Calculations of frequency-dependent molecular magnetizabilities with quasi-relativistic time-dependent generalized unrestricted Hartree-Fock method

The time-dependent generalized unrestricted Hartree-Fock (TDGUHF) method combined with a two-component quasi-relativistic Hamiltonian generated from the Douglas-Kroll-Hess (DKH) transformation was developed to calculate frequency-dependent molecular magnetizabilities, which are the linear response quantity of a molecule to an external magnetic field. By calculating the magnetizabilities of H(2)X (X = O, S, Se, and Te), the noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) and small open shell molecules (CH(2), CH(3), and O(2)), we found that scalar relativistic terms affect mainly the diamagnetic magnetizability and spin-orbit (SO) interaction affects the paramagnetic magnetizability.     

DNA‐backbone radio resistivity induced by spin blockade effect

Coherent control of OH‐free radicals interacting with the spin‐triplet state of a DNA molecule is investigated. A model Hamiltonian for molecular spin singlet‐triplet resonance is developed. We illustrate that the spin‐triplet state in DNA molecules can be efficiently populated, as the spin‐injection rate can be tuned to be orders of magnitudes greater than the decay rate due to small spin‐orbit coupling in organic molecules. Owing to the nano‐second life‐time of OH free radicals, a non‐equilibrium free energy barrier induced by the injected spin triplet state that lasts approximately longer than one‐micro second in room temperature can efficiently block the initial Hydrogen abstraction and DNA damage. For a direct demonstration of the spin‐blockade effect, a molecular simulation based on an ab‐initio Car‐Parrinello molecular dynamics is deployed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 2010     

Relativistic effects in HgHe and HgXe CCSD(T) ground state potential curves. Low‐density viscosity simulations of Hg:Xe mixture

The comparison of coupled cluster with single and double excitations and with perturbative correction of triple excitations [CCSD(T)] ground state potential curves of mercury with rare gases (RG): HgHe and HgXe, at several levels of theory is presented. The scalar relativistic (REL) effects and spin‐orbit coupling effects in the ground state potential curves of these weakly bounded dimers are considered. The CCSD(T) ground state potential curves at the level of the Dirac‐Coulomb Hamiltonian (DCH) are compared with CCSD(T) curves at the level of 4‐component spin‐free modified DCH, the scalar 2nd order Douglas‐Kroll‐Hess (DKH2) and the nonrelativistic (NR‐LL) (Lévy‐Leblond) Hamiltonian. In addition, London‐Drude formula and SCF interaction energy curves are employed in the analysis of different contributions of REL effects in dissociation energies of HgRG and Hg₂ dimers. Moreover, the large anharmonicity of the HgHe ground state potential curve is highlighted. The computationally less demanding scalar DKH2 Hamiltonian is employed to calculate the HgXe, Hg₂, and Xe₂ all electron CCSD(T) ground state potential curves in highly augmented quadruple zeta basis sets. These potential curves are used to simulate the shear viscosity of mercury, xenon, and mercury‐xenon (Hg:Xe) mixture. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011     

Development of spin‐orbit coupling for stochastic configuration interaction techniques

To perform spin‐orbit coupling calculations on atoms and molecules, good zeroth‐order wavefunctions are necessary. Here, we present the software development of the Monte Carlo Configuration Interaction (MCCI) method, to enable calculation of such properties, where MCCI iteratively constructs a multireference wavefunction using a stochastic procedure. In this initial work, we aim to establish the efficacy of this technique in predicting the splitting of otherwise degenerate energy levels on a range of atoms and small diatomic molecules. It is hoped that this work will subsequently act as a gateway toward using this method to investigate singlet‐triplet interactions in larger multireference molecules. We show that MCCI can generate very good results using highly compact wavefunctions compared to other techniques, with no prior knowledge of important orbitals. Higher‐order relativistic effects are neglected and spin‐orbit coupling effects are incorporated using first‐order degenerate perturbation theory with the Breit‐Pauli Hamiltonian and effective nuclear charges in the one‐electron operator. Results are obtained and presented for B, C, O, F, Si, S, and Cl atoms and OH, CN, NO, and C₂ diatomic radicals including spin‐orbit coupling constants and the relative splitting of the lowest energy degenerate state for each species. Convergence of MCCI to the full configuration interaction result is demonstrated on the multireference problem of stretched OH. We also present results from the singlet‐triplet interaction between the and both the and states of the O₂ molecule. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Spin‐orbit ZORA and four‐component Dirac–Coulomb estimation of relativistic corrections to isotropic nuclear shieldings and chemical shifts of noble gas dimers

Hartree–Fock and density functional theory with the hybrid B3LYP and general gradient KT2 exchange‐correlation functionals were used for nonrelativistic and relativistic nuclear magnetic shielding calculations of helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon dimers and free atoms. Relativistic corrections were calculated with the scalar and spin‐orbit zeroth‐order regular approximation Hamiltonian in combination with the large Slater‐type basis set QZ4P as well as with the four‐component Dirac–Coulomb Hamiltonian using Dyall's acv4z basis sets. The relativistic corrections to the nuclear magnetic shieldings and chemical shifts are combined with nonrelativistic coupled cluster singles and doubles with noniterative triple excitations [CCSD(T)] calculations using the very large polarization‐consistent basis sets aug‐pcSseg‐4 for He, Ne and Ar, aug‐pcSseg‐3 for Kr, and the AQZP basis set for Xe. For the dimers also, zero‐point vibrational (ZPV) corrections are obtained at the CCSD(T) level with the same basis sets were added. Best estimates of the dimer chemical shifts are generated from these nuclear magnetic shieldings and the relative importance of electron correlation, ZPV, and relativistic corrections for the shieldings and chemical shifts is analyzed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

All‐electron relativistic computations on the low‐lying electronic states,bond length,and vibrational frequency of CeF diatomic molecule with spin–orbit coupling effects

Ab initio all‐electron computations have been carried out for Ce⁺ and CeF, including the electron correlation, scalar relativistic, and spin–orbit coupling effects in a quantitative manner. First, the n‐electron valence state second‐order multireference perturbation theory (NEVPT2) and spin–orbit configuration interaction (SOCI) based on the state‐averaged restricted active space multiconfigurational self‐consistent field (SA‐RASSCF) and state‐averaged complete active space multiconfigurational self‐consistent field (SA‐CASSCF) wavefunctions have been applied to evaluations of the low‐lying energy levels of Ce⁺ with [Xe]4f¹5d¹6s¹ and [Xe]4f¹5d² configurations, to test the accuracy of several all‐electron relativistic basis sets. It is shown that the mixing of quartet and doublet states is essential to reproduce the excitation energies. Then, SA‐RASSCF(CASSCF)/NEVPT2 + SOCI computations with the Sapporo(‐DKH3)‐2012‐QZP basis set were carried out to determine the energy levels of the low‐lying electronic states of CeF. The calculated excitation energies, bond length, and vibrational frequency are shown to be in good agreement with the available experimental data. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

NMR shielding constants of CuX,AgX, and AuX (X = F,Cl, Br,and I) investigated by density functional theory based on the Douglas–Kroll–Hess Hamiltonian

Two‐component relativistic density functional theory (DFT) with the second‐order Douglas–Kroll–Hess (DKH2) one‐electron Hamiltonian was applied to the calculation of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) shielding constant. Large basis set dependence was observed in the shielding constant of Xe atom. The DKH2‐DFT‐calculated shielding constants of I and Xe in HI, I₂, CuI, AgI, and XeF₂ agree well with those obtained by the four‐component relativistic theory and experiments. The Au NMR shielding constant in AuF is extremely more positive than in AuCl, AuBr, and AuI, as reported recently. This extremely positive shielding constant arises from the much larger Fermi contact (FC) term of AuF than in others. Interestingly, the absolute values of the paramagnetic and the FC terms are considerably larger in CuF and AuF than in others. The large paramagnetic term of AuF arises from the large d‐components in the Au d_π –F p_π and Au sd_σ–F p_σ molecular orbitals (MOs). The large FC term in AuF arises from the small energy difference between the Au sd_σ + F p_σ and Au sd_σ–F p_σ MOs. The second‐order magnetically relativistic effect, which is the effect of DKH2 magnetic operator, is important even in CuF. This effect considerably improves the overestimation of the spin‐orbit effect calculated by the Breit–Pauli magnetic operator. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

High‐spin behavior of molecular crystals and extended π systems

The qualitative rules for the existence of high‐spin ground states in extended systems and molecular crystals are examined here on a firmer theoretical footing. Extended systems have been categorized into three groups, namely, type I, type II, and type III, depending on the type of bonding interactions. The general form of the spin Hamiltonian operators have been written down. The active spaces have been restricted to the minimum size for each of these three types of spin systems. The zeroth‐order state vectors and the Hartree–Fock ground‐state energies have been identified for unit species of each type. The extended system Hamiltonian operators are further truncated in such a way that only the nearest‐neighbor interactions are retained. Expressions have been derived for the energy gap from a molecular orbital approach. The relatively small effects of electron correlation on the energy gaps have been estimated for the type I systems, which belong to the systems of solid‐state physics. In particular, it has been shown that for the type I systems the singlet–triplet gap, and hence the ferromagnetic coupling constant, primarily depends upon the difference of one‐electron kinetic energies and not on the two‐electron exchange integrals. This result agrees with the concept of kinetic exchange that was introduced in the context of a resonating valence‐bond formalism. Type II systems are exemplified by extended systems that can be prepared from conjugated molecules while organic molecular crystals form examples of type III species. For these systems, however, the Coulomb exchange interaction has been shown to dominate the energy gap. A quick review of the Heisenberg spin Hamiltonian for the H₂ molecule is sufficient to point out that the sign of the calculated ferromagnetic coupling constant depends on the method of calculation, the nature of the basis set, and the bond length. This is amply supported by ab initio calculations on this species. Numerical data have also been obtained from computations on m‐phenylene‐coupled nitroxy radicals and stacks of α‐nitronyl nitroxide, but these calculations have been based on a semiempirical quantum chemical methodology (INDO) since some of the species involved are exceedingly large. Computed energy gaps are in good agreement with experimental and other theoretical (AM1, PM3) results. Nevertheless, for the dimer, trimer, tetramer, and pentamer of the type II specimen, the important π orbitals are far from being degenerate. The quantitative results clearly deviate from the criterion of degeneracy that was suggested from qualitative theories for the existence of a high‐spin ground state. Therefore, the criteria for the existence of high spins have been reformulated in terms of the monomer orbitals. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 79: 308–324, 2000     

Electronic spectra and intersystem spin‐orbit coupling in 1,2‐ and 1,3‐squaraines

The main photophysical properties of a series of recently synthetized 1,2‐ and 1,3‐squaraines, including absorption electronic spectra, singlet‐triplet energy gaps, and spin‐orbit matrix elements, have been investigated by means of density functional theory (DFT) and time‐dependent DFT approaches. A benchmark of three exchange‐correlation functionals has been performed in six different solvent environments. The investigated 1,2 squaraines have been found to possess two excited triplet states (T₁ and T₂) that lie below the energy of the excited singlet one (S₁). The radiationless intersystem spin crossing efficiency is thus enhanced in both the studied systems and both the transitions could contribute to the excited singlet oxygen production. Moreover, they have a singlet‐triplet energy gap higher than that required to generate the cytotoxic singlet oxygen species. According to our data, these compounds could be used in photodynamic therapy applications that do not require high tissue penetration. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Gauge-origin-independent magnetizabilities of solvated molecules using the polarizable continuum model

We present an implementation of the polarizable continuum model in its integral equation formulation for the calculation of the magnetizabilities of solvated molecules. The gauge-origin independence of the calculated magnetizabilities and the fast basis set convergence are ensured through the use of London atomic orbitals. Our implementation can use Hartree-Fock and multiconfigurational self-consistent-field (MCSCF) wave functions as well as density-functional theory including hybrid functionals such as B3LYP. We present the results of dielectric continuum effects on water and pyridine using MCSCF wave functions, as well as dielectric medium effects on the magnetizability of the aromatic amino acids as a model for how a surrounding protein environment affects the magnetizability of these molecules. It is demonstrated that the dielectric medium effects on the magnetizability anisotropies of the aromatic amino acids may be substantial, being as large as 25% in the case of tyrosine.     

Olefin Isomerization via Radical‐Ion Pairs in Triplet States Studied by Chemically Induced Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (CIDNP)

Geometric isomerizations of olefins following photoinduced electron transfer (PET) are classified according to the relative energetic positions of the radical‐ion pairs and the reactant triplets. Each class exhibits characteristic CIDNP (chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization) effects, for which typical examples are presented. Time‐resolved CIDNP experiments on the system triphenylamine/fumarodinitrile (= (2E)‐but‐2‐enedinitrile), where formation of the olefin triplet is impossible, show that there is also no isomerization of the olefin radical anion. With triisopropylamine or fumarodinitrile as the reaction partner for 4,4′‐dimethoxystilbene (= 1,1′‐[(1E)‐ethane‐1,2‐diyl]bis[4‐methoxybenzene]), both oxidative and reductive quenching give almost mirror‐image CIDNP spectra because of the pairing theorem; reverse electron transfer of the triplet radical‐ion pairs populates the stilbene triplet only, which then isomerizes. With anethole (= 1‐methoxy‐4‐(prop‐1‐enyl)benzene; M), the competition between electron return of triplet pairs to give either M + ³X or ³M + X was studied by using a second isomerizable olefin (diethyl fumarate (= diethyl (2E)‐but‐2‐enedioate) or cinnamonitrile (= (2E)‐3‐phenylprop‐2‐enenitrile)) as the reaction partner X. Classes can be changed by employing PET sensitization. With ACN (anthracene‐9‐carbonitrile) as the sensitizer, anethole does not produce any directly observable polarizations, but a substitution of ACN^.? by the radical anion of 1,4‐benzoquinone (= cyclohexa‐2,5‐diene‐1,4‐dione) or fumarodinitrile within the lifetime of the spin‐correlated radical‐ion pairs leads to very strong CIDNP signals that reflect the effects of both pairs.     

How computational methods and relativistic effects influence the study of chemical reactions involving Ru‐NO complexes?

Two treatments of relativistic effects, namely effective core potentials (ECP) and all‐electron scalar relativistic effects (DKH2), are used to obtain geometries and chemical reaction energies for a series of ruthenium complexes in B3LYP/def2‐TZVP calculations. Specifically, the reaction energies of reduction ( A ‐ F ), isomerization ( G‐I ), and Cl⁻ negative trans influence in relation to NH₃ ( J ‐ L ) are considered. The ECP and DKH2 approaches provided geometric parameters close to experimental data and the same ordering for energy changes of reactions A ‐ L . From geometries optimized with ECP, the electronic energies are also determined by means of the same ECP and basis set combined with the computational methods: MP2, M06, BP86, and its derivatives, so as B2PLYP, LC‐wPBE, and CCSD(T) (reference method). For reactions A ‐ I , B2PLYP provides the best agreement with CCSD(T) results. Additionally, B3LYP gave the smallest error for the energies of reactions J ‐ L . © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Transition metals as electron traps. I. Structures,energetics, electron capture,and electron‐transfer‐induced dissociations of ternary copper–peptide complexes in the gas phase

Electron‐induced dissociations of gas‐phase ternary copper‐2,2′‐bipyridine complexes of Gly‐Gly‐Gly and Gly‐Gly‐Leu were studied on a time scale ranging from 130 ns to several milliseconds using a combination of charge‐reversal (⁺CR^?) and electron‐capture‐induced dissociation (ECID) measured on a beam instrument and electron capture dissociation (ECD) measured in a Penning trap. Charge‐reduced intermediates were observed on the short time scale in the ⁺CR^? and ECID experiments but not in ECD. Ion dissociations following electron transfer or capture mostly occurred by competitive bpy or peptide ligand loss, whereas peptide backbone fragmentations were suppressed in the presence of the ligated metal ion. Extensive electron structure theory calculations using density functional theory and large basis sets provided optimized structures and energies for the precursor ions, charge‐reduced intermediates, and dissociation products. The Cu complexes underwent substantial structure changes upon electron capture. Cu was calculated to be pentacoordinated in the most stable singly charged complexes of the [Cu(peptide ? H)bpy]^{+ ?} type where it carried a ～+ 1 atomic charge. Cu coordination in charge‐reduced [Cu(peptide ? H)bpy] intermediates depended on the spin state. The themodynamically more stable singlet states had tricoordinated Cu, whereas triplet states had a tetracoordinated Cu. Cu was tricoordinated in stable [Cu(peptide ? H)bpy]^{? ?} products of electron transfer. [Cu(peptide)bpy]^{2 + ?} complexes contained the peptide ligand in a zwitterionic form while Cu was tetracoordinated. Upon electron capture, Cu was tri‐ or tetracoordinated in the [Cu(peptide)bpy]⁺ charge‐reduced analogs and the peptide ligands underwent prototropic isomerization to canonical forms. The role of excited singlet and triplet electronic states is assessed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relativistic (SR‐ZORA) quantum theory of atoms in molecules properties

The Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM) is used to elucidate the effects of relativity on chemical systems. To do this, molecules are studied using density‐functional theory at both the nonrelativistic level and using the scalar relativistic zeroth‐order regular approximation. Relativistic effects on the QTAIM properties and topology of the electron density can be significant for chemical systems with heavy atoms. It is important, therefore, to use the appropriate relativistic treatment of QTAIM (Anderson and Ayers, J. Phys. Chem. 2009, 115, 13001) when treating systems with heavy atoms. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Two‐component calculations of spin–orbit effects for a van der Waals molecule Rn2

Electronic structures of the weakly bound Rn₂ were calculated by the two‐component Møller–Plesset second‐order perturbation and coupled‐cluster methods with relativistic effective core potentials including spin–orbit operators. The calculated spin–orbit effects are small, but depend strongly on the size of basis sets and the amount of electron correlations. Magnitudes of spin–orbit effects on D_e (0.7–3.0 meV) and R_e (−0.4∼−2.2 Å) of Rn₂ are comparable to previously reported values based on configuration interaction calculations. A two‐component approach seems to be a promising tool to investigate spin–orbit effects for the weak‐bonded systems containing heavy elements. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 72: 139–143, 1999     

Geometries,vibrational frequencies,and excitation energies of a series of fluorine‐substituted carbenes,FCX (X = H,F, Cl,Br, and I): A high‐level multireference configuration interaction study

High‐level calculations using internally contracted multireference configuration interaction including Davidson correction (icMRCI+Q) method have been carried out for the ground singlet states, the first excited states, and the lowest triplet states of a series of fluorine‐substituted carbenes FCX (X = H, F, Cl, Br, and I). Equilibrium geometries and vibrational frequencies of the three electronic states, adiabatic transition energy of the first excited singlet state, as well as the ground singlet—lowest triplet energy gap (S‐T gap) of each of FCX carbenes have been obtained. Effects of the basis set of icMRCI+Q calculation on the geometries and energies have been investigated. In addition, various corrections, including the scalar relativistic effect, spin‐orbit coupling, and core‐valence correlation, have been studied in calculating the transition energies and the S‐T gaps, especially for heavy‐atom carbenes. This results have been compared with previous calculations using a variety of methods. Our icMRCI+Q results are in very good agreement with the high‐resolution laser‐based spectroscopic results where available. Some structure and spectroscopic constants of the fluorine‐substituted carbenes which are void in the literature have been provided with consistent high‐level calculations. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

High‐level ab initio study of the N+(3P)+SH2 reactions in the gas phase: Role of spin‐forbidden pathways

The singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces involved in N⁺+SH₂ reactions have been explored using high‐level ab initio techniques. The geometries of the stationary points were optimized at the QCISD/6‐311G(df,p) level. The final energies were obtained in CCSD(T)/6‐311+G(3df,2p) single‐point calculations. The results obtained show that, although the N⁺(¹D)+SH₂ entrance channel is higher in energy than the N⁺(³P)+SH₂ one, most of the [H₂, S, N]⁺ singlet state cations are lower in energy than the corresponding triplets, due to their different bonding characteristics. Both singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces are quite close each other, and crossover between them can occur. The minimum energy crossing points were located by means of CASSCF(6,5) calculations. The spin‐orbit couplings show that the transition probability from the triplet to the singlet potential energy surface is significantly large. One of the most important consequences is that some of the products of the reaction, such as SH⁺, can be formed in typical spin‐forbidden processes. Since all the relevant structures along these pathways are much lower in energy than the reactants, this mechanism should be accessible even at low impact energies and therefore could be important in processes taking place in interstellar media. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2001     

A theoretical study of electronic effects in alkyne‐linked reactive intermediates: (nitrenoethynyl)methylenes, (nitrenoethynyl)silylenes,and (nitrenoethynyl)germylenes

Acetylene‐linked reactive intermediates of (nitrenoethynyl)‐X‐methylenes, (nitrenoethynyl)‐X‐silylenes, and (nitrenoethynyl)‐X‐germylenes are almost experimentally unreachable (X–M–C≡C–N; X=H ( 1 ), CN ( 2 ), OH ( 3 ), NH₂ ( 4 ), NO₂ ( 5 ), and CHO ( 6 ); M=C, Si, and Ge). The effects of the electron‐donating and electron withdrawing groups were compared and contrasted at seven levels of theory. All singlet species as ground states with one local open‐shell singlet carbene subunit (π¹π¹) and another local open‐shell singlet nitrene subunit (π¹π¹) were found to be more stable than their corresponding triplets including one local open‐shell singlet carbene (δ¹π¹) (or one local closed‐shell singlet carbene [δ²π⁰]) and another local triplet nitrene subunit (π¹π¹) with 45.94–77.996 kcal/mol singlet–triplet energy gap (ΔE_s‐t). Their relative silylenes and germylenes made reduction of ΔE_s‐t, so the triplet ground states were found for species 3 _Si , 4 _Si , 5 _Si , 2 _Ge , 3 _Ge , 4 _{Ge ,} and 5 _Ge . All the singlet silylenes/germylenes formed by one local closed‐shell singlet silylenes/germylenes (δ²π⁰) and one local closed‐shell singlet nitrene subunit (π²π⁰). Also, one local closed‐shell singlet silylene/germylene subunit (δ²π⁰) and one local triplet nitrene subunit (π¹π¹) were observed for triplet silylenes/germylenes. The singlet and triplet species 3 _Si , 4 _Si , 3 _Ge , and 4 _Ge , due to their electrophilic (Si₄/Ge₄) and nucleophilic (X₅) centers, could be identified as intermediates in chemical reactions.     

Electronic structure and molecular orbital study of the first excited state of the high‐efficiency blue OLED material bis(2‐methyl‐8‐quinolinolato)aluminum(III) hydroxide complex from ab initio and TD‐B3LYP

Bis(2‐methyl‐8‐quinolinolato)aluminum(III) hydroxide complex (AlMq₂OH) is used in organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) as an electron transport material and emitting layer. By means of ab initio Hartree–Fock (HF) and density functional theory (DFT) B3LYP methods, the structure of AlMq₂OH was optimized. The frontier molecular orbital characteristics and energy levels of AlMq₂OH have been analyzed systematically to study the electronic transition mechanism in AlMq₂OH. For comparison and calibration, bis(8‐quinolinolato)aluminum(III) hydroxide complex (Alq₂OH) has also been examined with these methods using the same basis sets. The lowest singlet excited state (S₁) of AlMq₂OH has been studied by the singles configuration interaction (CIS) method and time‐dependent DFT (TD‐DFT) using a hybrid functional, B3‐LYP, and the 6‐31G* basis set. The lowest singlet electronic transition (S₀ → S₁) of AlMq₂OH is π → π* electronic transitions and primarily localized on the different quinolate ligands. The emission of AlMq₂OH is due to the electron transitions from a phenoxide donor to a pyridyl acceptor from another quinolate ligand including C → C and O → N transference. Two possible electron transfer pathways are presented, one by carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms and the other via metal cation Al³⁺. The comparison between the CIS‐optimized excited‐state structure with the HF ground‐state structure indicates that the geometric shift is mainly confined to the one quinolate and these changes can be easily understood in terms of the nodal patterns of the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals. On the basis of the CIS‐optimized structure of the excited state, TD‐B3‐LYP calculations predict an emission wavelength of 499.78 nm. An absorption wavelength at 380.79 nm on the optimized structure of B3LYP/6‐31G* was predicted. They are comparable to AlMq2OH 485 and 390 nm observed experimentally for photoluminescence and UV‐vis absorption spectra of AlMq₂OH solid thin film on quartz, respectively. Lending theoretical corroboration to recent experimental observations and supposition, the reasons for the blue‐shift of AlMq2OH were revealed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004