Ab Initio Study of the Excited State Decomposition Reactions of Monothioformic Acid

IntroductionTherehasbeenconsiderableinterestinrecentyearsinthetheoreticalstudyofthemonothioformicacid1ed.However,mostofthemhaveconcentIatedontheelectronicproperties,isomerizationandintramolecularhydrogenshiftreactionsoftheacid,andstudiesonitschemicalreactionshaverarelybeenrepofted.Recently,wereportedonthetheoreticalstudyofthegroundstateunimolecularpyrolysisofmonothioforndcacid,andtheresultsshowedthathightemperatureisneededforitsgroundstatedecompositionreactions.Asapotentialinterstellarcompoun…     

第一激发态HOOO裂解反应的理论研究

利用量子化学方法对第一激发态HOOO的裂解反应进行了理论研究.所有驻点(反应物、产物和过渡态)的几何结构优化和振动分析都是在CASSCF/6-31 G(d,p)理论水平下进行的.反应路径上的选择点及驻点都在CASPT2/6-31 G(d,p)//CASSCF(19,13)/6-31 G(d,p)和MRCI/6-31 G(d,p)//CASSCF(19,13)/6-31 G(d,p)理论水平下进行单点能量校正.CASSCF,CASPT2和MRCI水平的理论计算结果显示,第一激发态HOOO的裂解反应包含一个对称性变化的过程.它首先通过了一个Cs对称性的过渡态,然后逐渐变化为线性结构,最终生成产物O2(3Σg-)和OH(2Π).     

Computational Photochemistry of the Azobenzene Scaffold of Sudan I and Orange II Dyes: Excited‐State Proton Transfer and Deactivation via Conical Intersections

We employed the complete active space self‐consistent field (CASSCF) and its multistate second‐order perturbation (MS‐CASPT2) methods to explore the photochemical mechanism of 2‐hydroxyazobenzene, the molecular scaffold of Sudan I and Orange II dyes. It was found that the excited‐state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) along the bright diabatic ¹ππ* state is barrierless and ultrafast. Along this diabatic ¹ππ* relaxation path, the system can jump to the dark ¹nπ* state via the ¹ππ*/¹nπ* crossing point. However, ESIPT in this dark state is largely inhibited owing to a sizeable barrier. We also found two deactivation channels that decay ¹ππ* keto and ¹nπ* enol species to the ground state via two energetically accessible S₁/S₀ conical intersections. Finally, we encountered an interesting phenomenon in the excited‐state hydrogen‐bonding strength: it is reinforced in the ¹ππ* state, whereas it is reduced in the ¹nπ* state. The present work sets the stage for understanding the photophysics and photochemistry of Sudan I–IV, Orange II, Ponceau 2R, Ponceau 4R, and azo violet.     

Polarizable continuum model with the fragment molecular orbital-based time-dependent density functional theory

The polarizable continuum model (PCM) for describing the solvent effect was combined with the fragment molecular orbital-based time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). Several levels of the many-body expansion were implemented, and the importance of the many-body contributions to the singlet-excited states was discussed. To calibrate the accuracy, we performed a number of the model calculations using our method and the regular TDDFT in solution, applying them to phenol and polypeptides at the long-range corrected BLYP/6-31G* level. It was found that for systems up to 192 atoms the largest error in the excitation energy was 0.006 eV (vs. the regular TDDFT/PCM of the full system). The solvent shifts and the conformer effects were discussed, and the scaling was found to be nearly linear. Finally, we applied our method to the lowest singlet excitation of the photoactive yellow protein (PYP) in aqueous solution and determined the excitation energy to be in reasonable agreement with experiment. The excitation energy analysis provided the contributions of individual residues, and the main factors as well as their solvent shifts were determined.     

Double Bond Migration Mechanism in Allyl Systems Involving the Hydroxide Ion. 2. Polarizable Continuum Model (PCM)

Isomerization processes of a double bond site in propene and methylthiopropene molecules with the hydroxide ion were studied in the framework of the RHF/6-31+G*, MP2/6-31+G*, and B3LYP/6-31+G* (density functional) ab initio methods. The solvent effect was taken into account using PCM in its IEFPCM and SCIPCM versions. It is shown that to construct a reaction profile for propene rearrangement, it suffices to perform geometry optimization of stationary points within the Born–Onsager model with further refinement of the energy using IEFPCM. The reaction profiles obtained display that the multiple bond migration mechanism involving the hydroxide ion proton is energetically preferable to the two-stage mechanism forming a solvated carbanion for the propene molecule and for the methylthiopropene molecule that forms a much more stable carbanion.     

Polarizable Atomistic Calculation of Site Energy Disorder in Amorphous Alq3

A polarizable molecular dynamics simulation and calculation scheme for site energy disorder is presented in amorphous tris(8‐hydroxyquinolinato)aluminum (Alq₃) by means of the charge response kernel (CRK) method. The CRK fit to the electrostatic potential and the tight‐binding approximation are introduced, which enables modeling of the polarizable electrostatic interaction for a large molecule systematically from an ab initio calculation. The site energy disorder for electron and hole transfers is calculated in amorphous Alq₃ and the effect of the polarization on the site energy disorder is discussed.     

异核Au基电荷转移配合物的结构与Au-Rh配合物取代基效应和激发态的理论研究

采用SVWN、XαVWN和MP2方法优化了Au基电荷转移配合物[Au^ⅠM^Ⅰ(CNH)₂(PH₂CH₂PH₂)₂]²⁺(M=Co(1),Rh (2)和Ir(3))的基态结构。计算表明3种方法都能描述Au-M弱相互作用(Au-M距离在0.268～0.302 nm范围内,伸缩振动频率在99～139     

Ab initio study on the electronic structures of styrene in the Franck-Condon region

The electronic structures of styrene in the Franck‐Condon region have been theoretically examined by means of ab initio complete active space self‐consistent field (CASSCF) and the second order multireference Møller‐Plesset calculations. The optimized structure of styrene in S₀ is planar but the torsional motion of the phenyl group is very floppy. The S₁ state is assigned to the local π–π* excitation within the benzene ring. On the other hand, S₂, above S₁ by 0.561 eV, is assigned to a state that resembles the so‐called V‐state of ethylene. The transition intensity of S₀–S₁ is weak, while that of S₀–S₂ is strong. This is in good agreement with the experimental absorption spectrum where the S₀–S₁ and S₀–S₂ transitions are in the energy range of 290–220 nm. The optimized geometry of S₁, characterized by an enlarged benzene ring and its vibrational analyses, further justifies the assignment of the S₁ state. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 9: 928–937, 2002     

Quantum chemical modeling of photoadsorption properties of the nitrogen-vacancy point defect in diamond

Quantum chemical calculations of geometric and electronic structure and vertical transition energies for several low-lying excited states of the neutral and negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy point defect in diamond (NV(0) and NV(-)) have been performed employing various theoretical methods and basis sets and using finite model NC(n)H(m) clusters. Unpaired electrons in the ground doublet state of NV(0) and triplet state of NV(-) are found to be localized mainly on three carbon atoms around the vacancy and the electronic density on the nitrogen and rest of C atoms is only weakly disturbed. The lowest excited states involve different electronic distributions on molecular orbitals localized close to the vacancy and their wave functions exhibit a strong multireference character with significant contributions from diffuse functions. CASSCF calculations underestimate excitation energies for the anionic defect and overestimate those for the neutral system. The inclusion of dynamic electronic correlation at the CASPT2 level leads to a reasonable agreement (within 0.25 eV) of the calculated transition energy to the lowest excited state with experiment for both systems. Several excited states for NV(-) are found in the energy range of 2-3 eV, but only for the 1(3)E and 5(3)E states the excitation probabilities from the ground state are significant, with the first absorption band calculated at approximately 1.9 eV and the second lying 0.8-1 eV higher in energy than the first one. For NV(0), we predict the following order of electronic states: 1(2)E (0.0), 1(2)A(2) (approximately 2.4 eV), 2(2)E (2.7-2.8 eV), 1(2)A(1), 3(2)E (approximately 3.2 eV and higher).     

Effects of the Au(I)–Au(I) closed‐shell attraction on the electronic and phosphorescent properties in a series of coordination compounds: A theoretical study

The Au(I)–Au(I) closed‐shell or aurophilic attraction has been the subject of interest in the experimental and theoretical chemistry fields, due to the intriguing properties associated to it. The presence of phosphorescence in “aurophilic” compounds has been addressed to a wide range of applications, but it has not yet been fully understood. A theoretical study on the electronic and phosphorescent properties of the following series of dinuclear gold complexes has been performed: [Au₂(dmpm) (i‐mnt)] ( 1 ), [Au₂(μ‐Me‐TU) (μ‐dppm)] ( 2 ), and [Au₂(μ‐G)(μ‐dmpe)] ( 3 ). Full geometry optimizations at the second‐order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) were carried out for each of the species. These calculations made evident that, at the ground‐state geometry, the Au(I) cations allocated at the center of the ring show a short Au–Au distance below the sum of the van der Waals radii, at the range of the aurophilic attraction. An intermolecular Au(I)–Au(I) closed‐shell attraction for a pair of the systems under study is found. This attraction is comparable to that of the hydrogen bonds. The phosphorescent properties experimentally observed for this series were also characterized through ab initio techniques. The obtained results allow to fit reasonably the excitation energies with the experimental data and to identify a correlation between the strength of the Au(I)–Au(I) interaction and the phosphorescent behavior. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011     

Excited State Dynamics of Isolated 6- and 8-Hydroxyquinoline Molecules

The photoinduced dynamics of isolated n-hydroxyquinoline (nHQ) molecules (n=6,8) was investigated in femtosecond pump-probe experiments. A qualitative difference was found between 8HQ and 6HQ. After an initial rapid decay corresponding to the departure of the initial wavepacket out of the Franck-Condon region of the excitation, the 8HQ probe signal decays to zero in 0.37 ps whereas a much longer time constant of 10.4 ps is observed in 6HQ. This interrogates on the role played by the intramolecular H-bond N HO which is at play the 8HQ molecule. Ab-initio were performed at the MCSCF/aug-cc-pVDZ level on the 8HQ molecule to help the discussion. A complex energy landscape was found, which includes a conical intersection.     

双核Au(I)磷硫配合物激发态性质和金属间弱相互作用的从头算研究

采用MP2和CIS方法分别优化双核Au(I)磷硫配合物, [Au₂(SHCH₂SH)₂]^2＋ (1), [Au₂(SHCH₂SH)(PH₂CH₂PH₂)]^2＋(2), [Au₂(PH₂CH₂PH₂)₂]^2＋ (3), [Au₂(SHCH₂SH)(SCH₂S)] (4), [Au₂(PH₂CH₂PH₂)(SCH₂S)] (5)和[Au₂(SCH₂S)₂]^2－ (6), 基态和激发态的结构. 计算结果表明基态时1～6中存在Au(I)-Au(I)弱吸引作用, 激发态时1～5的金属间相互作用明显增强而6则减弱, 这与实验研究结果一致. 单激发组态相互作用计算揭示: 磷硫配体的更替使得Au(I)配合物跃迁性质呈现MC→MMLCT→MLCT的规律性变化(MC: 金属中心; MMLCT: 金属金属到配体电荷转移; MLCT: 金属到配体电荷转移).     

Theoretical investigation of anthracene-9,10-endoperoxide vertical singlet and triplet excitation spectra

The electronic absorption spectrum of anthracene-9,10-endoperoxide (APO) has been investigated by means of multiconfigurational multi-state second order perturbation theory on complete active space self-consistent field wavefunctions (MS-CASPT2/CASSCF) and two single reference methods: time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) and coupled cluster of second order (CC2). After testing several active spaces and basis sets, a CAS (14,12) active space together with an ANO-S basis set was found an appropriate choice to describe the vertical singlet and triplet electronic states of APO. Unfortunately, TD-DFT and CC2 methods cannot reproduce the MS-CASPT2 and experimental spectrum. Our MS-CASPT2//CASSCF(14,12)/ANO-S calculations predict a predominant pi*(OO)sigma*(OO) character for the lowest singlet excited state S(1) at 3.85 eV. Accordingly, the lowest singlet state of APO should be responsible for homolysis of the endoperoxide group. The next two absorbing excited states, experimentally proposed to be responsible for singlet oxygen production and therefore connected to the biological interest of APO, have been computed vertically at 4.34 and 4.59 eV and assigned to pi(CC)pi*(CC) and pi*(OO)pi*(CC) transitions, respectively. The vertical triplet electronic spectrum follows the singlet vertical spectrum ordering. The high density of triplet and singlet excited states of different nature within few eV points to the possibility of intersystem crossings between potential energy surfaces of different multiplicity.     

具有膦配体的异核d10-d8配合物结构: Au-Pt配合物激发态性质的理论研究

采用MP2和DFT方法优化一系列d10-d8配合物, [MM’(CN)2(PH2CH2PH2)2]＋[M＝AuI, M′＝PtII (1), PdII (2), NiII (3); M’＝PtII, M＝AgI (4), CuI (5)]的基态结构, 其中BH&;H方法得到的金属间距离最接近相应的实验值. 对于经典Au-Pt配合物: 使用多种方法优化[AuPt(CN)2(PMe2CH2PMe2)2]＋(1Me)的结构以验证取代基近似的合理性, 采用单激发组态相互作用方法优化了1的两个低能三重激发态并且考查了环境效应(抗衡离子和溶剂分子)对其较低能激发态发射光谱的影响. 计算结果显示1的两个低能三重激发态分别产生399和234 nm发射, 属于金属中心(Metal-centered, MC)跃迁和分子内电荷转移(Intramolecular Charge Transfer, ICT)的混合性质; 由于电子激发到成键轨道, 使得激发态金属间距离相对基态变短; 环境效应使得较低能的MC/ICT激发态的发射光谱红移, 如1•ClO的发射在473 nm处, 与实验测得[AuPt(CN)2(PCy2CH2PCy2)2]•ClO4的451 nm固体发射相对应.     

Theoretical study on the mechanism of the reaction acetone + OH: channels towards the formation of methanol

Two possible pathways for the acetone + OH reaction towards the formation of methanol have been examined theoretically. Our results show that both channels are characterized by a substantial activation barrier and reject the possibility of a significant CH₃CO + CH₃OH channel. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Low‐Lying Excited States of 2,2′‐Bithiophene: A Theoretical Analysis

The low‐energy regions of the singlet→singlet, singlet→triplet, and triplet→triplet electronic spectra of 2,2′‐bithiophene are studied using multiconfigurational second‐order perturbation theory (CASPT2) and extended atomic natural orbitals (ANO) basis sets. The computed vertical, adiabatic, and emission transition energies are in agreement with the available experimental data. The two lowest singlet excited states, 1¹B_u and 2¹B_u, are computed to be degenerate, a novel feature of the system to be borne in mind during the rationalization of its photophysics. As regards the observed high triplet quantum yield of the molecule, it is concluded that the triplet states 2³A_g and 2³B_u, separated about 0.4 eV from the two lowest singlet excited states, can be populated by intersystem crossing from nonplanar singlet states.     

A CASSCF/CASPT2 insight into excited‐state intramolecular proton transfer of four imidazole derivatives

Excited‐state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) of four imidazole derivatives, 2‐(2′‐hydroxyphenyl)imidazole (HPI), 2‐(2′‐hydroxyphenyl)benzimidazole (HPBI), 2‐(2′‐hydroxyphenyl)‐1H‐phenanthro[9,10‐d]imidazole (HPPI) and 2‐(2′‐hydroxyphenyl)‐1‐phenyl‐1H‐phenanthro[9,10‐d]imidazole (HPPPI), were studied by the sophisticated CASSCF/CASPT2 methodology. The state‐averaged SA‐CASSCF method was used to optimize their geometry structures of S₀ and S₁ electronic states, and the CASPT2 calculations were used for the calibration of all the single‐point energies, including the absorption and emission spectra. A reasonable agreement is found between the theoretical predictions and the available experimental spectral data. The forward ESIPT barriers of four target compounds gradually decrease with the increase of molecular size. On the basis of the present calculations, it is a plausible speculation that the larger the size, the faster is the ESIPT rate, and eventually, HPPPI molecule can undergo a completely barrierless ESIPT to the more stable S₁ keto form. Additionally, taking HPI as a representative example, the radiationless decays connecting the S₀ and S₁/S₀ conical intersection structures were also studied by constructing a linearly interpolated internal coordinate (LIIC) reaction path. The qualitative analysis shows that the LIIC barrier of HPI in the keto form is remarkably lower than that of its enol‐form, indicating that the former has a big advantage over the latter in the nonradiative process. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.