Convergence problem in ab initio crystal orbital calculations

The various computational procedures for treating the problem of lattice summations in ab initio crystal orbital calculations are briefly reviewed and the cutoff problem is discussed. Several numerical examples are presented for demonstrating the fast convergence of the total energy per unit cell with respect to the inclusion of further neighbors' interactions, in case reasonable cutoff procedures are applied. The importance of electrostatic considerations for the interpretation of long range effects is stressed.     

Ab initio molecular orbital calculations

A series of non-empirical calculations on furan, pyrrole and 1,2,5-oxadiazole are reported in which the effect of polarisation functions added to the minimal 7s 3p basis on each atom is studied. The effect on these planar molecules is largely through the rather than the-system. A comparison with the results of work with scaled functions is reported. Both series are shown to lead to much improved agreement with the electron spectroscopy energy levels. The effect on the dipole moments of these changes in basis is more variable but, with the exception of furan, the agreement with experiment is improved in the present method.

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Zusammenfassung Für die Moleküle Furan, Pyrrol und 1,2,5-Oxadiazol wurde eine Reihe von nichtempirischen Rechnungen durchgeführt, in denen der Einfluß von zusätzlichen Polarisationsfunktionen zur minimalen 7s 3p-Basis an jedem Atom untersucht wird. Die Ergebnisse werden mehr durch die Art der Beschreibung des Systems der-Elektronen als durch diejenige der-Elektronen beeinflußt. Ein Vergleich mit den Ergebnissen bei Verwendung skalierter Funktionen wird durchgeführt. Beide Reihen von Ergebnissen zeigen eine verbesserte Übereinstimmung zu den Energiemeßwerten der Elektronenspektroskopie. Die Änderungen des berechneten Dipolmoments bei derartigen Basisvariationen sind größer als bei früheren Methoden. Die Übereinstimmung mit dem Experiment wird, mit Ausnahme von Furan, jedoch verbessert.

     

Molecular structure of ethynylbenzene from electron diffraction and ab initio molecular orbital calculations

The molecular structure and benzene ring distortions of ethynylbenzene have been investigated by gas-phase electron diffraction and ab initio MO calculations at the HF/6-31G^* and 6-3G^** levels. Least-squares refinement of a model withC _2v, symmetry, with constraints from the MO calculations, yielded the following important bond distances and angles:r _g(C _i -C _o )=1.407±0.003 Å,r _g(C _o -C _m )=1.397±0.003 Å,r _g(C _m -C _p )=1.400±0.003 Å,r _g(Cr _i -CCH)=1.436 ±0.004 Å,r _g(C=C)=1.205±0.005 Å, C _o -C _i -C _o =119.8±0.4°. The deformation of the benzene ring of ethynylbenzene given by the MO calculations, including o-C_i-C_o=119.4°, is insensitive to the basis set used and agrees with that obtained by low-temperature X-ray crystallography for the phenylethynyl fragment, C₆H₅-CC-, in two different crystal environments. The partial substitution structure of ethynylbenzene from microwave spectroscopy is shown to be inaccurate in the ipso region of the benzene ring.     

Molecular orbital calculations of bond lengths in benzenoid hydrocarbons

The correlation between bond lengths and bond orders in benzenoid hydrocarbons has been considered. Bond orders for six molecules were obtained by means of a simple MO-LCAO-SC treatment, and a procedure is suggested for calculating accurate bond lengths from such self-consistent bond orders.     

The constrained space orbital variation analysis for periodic ab initio calculations

The constrained space orbital variation (CSOV) method for the analysis of the interaction energy has been implemented in the periodic ab initio CRYSTAL03 code. The method allows for the partition of the energy of two interacting chemical entities, represented in turn by periodic models, into contributions which account for electrostatic effects, mutual polarization and charge transfer. The implementation permits one to carry out the analysis both at the Hartree-Fock and density functional theory levels, where in the latter the most popular exchange-correlation functionals can be used. As an illustrating example, the analysis of the interaction between CO and the MgO (001) surface has been considered. As expected by the almost fully ionic character of the support, our periodic CSOV results, in general agree with those previously obtained using the embedded cluster approach, showing the reliability of the present implementation.     

Molecular conformations of methyl formate and methyl vinyl ether from ab initio molecular orbital calculations

Ab initio molecular orbital theory with minimal and extended basis sets and a flexible rotor geometric model has been used to investigate the rotational potential surfaces of methyl formate and methyl vinyl ether. For both molecules, the most stable structures (IA and IIA, respectively) are planar cis; additional potential minima are found which correspond to planar trans structures (IB and IIB). The latter lie respectively about 4—8 and 1—2 kcal mol^?1 above the corresponding cis rotational isomers. Methyl rotational barriers have been determined for cis and trans structures of each molecule. For trans methyl formate, there is a slight but unexpected preference for an eclipsed arrangement of the methyl group.     

Conformational analysis of 4h-1,3,2-benzodioxaphosphorin 2-sulfides with ab initio molecular orbital calculations

Among some 2-substituted 4H-1,3,2-benzodioxaphosphorin 2-sulfides, the 2-OMe derivative has the sulfur atom mainly in the quasiequatorial position. On the other hand, the conformation in which the sulfur is quasiaxial is favored in the 2-NHMe and 2-Et derivatives. We have done ab initio molecular orbital calculations for the model compounds, and such a substituent effect was reproduced. Moreover, the effect was discussed in terms of the intramolecular electrostatic interactions and the degree of charge distribution.     

On the use of spatial symmetry in ab initio calculations. Transformation of the two-electron integrals from atomic orbital to localized molecular orbital basis

Anm ⁵-dependent integral transformation procedure from atomic orbital basis to localized molecular orbitals is described for spatially extended systems with some Abelian symmetry groups. It is shown that exploiting spatial symmetry, the number of non-redundant integrals for normal saturated hydrocarbons can be reduced by a factor of 2.5-3.5, depending on the size of the system and on the basis. Starting from a list of integrals over basis functions in canonical order, the number of multiplications of the four-index transformation is reduced by a factor of 2.8-3.5 as compared to that of Diercksen's algorithm. It is pointed out that even larger reduction can be achieved if negligible integrals over localized molecular orbitals are omitted from the transformation in advance.     

Ab initio molecular orbital calculations for butadiene and its ions

Ab initio calculations are reported for cis and trans butadiene and some of their ions. The calculations are compared with semi-empirical results, and used to predict coupling constants.     

Use of molecular dynamics simulations with ab initio SCF calculations for the determination of the deuterium quadrupole coupling constant in liquid water and bond lengths in ice

The deuterium quadrupole coupling constant and asymmetry parameter in heavy water were determined using ab initio SCF calculations. Snapshots from a molecular dynamics simulation were used to give liquid water cluster configurations and the influence of simulation parameters on the quadrupole coupling constant was investigated. The electronic potential model and the number of molecules in the molecular dynamics simulation and the pressure of the system were found to have only a small influence on the quadrupole coupling constant. The average value of the quadrupole coupling constant at room temperature, corrected for the known deficiency of the ab initio calculation in the gas phase, yields a quadrupole coupling constant of 253 kHz, in perfect agreement with the most recent experiments. The oxygen—deuterium bond lengths in ice Ih, ice II, and ice IX were determined using experimental quadrupole coupling constants and a model equation. An averaged bond length of 98.9 pm was obtained for the Ih form, which is approximately 2 pm shorter than that determined by neutron diffraction studies, whereas the bond lengths for the four deuterium sites in ice II and the three sites in ice IX are in fair agreement with experiment. © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An open-shell SCF program for use in ab initio gaussian-type calculations

A program is described which permits exact SCF calculations of excited-state singlets where the unpaired electrons are of different symmetry.     

New algorithm for nonorthogonal ab initio valence bond calculations II: Subgraph-driven method

The permanent method for nonorthogonal VB calculations is extensively developed, and the so-called subgraph-driven procedure is proposed. To achieve high efficiency, the summation of a huge number of permanents is treated as a whole system, and the intermediate quantities, the contracted-cofactors of various orders, are introduced for the systematic summation. These intermediate quantities can be characterized by pairing graphs of 2n elements (n = 1, 2, ... 1/2N – 2). Some test calculations for systems of up to 20 electrons are performed. The practice shows that this method is highly efficient, and the CPU time increases in a quite moderate way with the increasing number of electrons.On leave from Chemistry Department, Xiamen University, 361005 Xiamen, PR China.     

The molecular energy levels of the azoles: A study by photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio molecular orbital calculations

HeI photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations have been applied to the azoles, providing sets of energy levels that correlate well with each other in the upper valence shell region. Observed IPs are assigned to the three π- and to the five o-levels that involve (principally) valence shell p orbitals. The observed vibration structure is not particularly informative as an aid to assignment since both π-and σ-levels give some bands with vibration structure. The calculations provide in addition to eigenvalues (energy levels) a set of eigenvectors, permitting analysis of the bonding characteristics of the levels, and trends apparent within the series.     

Vibrational spectra and ab initio molecular orbital calculations of the novel anti-cancer drug combretastatin A-4 prodrug

The NIR-FT Raman and FT-IR spectral studies of the novel antineoplastic and antiangiogenesis substance comprestatin A-4 prodrug (CA4P) were carried out. The equilibrium geometry, various bonding features and harmonic vibrational frequencies of CA4P have been investigated with the help of B3LYP density functional theory (DFT) method. The most preferred cis-configuration for its bioactivity has been demonstrated on the basis of torsional potential energy surface (PES) scan studies. Stability of the molecule arising from hyperconjugative interactions leading to its bioactivity, charge delocalization and mesomeric effects have been analyzed using natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. Detailed assignments of the vibrational spectra have been made with the aid of theoretically predicted vibrational frequencies. The optimized geometry shows near-planarity of phenyl rings and perpendicular conformation of meta substituted methoxy group. The vibrational analysis confirms the differently acting ring modes, steric repulsion, pi conjugation and back-donation.     

Fragmentation mechanisms of protonated benzylamines. Electrospray ionisation-tandem mass spectrometry study and ab initio molecular orbital calculations

Our research into neurotransmitters in a biological fluid presented an opportunity to investigate the fragmentations under low collision energy characterising benzyl-amines protonated under electrospray ionisation (ESI) conditions in a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. In this work we present the breakdown graphs of protonated 3,4-dihydroxybenzylamine, DHBAH(+), and 3-methoxy, 4-hydroxybenzylamine, HMBAH(+), at various source temperatures and various pressures in the collision cell, the collision energy varying from 0 to 46 eV in the laboratory frame. Both parent ions eliminate first NH(3) at very low collision energy. The fragmentations of [MH - NH(3)](+) occur at high collision energy and are quite different for DHBAH(+) and HMBAH(+): formation of [MH - NH(3) - H(2)O - CO](+) for the former; formation of the radical cation [MH - NH(3) - CH(3)](+.) for the latter. These fragmentations are interpreted by means of ab initio calculations up to the B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,2p) level of theory. The successive losses of H(2)O and CO involve first the rearrangement in two steps of benzylic ions formed by loss of NH(3) into tropylium ions. The transition states associated with this rearrangement are very high in energy (about 400 kJ mol(-1) above MH(+)) explaining (i). the absence of an ion corresponding to [DHBAH - NH(3) - H(2)O](+). The determining steps associated with the losses of H(2)O and with H(2)O + CO are located lower in energy than the transition states associated with the isomerisation of benzylic ions into tropylium ions; explaining (ii). the formation of the radical cation [MH - NH(3) - CH(3)](+.). The homolytic cleavage of CH(3)-O requires less energy than does the rearrangement.     

AB initio molecular orbital calculations on the pentadienyl radical

In this publication we present the results of ab initio Gaussian orbital calculations of ESR coupling constants in the pentadienyl radical. The results are compared with experiment and with the results of similar semi-empirical calculations.     

Molecular structure of phenylsilane: a study by gas-phase electron diffraction and ab initio molecular orbital calculations

The molecular structure of phenylsilane has been determined accurately by gas-phase electron diffraction and ab initio MO calculations at the MP2(f.c.)/6-31G* level. The calculations indicate that the perpendicular conformation of the molecule, with a Si–H bond in a plane orthogonal to the plane of the benzene ring, is the potential energy minimum. The coplanar conformation, with a Si–H bond in the plane of the ring, corresponds to a rotational transition state. However, the difference in energy is very small, 0.13 kJ mol⁻¹, implying free rotation of the substituent at the temperature of the electron diffraction experiment (301 K). Important bond lengths from electron diffraction are: <r_g(C–C)>=1.403±0.003 Å, r_g(Si–C)=1.870±0.004 Å, and r_g(Si–H)=1.497±0.007 Å. The calculations indicate that the C_ipso–C_ortho bonds are 0.010 Å longer than the other C–C bonds. The internal ring angle at the ipso position is 118.1±0.2° from electron diffraction and 118.0° from calculations. This confirms the more than 40-year old suggestion of a possible angular deformation of the ring in phenylsilane, in an early electron diffraction study by F.A. Keidel, S.H. Bauer, J. Chem. Phys. 25 (1956) 1218.     

Like-charge guanidinium pairing from molecular dynamics and ab initio calculations

Pairing of guanidinium moieties in water is explored by molecular dynamics simulations of short arginine-rich peptides and ab initio calculations of a pair of guanidinium ions in water clusters of increasing size. Molecular dynamics simulations show that, in an aqueous environment, the diarginine guanidinium like-charged ion pairing is sterically hindered, whereas in the Arg-Ala-Arg tripeptide, this pairing is significant. This result is supported by the survey of protein structure databases, where it is found that stacked arginine pairs in dipeptide fragments exist solely as being imposed by the protein structure. In contrast, when two arginines are separated by a single amino acid, their guanidinium groups can freely approach each other and they frequently form stacked pairs. Molecular dynamics simulations results are also supported by ab initio calculations, which show stabilization of stacked guanidinium pairs in sufficiently large water clusters.