Computational insight into the electronic structure and absorption spectra of lithium complexes of N-confused tetraphenylporphyrin

The present work is a theoretical investigation on lithium complexes of N-confused tetraphenylporphyrins (aka inverted) employing density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT, using the B3LYP, CAM-B3LYP, and M06-2X functionals in conjunction with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set. The purpose of the present study is to calculate the electronic structure and the bonding of the complexes to explain the unusual coordination environment in which Li is found experimentally and how the Li binding affects the Q and the Soret bands. The calculations show that, unlike a typical tetrahedral Li(+) cation, this Li forms a typical bond with one N and interacts with the remaining two N atoms, and it is located in the right place to form an agostic-like interaction with the internal C atom. The reaction energy, the enthalpy for the formation of the lithium complexes of N-confused porphyrins, and the effect of solvation are also calculated. The insertion of Li into N-confused porphyrin, in the presence of tetrahydrofuran, is exothermic with a reaction energy calculated to be as high as -72.4 kcal/mol using the lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide reagent. Finally, there is agreement in the general shape among the vis-UV spectra determined with different functionals and the experimentally available ones. The calculated geometries are in agreement with crystallographic data, where available.     

A Quantum Chemical Study of the Ground and Excited State Electronic Structures of Carbazole Oligomers with and without Triarylborane Substitutes

Recent experimental investigation (Reitzenstein and Lambert,Macromolecules, 2009, 42, 773) indicated that the quite different optical properties of 2,7- and 3,6-linkage triarylboryl carbazole oligomers may arise from the different nature of their low-lying excited states: a low-lying delocalized within-backbone excitation in longer 2,7-linked oligomers vs a backbone-to-sidechain charge-transfer (CT) excitation independent of the polymerization length in 3,6-linked oligomers. Here in this paper, two long-range corrected functionals, CAM-B3LYP and ωB97X, are applied together with the traditional B3LYP functional in time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations to systematically investigate the low-lying electronic excitations in both oligomers. Our calculations indicate that an extensive conjugation exists between monomer molecular orbitals in 2,7-linked oligomers, which is absent in those of 3,6-linked structures, resulting in a considerable narrowing of the HOMO-LUMO gap of their backbone moiety, while having little effect on the side-chains. CAM-B3LYP and ωB97x calculations confirm that the lowest-energy absorption is a within-backbone excitation in longer 2,7-linked oligomers as opposed to a backbone to side-chain charge transfer excitation in 2,7-linked oligmers of shorter length and 3,6-linked oligomers of any length. All these findings are consistent with the experimental findings and the qualitative energy diagram proposed by Reitzenstein and Lambert.     

What is the best DFT functional for vibronic calculations? A comparison of the calculated vibronic structure of the S1-S0 transition of phenylacetylene with cavity ringdown band intensities

The sensitivity of vibronic calculations to electronic structure methods and basis sets is explored and compared to accurate relative intensities of the vibrational bands of phenylacetylene in the S(1)(A(1)B(2)) ← S(0)(X(1)A(1)) transition. To provide a better measure of vibrational band intensities, the spectrum was recorded by cavity ringdown absorption spectroscopy up to energies of 2000 cm(-1) above the band origin in a slit jet sample. The sample rotational temperature was estimated to be about 30 K, but the vibrational temperature was higher, permitting the assignment of many vibrational hot bands. The vibronic structure of the electronic transition was simulated using a combination of time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) electronic structure codes, Franck-Condon integral calculations, and a second-order vibronic model developed previously [Johnson, P. M.; Xu, H. F.; Sears, T. J. J. Chem. Phys. 2006, 125, 164331]. The density functional theory (DFT) functionals B3LYP, CAM-B3LYP, and LC-BLYP were explored. The long-range-corrected functionals, CAM-B3LYP and LC-BLYP, produced better values for the equilibrium geometry transition moment, but overemphasized the vibronic coupling for some normal modes, while B3LYP provided better-balanced vibronic coupling but a poor equilibrium transition moment. Enlarging the basis set made very little difference. The cavity ringdown measurements show that earlier intensities derived from resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) spectra have relative intensity errors.     

Charge-transfer excitations in uranyl tetrachloride ([UO2Cl4]2-): how reliable are electronic spectra from relativistic time-dependent density functional theory?

Four-component relativistic time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) is used to study charge-transfer (CT) excitation energies of the uranyl molecule as well as the uranyl tetrachloride complex. Adiabatic excitation energies and vibrational frequencies of the excited states are calculated for the lower energy range of the spectrum. The results for TD-DFT with the CAM-B3LYP exchange-correlation functional for the [UO(2)Cl(4)](2-) system are in good agreement with the experimentally observed spectrum of this species and agree also rather well with other theoretical data. Use of the global hybrid B3LYP gives qualitatively correct results, while use of the BLYP functional yields results that are qualitatively wrong due to the too low CT states calculated with this functional. The applicability of the overlap diagnostic of Peach et al. (J. Chem. Phys.2008, 128, 044118) to identify such CT excitations is investigated for a wide range of vertical transitions using results obtained with three different approximate exchange-correlation functionals: BLYP, B3LYP, and CAM-B3LYP.     

Assessment of the efficiency of long-range corrected functionals for some properties of large compounds

Using the long-range correction (LC) density functional theory (DFT) scheme introduced by Iikura et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 115, 3540 (2001)] and the Coulomb-attenuating model (CAM-B3LYP) of Yanai et al. [Chem. Phys. Lett. 393, 51 (2004)], we have calculated a series of properties that are known to be poorly reproduced by standard functionals: Bond length alternation of pi-conjugated polymers, polarizabilities of delocalized chains, and electronic spectra of extended dyes. For each of these properties, we present cases in which traditional hybrid functionals do provide accurate results and cases in which they fail to reproduce the correct trends. The quality of the results is assessed with regard to experimental values and/or data arising from electron-correlated wave function approaches. It turns out that (i) both LC-DFT and CAM-B3LYP provide an accurate bond length alternation for polyacetylene and polymethineimine, although for the latter they decrease slightly too rapidly with chain length. (ii) The LC generalized gradient approximation and MP2 polarizabilities of long polyphosphazene and polymethineimine oligomers agree almost perfectly. In the same way, CAM-B3LYP corrects the major part of the B3LYP faults. (iii) LC and CAM techniques do not help in correcting the nonrealistic evolution with chain length of the absorption wavelengths of cyanine derivatives. In addition, though both schemes significantly overestimate the ground to excited state transition energy of substituted anthraquinone dyes, they provide a more consistent picture once a statistical treatment is performed than do traditional hybrid functionals.     

Solvent effects on isomerization and spectral properties of photochromic-switching diarythene derivatives in polar and apolar solutions

The photocyclization behavior and dynamic conformational transition of photochromic switches of diarythene derivatives in solutions are investigated by using the density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Three possible conformations, antiparallel (anti), parallel (para), and twist, for the open-ring isomers of 1,2-bis(2-methylbenzothiophene-3-yl)maleic anhydride are located. Both PCM-B3LYP/6-31G* calculations and MD simulations demonstrate that anti and twist open-ring isomers can interconvert freely in n-hexane and acetonitrile solutions at room temperature. The statistical ratio of twist to anti isomers from MD simulations is 2.09 in n-hexane and 1.07 in CH(3)CN, in qualitative agreement with those (1.18 in n-hexane and 1.05 in CH(3)CN) estimated from Arrhenius analysis of DFT activation energies. The solvent polarity has little influence on the isomerization of open-ring isomers in the ground state. Due to the evident charge transfer upon excitations, the solvent effects on the electronic structures and absorption spectra of low-lying excited states (S(1) and S(2)) are more significant. For such charge-transfer excited states, the long-range corrected functional CAM-B3LYP gives better agreement with the experimental spectra than B3LYP. The solvent polarity and polarization of the charge-transfer excited states are crucial for fabricating the novel functionalized photochromic molecular switches.     

Ferric complexes of 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinones characterized by density functional theory and Raman and UV-vis spectroscopies

Deferiprone and other 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinones are used in metal chelation therapy of iron overload. To investigate the structure and stability of these compounds in the natural aqueous environment, ferric complexes of deferiprone and amino acid maltol conjugates were synthesized and studied by computational and optical spectroscopic methods. The complexation caused characteristic intensity changes, a 300× overall enhancement of the Raman spectrum, and minor changes in UV-vis absorption. The spectra were interpreted on the basis of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The CAM-B3LYP and ωB97XD functionals with CPCM solvent model were found to be the most suitable for simulations of the UV-vis spectra, whereas B3LYP, B3LYPD, B3PW91, M05-2X, M06, LC-BLYP, ωB97XD, and CAM-B3LYP functionals were all useful for simulation of the Raman scattering. Characteristic Raman band frequencies for 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinones were assigned to molecular vibrations. The computed conformer energies consistently suggest the presence of another isomer of the deferiprone-ferric complex in solution, in addition to that found previously by X-ray crystallography. However, the UV-vis and Raman spectra of the two species are similar and could not be resolved. In comparison to UV-vis, the Raman spectra and their combination with calculations appear more promising for future studies of iron sequestrating drugs and artificial metalloproteins as they are more sensitive to structural details.     

Theoretical Study of the Molecular and Electronic Structures of CPDT-TCNQ and Its Difluoro and Dimethyl Derivatives

1 INTRODUCTION Since the discovery of one-dimensional metallic behavior of tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) with tetracyano- quinodimethane (TCNQ)[1], organic charge-transfer (CT) complexes and CT salts have been intensively studied in search of electrically conducting and superconducting properties[2 ～ 6] which are most unusual for an organic material. The most intriguing property is that it is excellent metal with conducti- vity similar to that of metals at room temperature[7, 8]. In these…     

TDDFT studies on the electronic structures and chiroptical properties of mono-tin-substituted Wells-Dawson polyoxotungstates

The UV/CD spectra of tin-bearing acetonyl-substituted Wells-Dawson polyoxotungstates α(1)- and α(2)-[P(2)W(17)O(61){SnCH(2)CH(2)C(═O)}](6-) were systematically investigated using the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method. The electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra were produced over the range of 3.3-5.8 eV. The calculated ECD spectra of the α(1)-R isomer were generally in agreement with the experimental spectra. The CAM-B3LYP hybrid functional was found to predict the excitation energies of tin-containing polyoxotungstates well. The fact that the UV/ECD spectra of α(1)-isomers are different from those of α(2)-isomers demonstrates the effect of the tin substitution site on the chiroptical properties of the studied isomers. The origins of the ECD bands are mainly ascribed to charge-transfer (CT) transitions from oxygen atoms to W atoms, from organic fragments to W atoms, or from the combination of two CT transitions. The results suggest that the organic fragment and polyoxometalate (POM) cage are chiroptical chromophores.     

间位取代卟啉及其锌卟啉的电子吸收光谱

取代的卟啉类衍生物在气敏传感器方面具有广泛的应用前景.本文采用了密度泛函理论(DFT)和含时密度泛函理论(TD-DFT)研究了四种不同取代基的卟啉衍生物(meso位四硝基苯基/四氨基苯基卟啉(NO2PP,NH2PP)及其相应的锌金属卟啉衍生物(NO2ZnPP,NH2ZnPP))的紫外和近紫外光谱特征.利用两种不同的交换相关泛函(广义梯度近似泛函(PBE)和杂化密度泛函(B3LYP))优化了上述四种物质的结构,并应用TD-DFT计算了相应的电子激发能量和振动强度.结果表明,取代卟啉的吸收光谱与大量的电子跃迁有关;与B3LYP泛函预测的光谱相比,PBE泛函所得B带以及Q带的波长位置与实验值更为接近.另外,计算所得硝基取代基卟啉的B带相对于氨基取代基卟啉的B带发生了红移,这与实验现象也保持一致.由于卟啉衍生物的三重激发态在电子转移中有很重要的应用,因此在PBE/6-31G(d)水平上计算了四种物质的最低三重激发态能量,分别为1.426、1.469、1.608和1.581eV.     

Electronic structure and optical properties of isolated and TiO2-grafted free base porphyrins for water oxidation: A challenging test case for DFT and TD-DFT

Seven free base porphyrins employed in dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthetic cells are investigated with the aim of benchmarking the ability of different density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT approaches in reproducing their structure, vertical, and E_0-0 excitation energies and the energy levels alignment (red-ox properties) at the interface with the TiO₂. We find that both vertical and E_0-0 excitation energies are accurately reproduced by range-separated functionals, among which the ω B97X-D delivers the lowest absolute deviations from experiments. When the dye/TiO₂ interface is modeled, the physical interfacial energetics is only obtained when the B3LYP functional is employed; on the other hand, M06-2X (54% of exchange) and the two long-range corrected approaches tested (CAM-B3LYP and ω B97X-D) excessively destabilize the semiconductor conduction band levels with respect to the dye's lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs), predicting no pathway for electron injection. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Theoretical Study on the Electronic Structures and Spectral Properties of 1,8-Naphthalimide Derivatives

The molecular geometries, frontier molecular orbital properties, and absorption and emission properties of three 4-phenoxy-1,8-naphthalimide derivatives, namely 4-phenoxy-N-（2-hydroxyethyl）-1,8-naphthalimide（1）,4-（2-tert-butylphenoxy）-N-（2-hydroxyethyl）-1,8-naphthalimide（2）, and 4-[2,4-di（tert-butyl）]phenoxy-N-（2-hydroxyethyl）-1,8-naphthalimide（3）, are investigated by density functional theory（DFT） and time-dependent density functional theory（TD-DFT） calculations in conjunction with polarizable continuum models（PCMs）. Four functionals and ten basis sets are employed for 1 to calculate the electron transition energies, which were compared with the experimental observations. Our results reveal that the B3LYP/6-311＋G（d,p） method is the best choice to reproduce the experimental spectra. Moreover, the effects of substituents on the molecular geometries, electronic structures, absorption and emission spectra are also studied at the B3LYP/6-311＋G（d,p） level. We find that the gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital（HOMO） and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital（LUMO） decreases with increasing the number of tert-butyl substituents onto the phenoxy groups, suggesting red-shift of the absorption and emission bands. This is related to the increase of conjugation from 1 to 2 and 3. Our calculations are in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Comparative theoretical investigation of the vertical excitation energies and the electronic structure of [MoVOCl4]-: influence of basis set and geometry

The electronic structures, geometries, and vibration frequencies of the open-shell molybdenum(V) ion, [MoOCl(4)](-), have been calculated at the extended Hückel, semiempirical ZINDO/1, ZINDO/S, and PM3(tm), as well as ab initio and DFT theoretical levels. Electronic structure calculations suggest that the expected metal-fold orbital order can be satisfied only at the DFT level. The time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) approach has been used for the calculation of the vertical excitation energies in the UV-vis region with different basis sets, starting geometries, and exchange-correlation functionals. A good agreement between the predicted and the experimental electronic absorption and MCD spectra of the complex, [MoOCl(4)](-), was observed when the B3LYP and B3P86 exchange-correlation functionals were used with a full electron valence double-zeta with polarization basis set for the molybdenum and 6-311G(d) for all other atoms. Similar results were obtained when the LANL2DZ effective core potential for molybdenum atom and 6-31G(d) for all other atoms were used. The best absolute deviation of 0.13 and mean deviation of 0.01 eV were calculated for the bands in the UV-vis region by B3P86, while the results for the B3LYP exchange-correlation functional were less satisfactory. Compared to polarization functions, the inclusion of diffuse functions resulted in little improvement. The calculated excitations energies and charge-transfer band intensities are found to be sensitive to the Mo=O distance and O-Mo-Cl angle.     

Ethynyl Substitution Effect on the Electronic Excitation Spectra of Aniline

We made an extended study on the structure and properties of the low-lying electronic states of ethynyl substituted aniline and their cations. We performed these calculations using density functional theory method(B3LYP and CAM-B3LYP DFT) and the complete active space self-consistent field(CASSCF) approach in connection with the aug-cc-pVZ Dunning's basis sets and concerted ANO-L-VDZP basis sets. Our results included their equilibrium geometries, the vertical excitation spectra and the vertical and adiabatic ionization energies. The effect of ethynyl substitution on the electronic structure and the spectroscopy of aniline was probed.     

Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectra, vibrational assignment and density functional theory calculations of naphthazarin

FT Raman and FTIR spectra of Naphthazarin (5,8-dihydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone) and its deuterated analogue are recorded. Comparison between the spectra obtained by two techniques, a series of density functional theory (DFT) calculations and the spectral behavior upon deuteration were used for the assignment of the vibrational spectra of this compound. The calculated vibrational frequencies by the B3LYP, B3PW91, G96LYP, G96P86, and MPWLYP density functionals are generally consistent with the observed spectra. Infrared and Raman vibrational transitions predicted by B3LYP/6-311++G** are reported for the titled compound and its deuterated analogous and the assignments are discussed. All experimental and theoretical results support a relatively weak hydrogen bond in naphthazarin (NZ), compared with that in the enol form of normal beta-diketones. The observed nuOH/nuOD and gammaOH/gammaOD appear at about 3060/2220 and 790/560 cm(-1), respectively, which are consistent with the calculated hydrogen bond geometry and proton chemical shift results. Two bands at about 350 and 290 cm(-1) are assigned to the O...O stretching modes belong to A1 and B2 species, respectively.     

DFT studies of the structure and vibrational spectra of 8-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide

The geometry, frequency and intensity of the vibrational bands of 8-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide (8-HQNO) and its deuterated derivative (8-DQNO) were obtained by the density functional theory (DFT) with the BLYP and B3LYP functionals and 6-31G(d,p) basis set. The optimized bond lengths and bond angles are in good agreement with the X-ray data. The IR and INS spectra of 8-HQNO and 8-DQNO computed at the DFT level reproduce the vibrational wavenumbers and intensities with an accuracy, which allows reliable vibrational assignments.     

Structural and electronic properties of polyacetylene and polyyne from hybrid and Coulomb-attenuated density functionals

The bond length alternation (BLA), the highest-occupied-lowest-unoccupied (HO-LU) orbital energy gap, and the corresponding excitation energy are determined for trans-polyacetylene (PA) and polyyne (PY) using density functional theory. Results from the Coulomb-attenuated CAM-B3LYP functional are compared with those from the conventional BHHLYP and B3LYP hybrid functionals. BLA values and HO-LU gaps are determined using both finite oligomer and infinite chain calculations, subject to periodic boundary conditions. TDDFT excitation energies are determined for the oligomers. The oligomer excitation energies and HO-LU gaps are then used, in conjunction with the infinite chain HO-LU gap, to estimate the infinite chain excitation energy. Overall, BHHLYP and CAM-B3LYP give BLA values and excitation energies that are larger and more accurate than those obtained using B3LYP. The results highlight the degree to which excitation energies can be approximated using the HO-LU gaps-at the infinite limit, this approximation works well for B3LYP, but not for the other functionals, where the HO-LU gap is significantly larger. The study provides further evidence for the high-quality theoretical predictions that can be obtained from the CAM-B3LYP functional.     

DFT studies on the tetranuclear cubane complex [Ni4(ampd)4(Cl4)]·MeCN

Density functional theory (DFT) is used to investigate the structural properties of Ni(II) cubane [Ni₄(ampdH)₄Cl₄]·MeCN. The structural features and ground state geometry calculations are computed at the B3LYP/6-31G* (LANL2DZ) level of theory. We shed light on the highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital. The absorption spectrum is calculated using time-dependent DFT. The absorption wavelengths are calculated using different functionals, i.e., pw91pw91, B3LYP, BHandHLYP, CAM-B3LYP, LC-BLYP, and M06. The LC-BLYP is in good agreement with the experimental data.