Thermodynamic properties of molecular borane phosphines, alane amines, and phosphine alanes and the [BH(4)(-)][PH(4)(+)], [AlH(4)(-)][NH(4)(+)], and [AlH(4)(-)][PH(4)(+)] salts for chemical hydrogen storage systems from ab initio electronic structure theory

The heats of formation for the molecules BH(3)PH(3), BH(2)PH(2), HBPH, AlH(3)NH(3), AlH(2)NH(2), HAlNH, AlH(3)PH(3), AlH(2)PH(2), HAlPH, AlH(4)(-), PH(3), PH(4), and PH(4)(+), as well as the diatomics BP, AlN, and AlP, have been calculated by using ab initio molecular orbital theory. The coupled cluster with single and double excitations and perturbative triples method (CCSD(T)) was employed for the total valence electronic energies. Correlation consistent basis sets were used, up through the augmented quadruple-zeta, to extrapolate to the complete basis set limit. Additional d core functions were used for Al and P. Core/valence, scalar relativistic, and spin-orbit corrections were included in an additive fashion to predict the atomization energies. Geometries were calculated at the CCSD(T) level up through at least aug-cc-pVTZ and frequencies were calculated at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ level. The heats of formation of the salts [BH(4)(-)][PH(4)(+)](s), [AlH(4)(-)][NH(4)(+)](s), and [AlH(4)(-)][PH(4)(+)](s) have been estimated by using an empirical expression for the lattice energy and the calculated heats of formation of the two component ions. The calculations show that both AlH(3)NH(3)(g) and [AlH(4)(-)][NH(4)(+)](s) can serve as good hydrogen storage systems that release H(2) in a slightly exothermic process. In addition, AlH(3)PH(3) and the salts [AlH(4)(-)][PH(4)(+)] and [BH(4)(-)][PH(4)(+)] have the potential to serve as H(2) storage systems. The hydride affinity of AlH(3) is calculated to be -70.4 kcal/mol at 298 K. The proton affinity of PH(3) is calculated to be 187.8 kcal/mol at 298 K in excellent agreement with the experimental value of 188 kcal/mol. PH(4) is calculated to be barely stable with respect to loss of a hydrogen to form PH(3).     

Thermochemical properties of HxNO molecules and ions from ab initio electronic structure theory

Coupled-cluster calculations through noniterative triple excitations were used to compute optimized structures, atomization energies at 0 K, and heats of formation at 0 and 298 K for NH2O, HNOH, NH2O-, NH2OH+, NH3OH+, HNO-, and HON. These molecules are important in the gas-phase oxidation of NH3, as well as its solution-phase chemistry. The O-H, N-H, and N-O bond energies of these molecules are given and compared. The N-H and O-H bond energies are quite low, and, for NH2OH, the O-H bond is weaker than the N-H bond (by 7.5 kcal/mol). The energetics for a variety of ionic chemical processes in the gas phase, including the electron affinities of NH2O and HNO, the proton affinities of NH2O and NH2OH, and the acidities of NH2OH and NH2O, are given. The compounds are weak bases and weak acids in the gas phase. Solvation effects were included at the PCM and COSMO levels. The COSMO model gave better values than the PCM model. The relative values for pKa for NH2O and NH2OH are in good agreement with the experimental values, showing both compounds to be very strong bases in aqueous solution with NH2OH being the stronger base by 1.8 pK units at the COSMO level, compared to the experimental pK difference of 1.1+/-0.3 pK units. We predict that NH2OH+ will not be formed in aqueous solution, because it is a very strong acid. Based on the known acidity of NH3OH+, we predict pKa(NH2OH+)=-5.4 at the COSMO level, which is in good agreement with the experimental estimate of pKa(NH2OH+)=-7+/-2.     

Thermodynamic properties of the C5, C6, and C8 n-alkanes from ab initio electronic structure theory

The heats of formation for the n-alkanes C(n)H(n+2) for n = 5, 6, and 8 have been calculated using ab initio molecular orbital theory. Coupled-cluster calculations with perturbative triples (CCSD(T)) were employed for the total valence electronic energies. Correlation-consistent basis sets were used, up through the augmented quadruple zeta, to extrapolate to the complete basis set limit. Geometries were optimized at the B3LYP/TZVP and MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ levels. The MP2 geometries were used in the CCSD(T) calculations. Frequencies were determined at the density functional level (B3LYP/TZVP), and scaled zero point energies were calculated from the B3LYP frequencies. Core/valence, scalar relativistic, and spin-orbit corrections were included in an additive fashion to predict the atomization energies. The core/valence corrections are not small, (approximately 1.1 kcal/mol per carbon unit) and cannot be neglected for chemical accuracy. The calculated deltaH(298)f values are -35.0, -40.2, and -50.2 kcal/mol for C5H12, C6H14, and C8H18, respectively, in excellent agreement with the respective experimental values of -35.11 +/- 0.19, -39.89 +/- 0.19, and -49.90 +/- 0.31 kcal/mol. Isodesmic reaction energies are presented for some simple reactions involving C8H18 and are shown not to be strongly method dependent.     

Free energies for degradation reactions of 1,2,3-trichloropropane from ab initio electronic structure theory

Electronic structure methods were used to calculate the gas and aqueous phase reaction energies for reductive dechlorination (i.e., hydrogenolysis), reductive β-elimination, dehydrochlorination, and nucleophilic substitution by OH? of 1,2,3-trichloropropane. The thermochemical properties ΔH(f)°(298.15 K), S°(298.15 K, 1 bar), and ΔG(S)(298.15 K, 1 bar) were calculated by using ab initio electronic structure calculations, isodesmic reactions schemes, gas-phase entropy estimates, and continuum solvation models for 1,2,3-trichloropropane and several likely degradation products: CH3?CHCl?CH2Cl, CH2Cl?CH2?CH2Cl, C?H2?CHCl?CH2Cl, CH2Cl?C?H?CH2Cl, CH2═CCl?CH2Cl, cis-CHCl═CH?CH2Cl, trans-CHCl═CH?CH2Cl, CH2═CH?CH2Cl, CH2Cl?CHCl?CH2OH, CH2Cl?CHOH?CH2Cl, CH2═CCl?CH2OH, CH2═COH?CH2Cl, cis-CHOH═CH?CH2Cl, trans-CHOH═CH?CH2Cl, CH(═O)?CH2?CH2Cl, and CH3?C(═O)?CH2Cl. On the basis of these thermochemical estimates, together with a Fe(II)/Fe(III) chemical equilibrium model for natural reducing environments, all of the reactions studied were predicted to be very favorable in the standard state and under a wide range of pH conditions. The most favorable reaction was reductive β-elimination (ΔG(rxn)° ≈ ?32 kcal/mol), followed closely by reductive dechlorination (ΔG(rxn)° ≈ ?27 kcal/mol), dehydrochlorination (ΔG(rxn)° ≈ ?27 kcal/mol), and nucleophilic substitution by OH? (ΔG(rxn)° ≈ ?25 kcal/mol). For both reduction reactions studied, it was found that the first electron-transfer step, yielding the intermediate C?H2?CHCl?CH2Cl and the CH2Cl?C?H?CH2Cl species, was not favorable in the standard state (ΔG(rxn)° ≈ +15 kcal/mol) and was predicted to occur only at relatively high pH values. This result suggests that reduction by natural attenuation is unlikely.     

Ammine magnesium borohydride complex as a new material for hydrogen storage: structure and properties of Mg(BH4)2.2NH3

The ammonia complex of magnesium borohydride Mg(BH4)2.2NH3 (I), which contains 16.0 wt % hydrogen, is a potentially promising material for hydrogen storage. This complex was synthesized by thermal decomposition of a hexaaammine complex Mg(BH4)2.6NH3 (II), which crystallizes in the cubic space group Fm3 m with unit cell parameter a=10.82(1) A and is isostructural to Mg(NH3) 6Cl2. We solved the structure of I that crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pcab with unit cell parameters a=17.4872(4) A, b=9.4132(2) A, c=8.7304(2) A, and Z=8. This structure is built from individual pseudotetrahedral molecules Mg(BH4)2.2NH3 containing one bidentate BH4 group and one tridentate BH4 group that pack into a layered crystal structure mediated by N-H...H-B dihydrogen bonds. Complex I decomposes endothermically starting at 150 degrees C, with a maximum hydrogen release rate at 205 degrees C, which makes it competitive with ammonia borane BH 3NH3 as a hydrogen storage material.     

Effective force field for liquid hydrogen fluoride from ab initio molecular dynamics simulation using the force-matching method

A recently developed force-matching method for obtaining effective force fields for condensed matter systems from ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations has been applied to fit a simple nonpolarizable two-site pairwise force field for liquid hydrogen fluoride. The ab initio MD in this case was a Car-Parrinello (CP) MD simulation of 64 HF molecules at nearly ambient conditions within the Becke-Lee-Yang-Parr approximation to the electronic density functional theory. The force-matching procedure included a fit of short-ranged nonbonded forces, bonded forces, and atomic partial charges. The performance of the force-match potential was examined for the gas-phase dimer and for the liquid phase at various temperatures. The model was able to reproduce correctly the bent structure and energetics of the gas-phase dimer, while the results for the structural properties, self-diffusion, vibrational spectra, density, and thermodynamic properties of liquid HF were compared to both experiment and the CP MD simulation. The force-matching model performs well in reproducing nearly all of the liquid properties as well as the aggregation behavior at different temperatures. The model is computationally cheap and compares favorably to many more computationally expensive potential energy functions for liquid HF.     

Theoretical analysis of the electronic structure and molecular properties of thioborine,HSB and comparison with related compounds. An ab initio mo-cal

Ab initio calculations on the thioborine molecule have been performed. Ionization potentials, force constants and geometry parameters are calculated in fair agreement with experimental values. A preliminary investigation of the sensitivity by nucleophilic attack has also been performed, indicating a rather strong tendency to undergo that type of reaction.     

Theoretical calculations of hypersurfaces of the C chemical shift anisotropy in the COHN hydrogen bond and the benefit for the ab initio structure determination

We investigated the influence of structural changes on the anisotropic part of the carbonyl ¹³C chemical shift tensor in a model complex containing hydrogen bonded cyanuric acid and pyrrole. The model was chosen for its chemical resemblance to cyameluric acid. In the solid state this compound comprises three different hydrogen bonds which are well distinguishable based on the anisotropy parameters δ_aniso and η of the carbonyl ¹³C atoms. The variation of six relevant structural variables in the model system produced hypersurfaces for the isotropic shift, δ_aniso and η. Our goal was to investigate whether such surfaces can be used for the ab initio structure determination of hydrogen bonds. With a medium size basis set it could be shown that although the absolute values differ DFT describes the relative change in δ_aniso and η close to the quality of MP2 calculations. Due to the high dimensionality of the hypersurface we had to reduce the number of variables in our study. We systematically created subsurfaces each described by three of the six variables and investigated their isolated influence on the NMR observables. We identified the most important structure parameters and on this base built a minimal model. For a fixed NO distance the hydrogen bond arrangement was altered by two angular variations and one dihedral distortion. In this model evidence was found that the η surfaces for different NO distances exhibit a uniform shape and can be transformed into one another by a simple shift and multiplication by a mean factor. Furthermore, the experimental parameters δ_aniso and η of cyameluric acid were taken as a base for the extraction of structures from the hypersurfaces. δ_aniso and η unequivocally selected ensembles of similar structure and the COHN arrangement in two of the three cyameluric hydrogen bonds could be predicted with good quality from the theoretical model. Our results show that it is possible to predict the distance and at least qualitatively the orientation in a hydrogen bond environment from an analysis of the anisotropic part of the ¹³C chemical shift tensor.     

Density functional theory and ab initio study of electronic and electrochemistry properties of the tetranuclear sandwich complex [FeIII4(H2O)2(PW9O34)2]6-

Quantum chemistry calculations have been performed to unravel the electronic and electrochemical properties of a FeIII-sandwich polyoxometalate. Using a combination of methods, it is shown that in these clusters the first reduction occurs in the so-called external Fe, which is bonded to a water ligand. Calculations also show that the electron reductions are coupled with protonation processes, in full agreement with existing experimental results.     

The structure of 5-cyanoindole in the ground and the lowest electronically excited singlet states, deduced from rotationally resolved electronic spectroscopy and ab initio theory

The structure and electronic properties of the electronic ground and the lowest excited singlet states of 5-cyanoindole (5CI) were determined using rotationally resolved spectroscopy of the vibrationless electronic origin of 5CI. In contrast to most other indole derivatives, the lowest excited state of 5CI is determined to be of L(a) character. The conventional approximate coupled cluster singles and doubles model (CC2) fails to describe the geometry of the excited state correctly. Nevertheless, scaling the spin components of equal and opposite spins within the CC2 model as proposed by Hellweg et al. (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2008, 10, 1159) resulted in very good geometry parameters for the excited state.     

Internal vibrations of the Li(NH3)4+ complex analyzed from ab initio, density functional theory, and the classical spring network model

We report our theoretical findings regarding internal vibrations of the Li(NH 3) 4 (+) complex which have been studied using three different methods, namely, a classical spring network model, density functional theory, and ab initio Hartree-Fock plus M?ller-Plesset correlation energy correction truncated at second-order. The equilibrium Li...N and N...N distances are found to be 2.12 and 3.47 A, respectively, in good agreement with the experimental data. The theoretically determined vibrational frequencies of the lowest modes are in good agreement with those extracted from inelastic X-ray scattering measurements. From group theory considerations, the internal vibrations of Li(NH 3) 4 (+) complexes resemble those of a tetrahedral object. Further experimental investigation is suggested.     

Structural and electronic properties of Si n, Si n+, and AlSi n-1 (n=2-13) clusters: theoretical investigation based on ab initio molecular orbital theory

The geometric and electronic structures of Si(n), Si(n) (+), and AlSi(n-1) clusters (2< or =n< or =13) have been investigated using the ab initio molecular orbital theory under the density functional theory formalism. The hybrid exchange-correlation energy function (B3LYP) and a standard split-valence basis set with polarization functions [6-31G(d)] were employed for this purpose. Relative stabilities of these clusters have been analyzed based on their binding energies, second difference in energy (Delta (2)E) and fragmentation behavior. The equilibrium geometry of the neutral and charged Si(n) clusters show similar structural growth. However, significant differences have been observed in the electronic structure leading to their different stability pattern. While for neutral clusters, the Si(10) is magic, the extra stability of the Si(11) (+) cluster over the Si(10) (+) and Si(12) (+) bears evidence for the magic behavior of the Si(11) (+) cluster, which is in excellent agreement with the recent experimental observations. Similarly for AlSi(n-1) clusters, which is isoelectronic with Si(n) (+) clusters show extra stability of the AlSi(10) cluster suggesting the influence of the electronic structures for different stabilities between neutral and charged clusters. The ground state geometries of the AlSi(n-1) clusters show that the impurity Al atom prefers to substitute for the Si atom, that has the highest coordination number in the host Si(n) cluster. The fragmentation behavior of all these clusters show that while small clusters prefers to evaporate monomer, the larger ones dissociate into two stable clusters of smaller size.     

Insights into the structure and dynamics of a room-temperature ionic liquid: ab initio molecular dynamics simulation studies of 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF6]) and the [bmim][PF6]-CO2 mixture

Ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) studies have been carried out on liquid 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF6]) and its mixture with CO2 using the Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics (CPMD) method. Results from AIMD and empirical potential molecular dynamics (MD) have been compared and were found to differ in some respects. With a strong resemblance to the crystal, the AIMD simulated neat liquid exhibits many cation-anion hydrogen bonds, a feature that is almost absent in the MD results. The anions were observed to be strongly polarized in the condensed phase. The addition of CO2 increased the probability of this hydrogen bond formation. CO2 molecules in the vicinity of the ions of [bmim][PF6] exhibit larger deviations from linearity in their instantaneous configurations. The polar environment of the liquid induces a dipole moment in CO2, lifting the degeneracy of its bending mode. The calculated splitting in the vibrational mode compares well with infrared spectroscopic data. The solvation of CO2 in [bmim][PF6] is primarily facilitated by the anion, as seen from the radial and spatial distribution functions. CO2 molecules were found to be aligned tangential to the PF6 spheres with their most probable location being the octahedral voids of the anion. The structural data obtained from AIMD simulations can serve as a benchmark to refine interaction potentials for this important room-temperature ionic liquid.     

Synthesis, X-Ray characterization and molecular structure of a novel supramolecular compound of antimony(III); Theoretical investigation on molecular and electronic properties based on the ab initio HF and various DFT methods

A new compound of Sb(III), formulated as (pipzH₂)[Sb₂(pydc)₄].2H₂O (1), was synthesized and characterized by IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and single crystal X-ray diffractometry. The compound (1) is a member of a great family of supramolecular metallic compounds recently derived from a proton transfer ion pair i.e. (pipzH₂)(pydc), where pipz is piperazine and pydcH₂ is pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid. In the title compound with a binuclear structure, Sb(III) atoms are pentacoordinated and the coordination polyhedra show distortion from a regular trigonal bipyramid due to stereochemically active lone pair on metallic centers. The four (pydc)^2? ligands of the formula unit behave differently against metallic centers, i.e. two act as tridentate, and the other two as bidentate ligands. A variety of intermolecular O-H…O, N-H…O and C-H?O hydrogen bonds involving water molecules, cationic and anionic fragments are responsible for the extension of the supramolecular network of the compound. Optimized geometries were calculated for the title compound with the HF, B3LYP, B3PW91, B3P86 and B1LYP methods of theory by using the combination of LanL2DZ basis set with standard basis set 6-31G (d,p). The agreement between the optimized and experimental geometries was in the decreasing order: B3P86, B3PW91, B1LYP, B3LYP and HF. Electronic properties of the title compound were also investigated based on the natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis.     

Study of the structure, energetics, and vibrational properties of small ammonia clusters (NH3)n (n = 2-5) using correlated ab initio methods

Equilibrium geometries, interaction energies, and harmonic frequencies of (NH3)n isomers (n = 2-5) have been computed using correlated calculations (MP2) in conjunction with Dunning's aug-cc-pVXZ (X = D, T, Q) basis sets and the Counterpoise procedure. Whenever available, literature values for the binding energy and geometry of dimers and trimers agree well with our data. Low lying isomers for (NH3)4 and (NH3)5 have been found to have similar binding energies (roughly 16 and 20 kcal/mol for the tetramer and pentamer, respectively), perhaps suggesting the presence of a very smooth energy landscape. Using BSSE corrected forces or freezing the monomer structure to its gas phase geometry have been found to have only a weak impact on the energetic and structural properties of the clusters. The effect of zero-point energy (ZPE) on the relative stability of the clusters has been estimated using harmonic frequencies. The latter also highlighted the presence of vibrational fingerprints for the presence of double acceptor ammonia molecules. Many-body effects for (NH3)n isomers (n = 2-4) have been investigated to explore the possibility of building a pairwise interaction model for ammonia. In the frame of the work presented, we have found the 3-body effect to account for 10-15% of the total interaction energy, whereas the 4-body effects may be neglected as first approximation.     

Probing the intrinsic electronic structure of the cubane [4Fe-4S] cluster: nature's favorite cluster for electron transfer and storage

The cubane [4Fe-4S] is the most common multinuclear metal center in nature for electron transfer and storage. Using electrospray, we produced a series of gaseous doubly charged cubane-type complexes, [Fe4S4L4]2- (L = -SC2H5, -SH, -Cl, -Br, -I) and the Se-analogues [Fe4Se4L4]2- (L = -SC2H5, -Cl), and probed their electronic structures with photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional calculations. The photoelectron spectral features are similar among all the seven species investigated, revealing a weak threshold feature due to the minority spins on the Fe centers and confirming the low-spin two-layer model for the [4Fe-4S](2+) core and its "inverted level scheme". The measured adiabatic detachment energies, which are sensitive to the terminal ligand substitution, provide the intrinsic oxidation potentials of the [Fe4S4L4]2- complexes. The calculations revealed a simple correlation between the electron donor property of the terminal thiolate as well as the bridging sulfide with the variation of the intrinsic redox potentials. Our data provide intrinsic electronic structure information of the [4Fe-4S] cluster and the molecular basis for understanding the protein and solvent effects on the redox properties of the [4Fe-4S] active sites.     

Probing the electronic structure,chemical bonding,and excitation spectra of [CuE]+/0/− (E = 14 group element) diatomics employing DFT and ab initio methods

The electronic structure, chemical bonding, and excitation spectra of neutral, cationic, and anionic diatomic molecules of Cu and 14 group elements formulated as [CuE]^+/0/? (E = C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb) were investigated by density functional theory (DFT) and time‐dependent (TD)‐DFT methods. The electronic and bonding properties of the diatomics analyzed by natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis approch revealed a clear picture of the chemical bonding in these species. The spatial organization of the bonding between Cu and E atoms in the [CuE]^+/0/? (E = Si, Ge, Sn, Pb) molecules can easily be recognized by the cut‐plane electron localization function representations. Particular emphasis was given on the absorption spectra of the [CuE]^+/0/? which were simulated using the results of TD‐DFT calculations employing the hybrid Coulomb‐attenuating CAM‐B3LYP functional. The absorption bands have thoroughly been analyzed and assignments of the contributing principal electronic transitions associated to individual excitations have been made. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Electronic structure and molecular properties of the heptacyanorhenate [Re(CN)7]3- and [Re(CN)7]4- complexes

We report scalar relativistic and Dirac scattered wave (DSW) calculations on the heptacyanorhenate [Re(CN)7](3-) and Re(CN)7(4-) complexes. Both the ground and lowest excited states of each complex split by spin-orbit interaction by about 0.3 eV. The calculated molecular electronegativities chi indicate that the open-shell complex is less reactive than the closed-shell complex, in agreement with experimental observations. The calculations indicate that the ground state spin density is highly anisotropic and that spin-orbit effects are responsible for the magnetic anisotropy of the molecular g tensor of the Re(CN)7(3-) complex. The calculated optical electronic transitions for both complexes with a polarizable continuum model using a time-dependent density functional (TDDFT)/B3LYP formalism are in reasonable agreement with those observed in the absorption spectrum.