Adsorption of Carbamazepine in All-Silica Zeolites Studied with Density Functional Theory Calculations**

The anticonvulsant drug carbamazepine (−) is an emerging contaminant of considerable concern due to its hazard potential and environmental persistence. Previous experimental studies proposed hydrophobic zeolites as promising adsorbents for the removal of carbamazepine from water, but only a few framework types were considered in those investigations. In the present work, electronic structure calculations based on dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT) were used to study the adsorption of CBZ in eleven all-silica zeolites having different pore sizes and connectivities of the pore system (AFI, ATS, BEA, CFI, DON, FAU, IFR, ISV, MOR, SFH, SSF framework types). It was found that some zeolites with one-dimensional channels formed by twelve-membered rings (IFR, AFI) exhibit the highest affinity towards CBZ. A “good fit” of CBZ into the zeolite pores that maximizes dispersion interactions was identified as the dominant factor determining the interaction strength. Further calculations addressed the role of temperature (for selected systems) and of guest-guest interactions between coadsorbed CBZ molecules. In addition to predicting zeolite frameworks of particular interest as materials for selective CBZ removal, the calculations presented here also contribute to the atomic-level understanding of the interaction of functional organic molecules with all-silica zeolites.     

Predicting adsorption enthalpies on silicalite and HZSM‐5: A benchmark study on DFT strategies addressing dispersion interactions

We evaluated the accuracy of periodic density functional calculations for adsorption enthalpies of water, alkanes, and alcohols in silicalite and HZSM‐5 zeolites using a gradient‐corrected density functional with empirical dispersion corrections (PBE‐D) as well as a nonlocal correlation functional (vdW‐DF2). Results of both approaches agree in acceptable fashion with experimental adsorption energies of alcohols in silicalite, but the adsorption energies for n‐alkanes in both zeolite models are overestimated, by 21?46 kJ mol^?1. For PBE‐D calculations, the adsorption of alkanes is exclusively determined by the empirical dispersion term, while the generalized gradient approximation‐DFT part is purely repulsive, preventing the molecule to come too close to the zeolite walls. The vdW‐DF2 results are comparable to those of PBE‐D calculations, but the latter values are slightly closer to the experiment in most cases. Thus, both computational approaches are unable to reproduce available experimental adsorption energies of alkanes in silicalite and HZSM‐5 zeolite with chemical accuracy. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Can we predict the structure and stability of molecular crystals under increased pressure? First‐principles study of glycine phase transitions

The aim of this study was to determine whether the periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations can be used for accurate prediction of the influence of the increased pressure on crystal structure and stability of molecular solids. To achieve this goal a series of geometry optimization and thermodynamic parameters calculations were performed for γ‐glycine and δ‐glycine structures at different pressure values using CASTEP program. In order to perform most accurate geometry optimization various exchange‐correlation functionals defined within generalized gradient approximation (GGA): PBE, PW91, RPBE, WC, PBESOL as well as defined within local density approximation (LDA), i.e. CAPZ, were tested. Geometry optimization was carried out using different dispersion correction methods (i.e. Grimme, TS, OBS) or without them. The linear response density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) was used to obtain the phonon dispersion curves and phonon density of states from which thermodynamic parameters, such as: free energy (ΔG), enthalpy (ΔH) and entropy (ΔS) were evaluated. The results of the geometry optimization depend strongly on the choice of the DFT functional. Calculated differences between the free energy of the studied polymorphic forms at the studied pressure values were consistent with experimental observations on their stability. The computations of thermodynamic properties not only confirmed the order of stability of two studied forms, but also enabled to predict the pressure at which this order is reversed. The results obtained in this study have proven that the plane‐wave basis set first principles calculations under periodic conditions is suitable for accurate prediction of crystal structure and stability. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Quantifying the influence of dispersion interactions on the elastic properties of crystalline cellulose

Dispersion and electrostatic interactions both contribute significantly to the tight assembly of macromolecular chains within crystalline polysaccharides. Using dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT) calculation, we estimated the elastic tensor of the four crystalline cellulose allomorphs whose crystal structures that are hitherto available, namely, cellulose Iα, Iβ, II, III_I. Comparison between calculations with and without dispersion correction allows quantification of the exact contribution of dispersion to stiffness at molecular level.

     

Performance of dispersion-corrected density functional theory for the interactions in ionic liquids

Potential energy curves for the dissociation of cation-anion associates representing the building units of ionic liquids have been computed with dispersion corrected DFT methods. Non-local van der Waals density functionals (DFT-NL) for the first time as well as an atom pair-wise correction method (DFT-D3) have been tested. Reference data have been computed at the extrapolated MP2/CBS and estimated CCSD(T)/CBS levels of theory. The investigated systems are combined from two cations (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium and tributyl(methyl)posphonium) and three anions (chloride, dicyanamide, acetate). We find substantial stabilization from London dispersion energy near equilibrium of 5-7 kcal mol(-1) (about 5-6% of the interaction energy). Equilibrium distances are shortened by 0.03-0.09 ? and fundamental (inter-fragment) vibrational frequencies (which are in the range 140-180 cm(-1)) are increased by typically 10 cm(-1) when dispersion corrections are made. The dispersion-corrected hybrid functional potentials are in general in excellent agreement with the corresponding CCSD(T) reference data (typical deviations of about 1-2%). The DFT-D3 method performs unexpectedly well presumably because of cancellation of errors between the dispersion coefficients of the cations and anions. Due to self-interaction error, semi-local density functionals exhibit severe SCF convergence problems, and provide artificial charge-transfer and inaccurate interaction energies for larger inter-fragment distances. Although these problems may be alleviated in condensed phase simulations by effective Coulomb screening, only dispersion-corrected hybrid functionals with larger amounts of Fock-exchange can in general be recommended for such ionic systems.     

Unraveling weak interactions in aniline-pyrrole dimer clusters

Weak intermolecular interactions in aniline-pyrrole dimer clusters have been studied by the dispersion-corrected density functional theory(DFT) calculations. Two distinct types of hydrogen bonds are demonstrated with optimized geometric structures and largest interaction energy moduli. Comprehensive spectroscopic analysis is also addressed revealing the orientation-dependent interactions by noting the altered red-shifts of the infrared and Raman activities. Then we employ natural bond orbital(NBO)analysis and atom in molecules(AIM) theory to have determined the origin and relative energetic contributions of the weak interactions in these systems. NBO and AIM calculations confirm the V-shaped dimer cluster is dominated by N.H···N and C.H···π hydrogen bonds, while the J-aggregated isomer is stabilized by N.H···π, n→π* and weak π···π* stacking interactions.The noncovalent interactions are also demonstrated via energy decomposition analysis associated with electrostatic and dispersion contributions.     

Theoretical study on the molecular structures of X-, α-, and β-types of lithium phthalocyanine dimer

We report here the results from theoretical calculations of the potential energy curves, the geometry optimizations, and the electronic structures for three dimers of lithium phthalocyanine (LiPc) by using three types of functional systems: PBE1PBE, B3LYP, and M06. The results were discussed in comparison with those obtained for the dimers of magnesium phthalocyanine (MgPc). The long-range dispersive interactions were considered in part using these functional systems in the increasing order of PBE1PBE, B3LYP, and M06. The mechanism whereby the dispersive interactions affect the geometric and electronic structures of the LiPc and MgPc dimers is discussed. The calculated results provide insight into the computational methods for both open- and closed-shell metal phthalocyanine (MPc) dimers: Although the PBE1PBE and B3LYP functional systems cannot evaluate a weak dispersion interaction appropriately, the M06 functional can estimate a weak dispersion interaction well in both open- and closed-shell MPc dimers. Basis set superposition error (BSSE) corrections play an important role for the quantitative analysis; however, the calculation results without BSSE corrections may be sufficient for the qualitative discussion on the properties of these dimers such as geometries, stabilities, electronic structures, and so on.     

Understanding the Effect of the Exchange-Correlation Functionals on Methane and Ethane Formation over Ruthenium Catalysts

Density functional theory (DFT) has been established as a powerful research tool for heterogeneous catalysis research in obtaining key thermodynamic and/or kinetic parameters like adsorption energies, enthalpies of reaction, activation barriers, and rate constants. Understanding of density functional exchange-correlation approximations is essential to reveal the mechanism and performance of a catalyst. In the present work, we reported the influence of six exchange-correlation density functionals, including PBE, RPBE, BEEF+vdW, optB86b+vdW, SCAN, and SCAN+rVV10, on the adsorption energies, reaction energies and activation barriers of carbon hydrogenation and carbon-carbon couplings during the formation of methane and ethane over Ru(0001) and Ru(1011) surfaces. We found the calculated reaction energies are strongly dependent on exchange-correlation density functionals due to the difference in coordination number between reactants and products on surfaces. The deviation of the calculated elementary reaction energies can be accumulated to a large value for chemical reaction involving multiple steps and vary considerably with different exchange-correlation density functionals calculations. The different exchange-correlation density functionals are found to influence considerably the selectivity of Ru(0001) surface for methane, ethylene, and ethane formation determined by the adsorption energies of intermediates involved. However, the influence on the barriers of the elementary surface reactions and the structural sensitivity of Ru(0001) and Ru(1011) are modest. Our work highlights the limitation of exchange-correlation density functionals on computational catalysis and the importance of choosing a proper exchange-correlation density functional in correctly evaluating the activity and selectivity of a catalyst.     

Noncovalent interactions of free-base phthalocyanine with elongated fullerenes as carbon nanotube models

Noncovalent interactions of free-base phthalocyanine (H₂Pc) with closed-cap armchair (5,5) and zigzag (10,0) single-walled carbon nanotubes (ANT and ZNT, respectively), as well as, for comparison, with C₆₀ and C₈₀(I _h) fullerenes, whose hemispheres were used to close the ends of nanotube models, were studied theoretically by using one pure dispersion-corrected GGA functional (PBE with a long-range dispersion correction by Grimme, or PBE+D) and two hybrid meta exchange-correlation functionals (M05-2X and M06-2X). Strong complexation was observed in all four systems studied. The general trend found is that the interaction strength increases with the size (number of C atoms) of carbon nanocluster, that is, in the order of ZNT > ANT > C₈₀ > C₆₀. Depending on the DFT functional employed, the interaction strength decreased in the order of PBE+D > M06-2X > M05-2X. A common feature for the geometry of all four complexes considered, reproduced in all the calculations, is that H₂Pc macrocycle undergoes strong distortion, which allows for increasing its contact surface with the nanotube sidewall or spherical fullerene, and therefore makes π-π interactions more efficient.     

The role of errors related to DFT methods in calculations involving ion pairs of ionic liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) play a key role in many chemical applications. As regards the theoretical approach, ILs show added difficulties in calculations due to the composition of the ion pair and to the fact that they are liquids. Although density functional theory (DFT) can treat this kind of systems to predict physico–chemical properties, common versions of these methods fail to perform accurate predictions of geometries, interaction energies, dipole moments, and other properties related to the molecular structure. In these cases, dispersion and self‐interaction error (SIE) corrections need to be introduced to improve DFT calculations involving ILs. We show that the inclusion of dispersion is needed to obtain good geometries and accurate interaction energies. SIE needs to be corrected to describe the charges and dipoles in the ion pair correctly. The use of range–separated functionals allows us to obtain interaction energies close to the CCSD(T) level. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Hydrogen and dihydrogen bonding of transition metal hydrides

Intermolecular interactions between a prototypical transition metal hydride WH(CO)₂NO(PH₃)₂ and a small proton donor H₂O have been studied using DFT methodology. The hydride, nitrosyl and carbonyl ligand have been considered as site of protonation. Further, DFT-D calculations in which empirical corrections for the dispersion energy are included, have been carried out. A variety of pure and hybrid density functionals (BP86, PW91, PBE, BLYP, OLYP, B3LYP, B1PW91, PBE0, X3LYP) have been considered, and our calculations indicate the PBE functional and its hybrid variation are well suited for the calculation of transition metal hydride hydrogen and dihydrogen bonding. Dispersive interactions make up for a sizeable portion of the intermolecular interaction, and amount to 20–30% of the bond energy and to 30–40% of the bond enthalpy. An energy decomposition analysis reveals that the H?H bond of transition metal hydrides contains both covalent and electrostatic contributions.     

The role of hydrogen bonding in water-metal interactions

The hydrogen bond interaction between water molecules adsorbed on a Pd <111> surface, a nucleator of two dimensional ordered water arrays at low temperatures, is studied using density functional theory calculations. The role of the exchange and correlation density functional in the characterization of both the hydrogen bond and the water-metal interaction is analyzed in detail. The effect of non local correlations using the van der Waals density functional proposed by Dion et al. [M. Dion, H. Rydberg, E. Schr?der, D. C. Langreth and B. I. Lundqvist, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2004, 92, 246401] is also studied. We conclude that the choice of this potential is critical in determining the cohesive energy of water-metal complexes. We show that the interaction between water molecules and the metal surface is as sensitive to the density functional choice as hydrogen bonds between water molecules are. The reason for this is that the two interactions are very similar in nature. We make a detailed analogy between the water-water bond in the water dimer and the water-Pd bond at the Pd <111> surface. Our results show a strong similarity between these two interactions and based on this we describe the water-Pd bond as a hydrogen bond type interaction. These results demonstrate the need to obtain an accurate and reliable representation of the hydrogen bond interaction in density functional theory.     

Evaluation of DFT methods for computing the interaction energies of homomolecular and heteromolecular dimers of monosubstituted benzene

We present density functional theory (DFT) interaction energies for the sandwich and T‐shaped conformers of substituted benzene dimers. The DFT functionals studied include TPSS, HCTH407, B3LYP, and X3LYP. We also include Hartree–Fock (HF) and second‐order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory calculations (MP2), as well as calculations using a new functional, P3LYP, which includes PBE and HF exchange and LYP correlation. Although DFT methods do not explicitly account for the dispersion interactions important in the benzene–dimer interactions, we find that our new method, P3LYP, as well as HCTH407 and TPSS, match MP2 and CCSD(T) calculations much better than the hybrid methods B3LYP and X3LYP methods do. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006     

Performance of Density Functional Theory for Transition Metal Oxygen Bonds

The accuracy of density functional theory (DFT) limits predictions in theoretical catalysis, and strong chemical bonds between transition metals and oxygen pose a particular challenge. We benchmarked 30 diverse density functionals against the bond dissociation enthalpies (BDE) of the 30 MO and 30 MO⁺ diatomic systems of all the 3d, 4d, and 5d metals, to test universality across the d-block as required in comparative studies. Seven functionals, B98, B97-1, B3P86, B2PLYP, TPSSh, B3LYP, and B97-2, display mean absolute errors (MAE) <30 kJ/mol. In contrast, many commonly used functionals such as PBE and RPBE overestimate M−O bonding by +30 kJ/mol and display MAEs from 48–76 kJ/mol. RPBE and OPBE reduce the over-binding of PBE but remain very inaccurate. We identify a linear relationship (p-value 7.6 ⋅ 10⁻⁵) between the precision and accuracy of DFT, i. e. inaccurate functionals tend to produce larger, unpredictable random errors. Some functionals commonly deviate from this relationship: Thus, M06-2X is very precise but not very accurate, whereas B3LYP* and MN15-L are more accurate but less precise than M06-2X. The best-performing hybrids have 10–30 % HF exchange, but this can be relieved by double hybrids (B2PLYP). Most functionals describe trends well, but errors comparing 5d to 4d/3d are ∼10 kJ/mol larger than group-wise errors, due to uncertainties in the spin-orbit coupling corrections for effective core potentials, affecting e. g. Pt/Pd or Au/Ag comparisons.     

Assessment of density functionals for the high-spin/low-spin energy difference in the low-spin iron(II) tris(2,2'-bipyridine) complex.

In the iron(II) low-spin complex [Fe(bpy)3]2+, the zero-point energy difference between the 5T2g(t4(2g)e2g) high-spin and the 1A(1g)(t(6)2g) low-spin states, Delta(E)0HL, is estimated to lie in the range of 2500-5000 cm(-1). This estimate is based on the low-temperature dynamics of the high-spin-->low-spin relaxation following the light-induced population of the high-spin state and on the assumption that the bond-length difference between the two states Delta(r)HL is equal to the average value of approximately 0.2 A, as found experimentally for the spin-crossover system. Calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) validate the structural assumption insofar as the low-spin-state optimised geometries are found to be in very good agreement with the experimental X-ray structure of the complex and the predicted high-spin geometries are all very close to one another for a whole series of common GGA (PB86, PW91, PBE, RPBE) and hybrid (B3LYP, B3LYP*, PBE1PBE) functionals. This confirmation of the structural assumption underlying the estimation of Delta(E)0HL from experimental relaxation rate constants permits us to use this value to assess the ability of the density functionals for the calculation of the energy difference between the HS and LS states. Since the different functionals give values from -1000 to 12000 cm(-1), the comparison of the calculated values with the experimental estimate thus provides a stringent criterion for the performance of a given functional. Based on this comparison the RPBE and B3LYP* functionals give the best agreement with experiment.     

Structure and stability of VO2+ in aqueous solution: a Car-Parrinello and static ab initio study

Quantum chemical calculations have been carried out to get some insight concerning the effects of temperature and solvent acidity on the structure and stability of solvated VO2+ as the elementary chemical unit involved in the nucleation of vanadophosphates. First, because some recent theoretical studies have suggested a tendency of density functional theory (DFT) to favor lower coordination numbers for such systems, static calculations have been performed on [VO2(H2O)(4-n)]+.nH2O (n=0-2) conformers at the MP2 and DFT level of theory, using two different combinations of basis sets. The results of two pure-GGA (BP86 and PBEPBE), two hybrid-GGA (PBE1PBE and mPWPW91), and two hybrid-meta-GGA (mPW1B95 and B1B95) functionals were analyzed on these systems. The comparison of the results indicates that the stability differences between the two methodologies are resolved when hydration energy is taken into account, provided that some amount of HF exchange is introduced in the DFT calculations. In a second step, Car-Parrinello simulations have been carried out starting from VO2(H2O)4+ surrounded by water molecules. The calculations at 300 K show the natural tendency of VO2(H2O)4+ to decompose to VO2(OH)2- and the requirements to work with an already acidified medium to be able to investigate the coordination sphere of VO2+ for an extended period of time. Under such conditions, we have obtained a clear preference for a five-coordinated vanadium. The molecular dynamics simulations performed at 500 K starting from hydrated VO2+ in a protonated medium found VO(OH)3 to be the most stable structure, whereas this ideal candidate for oxolation reactions is expected to be a very minor species at room temperature.