of the total energies while the absolute DeltaH() values for exchange on [Pd(H(2)O)(4)](2+) and [Pt(H(2)O)(4)](2+) are reproduced using relativistically corrected LDA energies and a simple Born model for hydration. The validity of the latter is confirmed via some simple atomistic molecular mechanics estimates of the relative hydration enthalpies of [Pd(H(2)O)(4)](2+) and [Pd(H(2)O)(5)](2+). The computed DeltaH() values are 57, 92, and 103 kJ/mol compared to experimental values of 50(2), 90(2), and 100(2) kJ/mol for [Pd(H(2)O)(4)](2+), [Pt(H(2)O)(4)](2+), and trans-[PtCl(2)(H(2)O)(2)], respectively. The calculated activation enthalpy for a hypothetical dissociative water exchange at [Pd(H(2)O)(4)](2+) is 199 kJ/mol. A qualitative analysis of the modeling procedure, the relative hydration enthalpies, and the zero-point and finite temperature corrections yields an estimated uncertainty for the theoretical activation enthalpies of about 15 kJ/mol.