Are water–aromatic complexes always stabilized due to π–H interactions? LMP2 study

Eight complexes of various aromatic molecules with water have been studied theoretically at the local Møller–Plesset 2nd order theory (LMP2)/aug‐cc‐pVTZ(‐f)//LMP2/6‐31+G* level of theory. Two types of complexes can be formed, depending on the electronic structure of aromatic molecules. Donor hydrocarbons form A‐type complexes, while aromatics bearing electron‐withdrawing substituents form B‐type complexes. A‐type complexes are stabilized due to π–H interactions with the OH bond pointing to the aromatic molecule plane, while B‐type complexes have geometry with the oxygen atom pointing to the aromatic molecule plane stabilized by the interaction of highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of water molecule with π* orbitals of the aromatics. It has been found that a (? HOMO–lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO)/2 value of aromatic molecule, which can be called “molecular electronegativity,” is useful to predict the type of complex formed by aromatic molecule and water. Aromatic hydrocarbons with “molecular electronegativity” of <0.15 tend to form A‐type complexes, while aromatic molecules with “molecular electronegativity” of <0.15 a.u. form B‐type complexes. The binding energy of water–aromatic complexes undergoes a minimum in the area of switching from A‐type to B type complexes, which can be rationalize in terms of frontier orbital interactions. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005     

Electronic spectrum of the AlC(2) radical

An electronic transition of the AlC2 radical (C2v structure) has been observed using laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. The molecule was prepared in a supersonic expansion by ablation of an aluminum rod in the presence of acetylene gas. A spectrum was recorded in the 451-453 nm region and assigned to the C 2B2-X 2A1 system (T0 = 22,102.7 cm(-1)) based on a rotational analysis and agreement with calculated molecular parameters and excitation energies. Ab initio results obtained using couple cluster methods are in accord with previous theoretical work which concludes that ground-state AlC2 possesses a T-shaped C2v 2A1 geometry, with the linear 2Sigma+ AlCC isomer 0.70 eV higher in energy. A fit of the experimental spectrum yields rotational constants in the ground and electronically excited states that are in reasonable agreement with the calculated values: A' = 1.7093(107), B' = 0.4052(50), C' = 0.3228(49) cm(-1) for the X 2A1 state, and A' = 1.5621(137), B' = 0.4028(46), C' = 0.3201(54) cm(-1) for C 2B2. Variation in individual fluorescence lifetimes suggests that the emitting C 2B2 state undergoes rovibronic mixing with lower lying electronic states.     

铁原子与氮分子间的相互作用——单侧双配位构型

用密度泛函理论的B3LYP/6-311+G(d)方法对单侧双配位FeN2体系(简记为S-FeN2)不同自旋多重度的稳定态、范德华力作用态和过渡态的多个电子态的几何结构、电子结构、能量和振动频率进行了计算比较研究. 结果表明, S-FeN2体系三种自旋态间, Fe—N 距离R1和N—N 距离R2值均比较接近; 能量最低的是15B2态, 相近态有15B1、13B1和13B2, 彼此能差约25 kJ·mol-1. 三重态电子结构复杂, 单重态能量普遍偏高; 基组态Fe原子与N2间存在强的σ-π电子对排斥而无有效轨道重叠和电子转移, 其它组态4s13d7、4s13d64p1和3d74p1, Fe 和N2间发生σ(sd)-π和π-π*轨道重叠作用, 有少量电子转移, 体系呈现一定的离子性特征, 活化N2键长基本不超过120 pm. Fe 原子的电子单或双重被激发到由N2反键轨道为主要成分的分子轨道上时, 能使N2活化到单键程度甚至解离.     

Unrestricted CNDO-MO calculations. II. MnO 4 2− and CrO 4 3−

The electronic structures of the tetrahedral molecule ions MnO ₄ ^2– and CrO ₄ ^3– have been investigated within an unrestricted CNDO-MO approximation [Theoret. Chim. Acta (Berl.)20, 317 (1971)]. Calculations assuming the unpaired electron occupies the 3a ₁, 2e, and 4t2 molecular orbitals indicate that the 3a ₁ and2e orbitals have similar orbital energies and that the 4t ₂ orbital is at a higher energy. The experimentally indicated2e orbital for the unpaired electron is obtained with expanded O^1– type atomic orbitals for oxygen and valence metal orbitals of the expanded 3d and plus one ion 4p types. The metal 4s orbitals must be held to the neutral atom type. The optimum valence orbitals above with a slightly contracted 4s type metal orbitals yield the minimum total energy and places the unpaired electron in the 3a ₁ orbital. Since the contracted 4s metal orbital produces results that are not in agreement with experimental data, the method used apparently does not adequately take into account the increased electron-electron repulsions that contracted 4s orbitals produce.     

Nonempirical calculations of dipole moments of molecules in semifloating gaussian basis sets

For the example of the calculation of the dipole moments of the HF, HCl, H₂O, NH₃, CO, H₂CO, CH₃F molecules in two-exponent and three-exponent Gaussian basis sets, we have studied the effect of including floating functions in the basis, directly giving the effect of polarization of the electron shell of the atom in the molecule. We have established a weak dependence of the calculated dipole moment on the dimensionality of the basis, the number of floating functions, and also the orbital exponents of the hydrogen atoms. The correction introduced by the floating functions in molecules with polar bonds is considerably greater than the correlation correction. The proposed approach allows us to decrease the dimensionality of the orbital basis by a factor of 1.5–2 without making the agreement with experiment worse.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 481–485, July–August, 1990.     

Time‐Dependent Density Functional Theory Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Liquid Water Radiolysis

The early stages of the Coulomb explosion of a doubly ionized water molecule immersed in liquid water are investigated with time‐dependent density functional theory molecular dynamics (TD–DFT MD) simulations. Our aim is to verify that the double ionization of one target water molecule leads to the formation of atomic oxygen as a direct consequence of the Coulomb explosion of the molecule. To that end, we used TD–DFT MD simulations in which effective molecular orbitals are propagated in time. These molecular orbitals are constructed as a unitary transformation of maximally localized Wannier orbitals, and the ionization process was obtained by removing two electrons from the molecular orbitals with symmetry 1B₁, 3A₁, 1B₂ and 2A₁ in turn. We show that the doubly charged H₂O²⁺ molecule explodes into its three atomic fragments in less than 4 fs, which leads to the formation of one isolated oxygen atom whatever the ionized molecular orbital. This process is followed by the ultrafast transfer of an electron to the ionized molecule in the first femtosecond. A faster dissociation pattern can be observed when the electrons are removed from the molecular orbitals of the innermost shell. A Bader analysis of the charges carried by the molecules during the dissociation trajectories is also reported.     

Quantum-chemical investigation of nature of neutral intermolecular hydrogen bond in complex H3PO...HF

Results are presented from modeling the complex H₃PO...HF by the ab initio Hartree-Fock-Roothaan method. A generalized method is proposed for the quantitative fragmentary analysis of molecular orbitals (MOs). It is shown that when the complex is formed, the chemical bond between the phosphine oxide and the HF molecule is formed by means of a shift of the electron pair of the -bond of the HF to a 2p orbital of the O atom and the formation of a bonding three-center MO localized on the O, H, and F atoms, and also through a shift of an electron pair from the O atom to a 2p orbital of the F atom and the formation of a nonbonding MO localized on the O and F atoms.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 38–41, January–February, 1992.     

Investigations on the electron paramagnetic resonance parameters for Mn2+ in the ABF3 fluoroperovskites

The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) parameters (g factor, the hyperfine structure constant A and the superhyperfine parameters A' and B') for Mn(2+) in the fluoroperovskites ABF(3) (A=K and Cs; B=Zn, Mg, Cd and Ca) are theoretically investigated from the perturbation formulas of these parameters for a 3d(5) ion under ideal octahedra. In the above treatments, not only the crystal-field mechanism but also the charge transfer mechanism is considered uniformly on the basis of the cluster approach. The theoretical EPR parameters are in good agreement with the experimental data. The charge transfer contribution to the g-shift Δg (≈g-g(s), where g(s)≈2.0023 is the spin-only value) is opposite (positive) in sign and comparable in magnitude to the crystal-field one. Nevertheless, the charge transfer contribution to the hyperfine structure constant shows the same sign and about 10% that of the crystal-field one. So, the conventional argument that the charge transfer contributions to the zero-field splittings are negligible for 3d(5) ions under low symmetrically distorted fluorine octahedra is proved no longer valid for the Δg analysis of ABF(3):Mn(2+) in view of the dominant second-order charge transfer perturbation terms. The unpaired spin densities of the fluorine 2s, 2p σ and 2p π orbitals are determined from the quantitative dependences upon the related molecular orbital coefficients, rather than obtained by fitting the observed superhyperfine parameters in the previous works.     

Linear Approximation of Basis Set Orbital Exponents for Isoelectronic Series of Atoms

The orbital exponents of Slater type atomic orbitals (AOs) in isoelectronic series of atoms may be approximated by the linear dependence on the nuclear charge using a technique developed for optimization of AO basis sets in Hartree–Fock–Roothaan calculations. This approach yields the analytical Hartree–Fock wave functions for any ion in the isoelectronic atomic series without optimization of orbital exponents. The approximated linear equations for atomic orbital basis sets of B, C, O, and F in the ground state are presented as an example.     

Low-lying electronic states and Cl-loss photodissociation of the C2H3Cl+ ion studied using multiconfiguration second-order perturbation theory

We studied the 1(2)A' '(X2A' '), 1(2)A' (A2A'), 2(2)A' ' (B2A' '), and 2(2)A' (C2A') states of the C2H3Cl+ ion using the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) and multiconfiguration second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2) methods. For the four ionic states, we calculated the equilibrium geometries, adiabatic (T0) and vertical (Tv) excitation energies, and relative energies (Tv') at the geometry of the molecule at the CASPT2 level and the Cl-loss dissociation potential energy curves (PECs) at the CASPT2//CASSCF level. The computed oscillator strength f value for the X2A' ' <-- A2A' transition is very small, which is in line with the experimental fact that the A state has a long lifetime. The CASPT2 geometry and T0 value for the A2A' state are in good agreement with experiment. The CASPT2 Tv' values for the A2A', B2A' ', and C2A' states are in good agreement with experiment. The Cl-loss PEC calculations predict that the X2A' ', A2A', and C2A' states correlate to C2H3+ (XA1) and the BA' ' state to C2H3+ (1A' ') (the B2A' ' and C2A' PECs cross at R(C-Cl) approximately 2.24 A). Our calculations indicate that at 357 nm the X2A' ' state can undergo a transition to B2A' ' followed by a predissociation of B2A' ' by the repulsive C2A' state (via the B/C crossing), leading to C2H3+ (X1A1), and therefore confirm the experimentally proposed pathway for the photodissociation of X2A' ' at 357 nm. Our CASPT2 D0 calculations support the experimental fact that the X state does not undergo dissociation in the visible spectral region and imply that a direct dissociation of the A state to C2H3+ (X1A1) is energetically feasible.     

Dehydrophenylnitrenes: quartet versus doublet states

The geometries and energies of 4-, 3-, and 2-dehydrophenylnitrenes (3, 4, and 5) are investigated using complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF), multiconfiguration quasi-degenerate second-order perturbation (MCQDPT), and internally contracted multiconfiguration-reference configuration interaction (MRCI) theories in conjunction with a correlation consistent triple-zeta basis set. 4-Dehydrophenylnitrene 3 has a quartet ground state ((4)A(2)). The adiabatic excitation energies to the (2)A(2), (2)B(2), (2)A(1), and (2)B(1) states are 5, 21, 34, and 62 kcal mol(-1), respectively. The (2)B(2) state has pronounced closed-shell carbene/iminyl radical character, while the lowest-energy (2)B(1) state is a combination of a planar allene and a 2-iminylpropa-1,3-diyl. The MCQDPT treatment overestimates the excitation energy to (2)B(2) significantly as compared to CASSCF and MRCI+Q. Among quartet states, (4)A(2)-3 is the most stable one, while those of 4 and 5 (both (4)A') are 3 and 1 kcal mol(-1) higher in energy. 5 also has a quartet ground state and a (2)A' ' state 7 kcal mol(-1) higher in energy. On the other hand, the doublet-quartet energy splitting is -6 kcal mol(-1) for 4 in favor of the doublet state ((2)A'). Hence, (2)A'-4 is the most stable dehydrophenylnitrene, 3.5 kcal mol(-1) below (4)A(2) of 3. The geometry of (2)A'-4 shows the characteristic features of through-bond interaction between the in-plane molecular orbitals at N and at C3. The (2)A' state of 4 resembles the (2)A(1) state of 3 and lies 32 kcal mol(-1) above (4)A'-4. The lowest-energy (2)A' state of 5, on the other hand, resembles the (2)B(2) state of 3 and lies 22 kcal mol(-1) above (4)A'-5.     

Core molecular orbital contribution to N2O isomerization as studied using theoretical electron momentum spectroscopy

Core molecular orbital contribution to the electronic structure of N2O isomers has been studied using quantum mechanical density functional theory combined with a plane wave impulse approximation method. Momentum distributions of wave functions for inner shell molecular orbitals of the linear NNO, cyclic and linear NON isomers of N2O are calculated through the (e, 2e) differential cross sections in momentum space. This is possible because this momentum distribution is directly proportional to the modulus squared of the momentum space wave function for the molecular orbital in question. While the momentum distributions of the NNO and cyclic N2O isomers demonstrate strong atomic orbital characteristics in their core space, the outer core molecular orbitals of the linear NON isomer exhibit configuration interactions between them and the valence molecular orbitals. It is suggested that the frozen core approximation breaks down in the prediction of the electronic structure of such an isomer. Core molecular orbital contributions to the electronic structure can alter the order of total energies of the isomers and lead to incorrect conclusions of the stability among the isomers. As a result, full electron calculations should be employed in the study of N2O isomerization.     

Ab initio study on the decomposition of first excited state HOOO radicals

The HOOO radical plays a crucial role in atmospheric processes involving the OH radical and O(2) molecule. We present an ab initio molecular orbital theory study on the decomposition reaction of the first excited state HOOO((2)A') with respect to OH and O(2). The geometries and harmonic vibrational frequencies of all stationary points are calculated at the CASSCF and MRCI levels of theory in conjunction with the 6-31+G(d,p) basis set. The potential energy profile of the decomposition reaction is studied at the CASSCF/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory, in which the complete valence orbitals and electrons are included in the active space. The energies of the potential energy profile are further refined at the CASPT2 and MRCI levels of the theory. Additionally, we have determined the interesting reaction process: the HOOO((2)A') radical with C(s) symmetry does not dissociate to OH((2)Pi) and O(2)((3)Sigma(-)(g)) directly as this is forbidden by orbital symmetry, but dissociates to OH((2)Pi) and O(2)((3)Sigma(-)(g)) via the change in symmetry from C(s) to C(infinity v) symmetry with a low barrier.     

F-loss and H-loss dissociations in low-lying electronic states of the CH3F+ ion studied using multiconfiguration second-order perturbation theory

Complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) and multiconfiguration second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2) calculations with an atomic natural orbital basis were performed for the 1(2)A', 1(2)A', 2(2)A', 2(2)A', and 3(2)A' (X2E, A2A1, and B2E) states of the CH3F+ ion. The 1(2)A' state is predicted to be the ground state, and the C(s)-state energy levels are different from those of the CH3Cl+ ion. The 2(2)A' (A2A1) state is predicted to be repulsive, and the calculated adiabatic excitation energies for 2(2)A' and 3(2)A' are very close to the experimental value for the B state. The CASPT2//CASSCF potential energy curves (PECs) were calculated for F-loss dissociation from the five C(s) states and H-loss dissociation from the 1(2)A', 1(2)A', and 2(2)A' states. The electronic states of the CH3+ and CH2F+ ions as the dissociation products were carefully determined by checking the energies and geometries of the asymptote products, and appearance potentials for the two ions in different states are predicted. The F-loss PEC calculations for CH3F+ indicate that F-loss dissociation occurs from the 1(2)A', 1(2)A', and 2(2)A' states [all correlating with CH3+(X1A1')], which supports the experimental observations of direct dissociation from the X and A states, and that direct F-loss dissociation can occur from the two Jahn-Teller component states of B2E, 2(2)A' and 3(2)A' [correlating with CH3+(1(3)A') and CH3+(1(3)A'), respectively]. Some aspects of the 3(2)A' Cl-loss PEC of the CH3Cl+ ion are inferred on the basis of the calculation results for CH3F+. The H-loss PEC calculations for CH3F+ indicate that H-loss dissociation occurs from the 1(2)A', 1(2)A', and 2(2)A' states [correlating with CH2F+(1(3)A'), CH2F+(X1A1), and CH2F+(1(1)A'), respectively], which supports the observations of direct dissociation from the X and B states. As the 2(2)A' H-loss PEC of CH3Cl+, the 2(2)A' H-loss PEC of CH3F+ does not lead to H + CH2X+, but the PECs of the two ions represent different types of reactions.     

Mono- and bichromatic electron dynamics: LiH, a test case

This paper describes an electron dynamics method where the time dependence of an external oscillating electric field is the perturbing part of the Hamiltonian. Application of the electric field induces charge movement inside the molecule and electronic transitions between the molecular orbitals. The test system is the neutral LiH molecule. The method is applied to wave functions calculated using the B3LYP (hybrid) density functional, with the STO-3G and the 6-31+G basis sets. The molecule undergoes full population inversion between the HOMO and the LUMO when the electric field is in resonance with the HOMO-LUMO energy gap. The magnitude of the electric field directly affects the rate at which electronic transitions occur and the rate at which charges move between lithium and hydrogen atoms. The method is used to model both monochromatic and bichromatic multiphoton effects in LiH. Monochromatic one-, two- and three-photon transitions occur between the HOMO, LUMO and two other virtual orbitals. There is evidence of both [1+2] direct and [1+1+1] stepwise multiphoton transitions. Bichromatically, two "laser" pulses are applied at different frequencies. Electronic transitions can be fine-tuned to occur via pre-specified pathways of virtual molecular orbitals.     

Superexchange in magnetic insulators: an interpretation of the metal-metal charge transfer energy in the Anderson theory

The superexchange interactions in four three-center model systems A-L-B, for A and B being paramagnetic centers and L a diamagnetic bridging ligand, are analyzed by valence bond configuration interaction models in combination with fourth-order perturbation theory. We analyze the four distinct cases where a bridging ligand orbital simultaneously interacts with half-filled orbitals localized on A and B (case i), a half-filled orbital localized on A and an empty orbital localized on B (case ii), a full orbital localized on A and a half-filled orbital localized on B (case iii), and finally a full orbital localized on A and an empty orbital localized on B (case iv). In all four cases we compare our new results using localized orbitals with the equivalent results obtained using the Anderson ansatz of delocalized (magnetic) orbitals. The effective metal-to-metal electron transfer energy Ueff in the old formalism with delocalized orbitals is expressed in terms of the metal-to-metal electron transfer energy U and the ligand-to-metal electron transfer energy delta using localized orbitals. We find that the old formalism containing only Ueff is in general not sufficient. For cases i and ii we show that Ueff can be regarded as an effective U strongly reduced with respect to the free ion as a result of hybridization effects, whereas the same reduction of U for the cases iii and iv is not possible. The relevance and applicability of our theoretical results is demonstrated on magnetochemical data from the literature.     

Localization measure and maximum delocalization in molecular systems

A mathematically well-defined measure of localization is presented based on Mulliken's orbital populations. It is shown that this quantity equals 1 for core- and lone-pair orbitals, 2 for two-atomic bonds, 6 for benzene rings, etc., and it is applicable for delocalized canonical HF orbitals as well. The definition of this quantity is general in the sense that ab initio MOS with overlapping AO expansion, and semiempirical wave functions using the ZDO approximation as well, can be treated. The localization quantity is essentially “intrinsic,” i.e., no subdivision of the molecule is required. For N-electron wave functions, mean delocalization can be defined. This measure is not invariant to unitary transformations of the one-electron orbitals, characterizing in this way the localized or extended representation of the N-electron wave function. It can be proven, however, that for unitary transformed wave functions a maximum delocalization exists which depends only on the physical (N-electron) properties of the molecule. It is shown that inhomogeneous charge distribution can cause strong electron localization in molecular systems. The delocalization of the canonical Hartree–Fock orbitals, the Parr–Chen circulant orbitals, and the optimum delocalized orbitals is studied by numerical calculations in extended systems.     

Pauli repulsion in the open shell species BeH and Co+

Using the natural bond orbital method, one may associate the valence bond configuration and Lewis structure concepts to wave functions consisting of molecular orbitals and thus gain intuitive insight into the molecular potential energy curves. Natural bond orbital analysis of the restricted open shell Hartree–Fock and unrestricted Hartree–Fock wave functions for the BeH ground state provides an intuitive model to help understand the nature of the bonding in this open shell species. The contrasting behavior of the bonding orbitals for different spins can be attributed to differences in the Pauli repulsive interactions with the lonepair orbitals. Such behavior occurs in BeH(²Σ) but does not in CO⁺(²Π) because the Pauli repulsion depends on the orbital overlap.