Mechanism of water oxidation to molecular oxygen with osmocene as photocatalyst: a theoretical study

In the present work, photoinduced O(2) evolution from the [Cp(2)Os-OH](+) complex in aqueous solution has been studied by the DFT, CASSCF, and CASPT2 methods. The CASPT2//CASSCF calculations predict that the S(3) state is initially populated and the subsequent deprotonation of [Cp(2)Os-OH](+) proceeds very easily along the T(1) pathway as a result of the efficient S(3) → T(1) intersystem crossing. It is found that the O-O bond is formed via the acid-base mechanism, which is different from the direct oxo-oxo coupling mechanism suggested in the experimental study. Formation of the O-O bond is the rate-determining step and has an activation energy and activation free energy of 81.3 and 90.4 kcal/mol, respectively. This is consistent with the low quantum yield observed for generating molecular oxygen upon irradiation at 350 nm (~ 82 kcal/mol). The O(2) release from an intermediate complex has to overcome a small barrier on the triplet pathway first and then pass through the triplet-singlet intersection, generating the O(2) molecules in either the lowest singlet or triplet state. The formed (3)O(2) molecule can be converted into the (1)O(2) molecule by the heavy atom effect in the Os complexes, which is probably the reason only the (1)O(2) molecule was detected experimentally.     

Theoretical study of the interaction of molecular oxygen with copper clusters

A new method based on frontier orbital theory has been used to investigate the binding site of molecular oxygen to neutral and anion copper clusters. It has been shown that one can make useful predictions of the binding sites based on the knowledge of the donor local reactivity of the cluster using the condensed Fukui function, f(-)(Ff). In this way, it was found that Cu(3), Cu(5), and Cu(5)(-) have the highest reactivity toward molecular oxygen.     

On the activation of molecular hydrogen by gold: a theoretical approximation to the nature of potential active sites

The study of adsorption and dissociation of molecular hydrogen on single crystal Au(111) and Au(001) surfaces, monoatomic rows in an extended line defect and different Au nanoparticles by means of DF calculations allows us to firmly conclude that the necessary and sufficient condition for H2 dissociation is the existence of low coordinated Au atoms, regardless if they are in nanoparticles or at extended line defects.     

Adhesion between graphite and modified polyester surfaces: a theoretical study

This study examines the adhesion of graphite to functionalized polyester surfaces using a range of qualitative and quantitative measures of theoretical adhesion. Modifications to the polyester surfaces include the addition of hydroxyl, carboxyl, or fluorine substituents with coverages of 0.4 and 0.9 groups per nm(2). In each case, the introduction of substituents to the surface of the polyester was calculated to lead to reduced adhesion to graphite. Effects of surface relaxation on adhesion are studied by employing different simulation protocols. The theoretical results suggest one mechanism to reduce adhesion to carbonaceous solids is to increase atomic roughness using strongly hydrophilic or alternatively strongly hydrophobic substituents.     

Molecular interaction potential: A new tool for the theoretical study of molecular reactivity

A new methodology to compute molecular interaction potentials (MIPs) is developed and tested. The calculation of the MIP is based upon the generalization of the rigorous quantum mechanical molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) and further addition of a classical repulsion-dispersion term. As a result, the MIP is able to represent not only with high accuracy electrostatic interactions but also represent in a suitable way steric effects. The analysis of the results obtained for different molecules demonstrates the superiority of the MIP with regard to the standard MEP to describe nonbonded interactions, in particular hydrogen bonds. The comparison of results calculated at the ab initio I 6-31G* and semiempirical AM1 levels points out the suitability of semiempirical calculations to qualitatively reproduce the most relevant reactive features of the molecules. Finally, possible applications of the MIP in different fields are discussed. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A semiempirical theoretical study of the molecular interaction of cocaine with the biological substrate glycine

Semiempirical SCFMO computations of the MNDO and AM1 varieties have been employed to model possible interaction processes for cocaine with the biological substrate glycine. It was found for the gas-phase species that the most likely interactions occurred as nucleophilic attack of the nitrogen lone pair of glycine on the two carbonyl groups of cocaine. These reactions led to intermediates which further decomposed exothermically to amide and alcohol species. The activation enthalpies for the gas-phase reactions were predicted to be high (39–46 kcal/mol), but it is believed that such processes could possibly occur by reaction pathways with considerably lower activation energies in the liquid state in the presence of mucus containing olfactory binding protein in vertebrate olfactory reception.     

The gas-phase chemiionization reaction between samarium and oxygen atoms: a theoretical study

The Sm+O chemiionization reaction has been investigated theoretically using a method that allows for correlation and relativistic effects. Potential energy curves have been calculated for several electronic states of SmO and SmO+. Comparison with available spectroscopic and thermodynamic values for these species is reported and a mechanism for the chemiionization reaction Sm+O is proposed. The importance of spin-orbit coupling in the excited states of SmO, in allowing this chemiionization reaction to take place, has been revealed by these calculations. This paper shows the metal-plus-oxidant chemiionization reaction.     

IR spectral fingerprints of carbonyl groups in graphite oxide: a theoretical study

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A study of the reaction of oxygen with graphite: model chemistry

A considerable amount of research has been directed towards the mechanism of oxidation of graphite as a model reaction system and because of its industrial importance. A number of recent studies have been concerned with ab initio molecular orbital calculations on graphite including model chemistry and the reactions with molecular oxygen. This study is concerned with oxidation steps involving the attachment of molecular oxygen to the graphene, the formation of carbon monoxide and, in particular, the subsequent oxidation reactions.     

Angular intensity distribution of a molecular oxygen beam scattered from a graphite surface

The scattering of the oxygen molecule from a graphite surface has been studied using a molecular beam scattering technique. The angular intensity distributions of scattered oxygen molecules were measured at incident energies from 291 to 614 meV with surface temperatures from 150 to 500 K. Every observed distribution has a single peak at a larger final angle than the specular angle of 45° which indicates that the normal component of the translation energy of the oxygen molecule is lost by the collision with the graphite surface. The amount of the energy loss by the collision has been roughly estimated as about 30-41% based on the assumption of the tangential momentum conservation during the collision. The distributions have also been analyzed with two theoretical models, the hard cubes model and the smooth surface model. These results indicate that the scattering is dominated by a single collision event of the particle with a flat surface having a large effective mass. The derived effective mass of the graphite surface for the incoming oxygen is 9-12 times heavier than that of a single carbon atom, suggesting a large cooperative motion of the carbon atoms in the topmost graphene layer.     

Quantum-chemical study of the effect of butadiene interaction with anionic active sites on the polymer microstructure

The electronic and geometric structure of the models for prereaction complexes of the anionic active sites for polymerization of butadiene have been calculated using a modified CNDO method: C₄H₄Li-cis-C₄H₆(I), C₄H₇Li-trans-C₄H₆(II), (C₄H₇Li)₂-cis-C₄H₆(III) and (C₄H₇Li)₂-trans-C₄H₆. The configuration of complexes I and II resulting from the total energy minimization points to the preferential C₄H₆ attack on the α-C atom of the monomeric active site (AS) leading to 1,4-units in polybutadiene. A more pronounced complexation effect observed with I as compared to II was taken into account when interpreting data on the preferential formation of cis-1,4-structure within macromolecules. The structure of models III and IV and also a decrease in the difference of the energy of interaction with C₄H₆ incorporated in these models, as compared to models I and II, indicate a decrease in the 1,4-cis-units content with increasing initiator concentration. Based on results of the present study, an evaluation was also made of the effect of the interaction between the living macromolecule aggregates and diene on the dissociation processes.     

Passive and active oxidation of Si(100) by atomic oxygen: a theoretical study of possible reaction mechanisms

Reaction mechanisms for oxidation of the Si(100) surface by atomic oxygen were studied with high-level quantum mechanical methods in combination with a hybrid QM/MM (Quantum mechanics/Molecular Mechanics) method. Consistent with previous experimental and theoretical results, three structures, "back-bond", "on-dimer", and "dimer-bridge", are found to be the most stable initial surface products for O adsorption (and in the formation of SiO(2) films, i.e., passive oxidation). All of these structures have significant diradical character. In particular, the "dimer-bridge" is a singlet diradical. Although the ground state of the separated reactants, O+Si(100), is a triplet, once the O atom makes a chemical bond with the surface, the singlet potential energy surface is the ground state. With mild activation energy, these three surface products can be interconverted, illustrating the possibility of the thermal redistribution among the initial surface products. Two channels for SiO desorption (leading to etching, i.e., active oxidation) have been found, both of which start from the back-bond structure. These are referred to as the silicon-first (SF) and oxygen-first (OF) mechanisms. Both mechanisms require an 89.8 kcal/mol desorption barrier, in good agreement with the experimental estimates of 80-90 kcal/mol. "Secondary etching" channels occurring after initial etching may account for other lower experimental desorption barriers. The calculated 52.2 kcal/mol desorption barrier for one such secondary etching channel suggests that the great variation in reported experimental barriers for active oxidation may be due to these different active oxidation channels.     

The interaction of iron pyrite with oxygen, nitrogen and nitrogen oxides: a first-principles study

Sulphide materials, in particular MoS(2), have recently received great attention from the surface science community due to their extraordinary catalytic properties. Interestingly, the chemical activity of iron pyrite (FeS(2)) (the most common sulphide mineral on Earth), and in particular its potential for catalytic applications, has not been investigated so thoroughly. In this study, we use density functional theory (DFT) to investigate the surface interactions of fundamental atmospheric components such as oxygen and nitrogen, and we have explored the adsorption and dissociation of nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) on the FeS(2)(100) surface. Our results show that both those environmentally important NO(x) species chemisorb on the surface Fe sites, while the S sites are basically unreactive for all the molecular species considered in this study and even prevent NO(2) adsorption onto one of the non-equivalent Fe-Fe bridge sites of the (1 × 1)-FeS(2)(100) surface. From the calculated high barrier for NO and NO(2) direct dissociation on this surface, we can deduce that both nitrogen oxides species are adsorbed molecularly on pyrite surfaces.     

Reaction of vinyl radical with oxygen: a matrix isolation infrared spectroscopic and theoretical study

The reaction of vinyl radical with molecular oxygen in solid argon has been studied using matrix isolation infrared absorption spectroscopy. The vinyl radical was produced through high frequency discharge of ethylene. The vinyl radical reacted with oxygen spontaneously on annealing to form the vinylperoxy radical C(2)H(3)OO with the O-O bond in a trans position relative to the C-C bond, which is characterized by O-O stretching and out-of-plane CH(2) bending vibrations at 1140.7 and 875.5 cm(-1). The vinylperoxy radical underwent visible photon-induced dissociation to the CH(2)OH(CO) complex or CH(2)OH+CO, which has never been considered in previous studies. The CH(2)OH(CO) product was predicted to be more thermodynamically accessible than the previously reported major HCO+H(2)CO channel, and is most likely produced by hydrogen atom transfer from the first-formed H(2)CO-HCO pair in solid argon.     

Molecular interaction of H2 and H2O with borthiin: a theoretical study

A density functional theory at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level was applied to investigate the impact of hydrogen and water molecules on borthiin. The calculated binding energies of complexes were corrected for the basis set superposition error. The changes in structural parameters and in chemical hardness values were calculated for borthiin interacting with H₂ and H₂O. The strength of the weak interaction between borthiin and the H₂ and H₂O molecules was analyzed using the topological properties according to the ??Atoms in Molecules?? theory by Bader. The factors influencing the strength of the interaction between the borthiin and the H₂ and H₂O molecules were considered in detail using the NBO analysis. The vibrational frequencies and the intensities of the B-H stretching bands were calculated. The nucleus independent chemical shift (NICS) method was used to study the aromaticity of borthiin and the complexes.     

Intramolecular spin alignment in photomagnetic molecular devices: a theoretical study

Ground- and excited-state magnetic properties of recently characterized pi-conjugated photomagnetic organic molecules are analyzed by the means of density functional theory (DFT). The systems under investigation are made up of an anthracene (An) unit primarily acting as a photosensitizer (P), one or two iminonitroxyl (IN) or oxoverdazyl (OV) stable organic radical(s) as the dangling spin carrier(s) (SC), and intervening phenylene connector(s) (B). The magnetic behavior of these multicomponent systems, represented here by the Heisenberg-Dirac magnetic exchange coupling (J), as well as the EPR observables (g tensors and isotropic A values), are accurately modeled and rationalized by using our DFT approach. As the capability to quantitatively assess intramolecular exchange coupling J in the excited state makes it possible to undertake rational optimization of photomagnetic systems, DFT was subsequently used to model new compounds exhibiting different connection schemes for their functional components (P, B, SC). We show in the present work that it is worthwhile considering the triplet state of anthracene, that is, P when promoted in its lowest photoexcited state, as a full magnetic site in the same capacity as the remote SCs. This framework allows us to accurately account for the interplay between transient ((3)An) and persistent (IN, OV) spin carriers, which magnetically couple according to a sole polarization mechanism essentially supported by phenyl connector(s). From our theoretical investigations of photoinduced spin alignment, some general rules are proposed and validated. Relying on the analysis of spin-density maps, they allow us to predict the magnetic behavior of purely organic magnets in both the ground and the excited states. Finally, the notion of photomagnetic molecular devices (PMMDs) is derived and potential application towards molecular spintronics disclosed.     

Reactivity of atomic cobalt with molecular oxygen: a combined IR matrix isolation and theoretical study of the formation and structure of CoO2

The reactivity of atomic cobalt toward molecular oxygen in rare gas matrices has been reinvestigated. Experiments confirm that Co atoms in their a(4)F ground state are inert toward O(2) in solid argon and neon but reactive in the b(4)F first excited state, in agreement with the previous gas-phase study of Honma and co-workers. The formation of CoO(2) starting from effusive beams of Co and O(2) has been followed by IR absorption spectroscopy, both in neon and argon matrices. Our observations show that only the dioxo form, OCoO, is stabilized in the matrix and that IR absorptions previously assigned to the peroxo and superoxo forms are due to other, larger species. The present data strongly support the linear geometry in rare gas matrices proposed by Weltner and co-workers. We report on measurements on all IR-active fundamental modes for (16)OCo(16)O, (18)OCo(18)O, and (16)OCo(18)O with additional combination transitions supplying anharmonicity correction. This allows for a 5.93 +/- 0.02 mdyne/A CoO harmonic bond force constant in solid neon. Using the empirical relationship previously optimized for the CoO diatomics, an approximate value for the CoO internuclear bond distance is proposed (1.615 +/- 0.01A). In light of recent theoretical studies predicting (2)A(1) or (6)A(1) electronic ground states, the geometry and electronic structure of the OCoO molecule has also been reconsidered. Calculations carried out at the CCSD(T)/6-311G(3df) level indicate a linear structure with an r(e) = 1.62 A bond distance, consistent with the experimental estimate. For later studies of larger systems, where CCSD(T) calculations become too time-consuming, an effective DFT-based method is proposed which reproduces the basic electronic and geometrical properties of cobalt dioxide. Quantitative results are compared to the experimental data and high-level results regarding bond length and frequencies. This DFT method is used to propose a reaction pathway.