Theoretical study of the reaction of CN with C2H2+

 A theoretical study of the reaction of CN with C₂H₂ ⁺ has been carried out at three levels of theory, namely G2, B3LYP and CCSD(T). The main conclusion is that this is a feasible process under interstellar conditions, but only linear species may be produced. The most favourable product is HCCCN⁺, followed by CCCNH⁺. Production of HCCNC⁺ is predicted to be slightly endothermic; therefore, the reaction of CN + C₂H₂ ⁺ may produce precursors of HC₃N and C₃N in space. Furthermore, the B3LYP level is found to perform rather well compared with G2 and even better than CCSD(T). Received: 14 September 1999 / Accepted: 3 February 2000 / Published online: 12 May 2000     

A theoretical study of the Si-O bond in disiloxane and related molecules

Summary A comparison of semi-empirical (MNDO) and ab initio (GAUSSIAN) calculations for disiloxane and related molecules is given. The STO-3G^* basis set well reproduced the observed geometries of disiloxane (*), DZP, TZVP) gave much poorer agreement with the observed geometries.Comparison of the STO-3G^* and the STO-3G basis sets demonstrates the necessity of including d-orbitals on the silicon. However, the semi-empirical MNDO program gave, despite the absence of d-orbitals, a better approximation to the molecular geometry than the complex ab initio basis sets.Force field parameters have been calculated for k_SiOSi, k_OSiO, 0.089 and 0.73 mdyneÅ/rad², and the SiOSiO torsion which has a V₁ potential of –0.68 kcal/mol. In addition, the HSiOH torsion is shown to have a three-fold potential of 0.78 kcal/mol. These are profoundly different from the analogous carbon-oxygen force constants, demonstrating that C-O parameters cannot be transferred to the corresponding Si-O systems.     

Rydberg character of the higher excited states of free-base porphin

 The Rydberg character of the excited states of free-base porphin (FBP) has been investigated by the ab initio configuration interaction singles (CIS) method and the state-averaged complete-active-space self-consistent-field method. Double-zeta basis sets augmented with s, p, and d Rydberg functions and d polarization functions have been employed. Two types of molecular orbitals sets, the restricted Hartree–Fock molecular orbitals obtained for the ground state (¹A _g ) and for the cation state (²A _u ), have been used in the CIS calculations. All the calculations show that Rydberg-type excitations play important roles especially in the N bands. In this article we propose applying the model of a perturbed Rydberg series to interpret the excited states of FBP. By using this model, we have succeeded in analyzing the characteristics of the excited states as well as the experimental oscillator strengths, which have considerable magnitude even in the higher excited states. Received: 27 November 2000 / Accepted: 11 April 2001 / Published online: 27 June 2001     

Electronic structures of permethyloligosilane radical cations at the ground and low-lying excited states

The electronic structures at the ground and low-lying excited states of permethyloligosilane radical cations, Si_n(CH₃)_2n+2⁺ (n = 4-7), have been investigated using DFT and ab initio calculations. The calculations showed that positive charge (hole) is delocalized along the Si-Si main chain at the ground and first excited states. On the other hand, the hole is transferred to the methyl side-chain at the second and higher excited states. From these results, it was concluded that hole can move along the Si-Si main chain at thermal conditions. Also, it was predicted that intermolecular hole hopping takes place by photo-irradiation to the permethyloligosilane radical cation. The mechanism of hole transfer was discussed on the basis of the results.     

Direct ab initio dynamics calculations on the rate constants for the hydrogen-abstraction reaction of C2H5F with O (3P)

The hydrogen-abstraction reaction C₂H₅F+O → C₂H₄F+OH has been studied by a dual-level direct dynamics method. For the reaction, three reaction channels, one for α-abstraction and two for β-abstraction, have been identified. The potential-energy surface information is obtained at the MP2(full)/6-311G(d,p) and PMP2(full)/6-311G(3df,3pd) (single-point) levels. By canonical variational transition-state theory, rate constants for each reaction channel are calculated with a small-curvature tunneling correction. The total rate constant is calculated from the sum of the individual rate constants and the temperature dependence of the branching ratios is obtained over a wide range of temperatures from 300 to 5,000 K. The agreement of the rate constants with experiment is good in the experimental temperature range from 1,000 to 1,250 K. The calculated results indicate that at low temperatures α-abstraction is most likely to be the major reaction channel, while β-abstraction channels will significantly contribute to the whole reaction rate as the temperature increases. Received: 23 January 2002 / Accepted: 23 June 2002 / Published online: 20 September 2002     

A theoretical investigation of the excited states of the H2O2 molecule

Ab initio calculations for a series of excited states of the H₂O₂ molecule have been performed in order to discuss some recent photofragmentation experiments with laser light. For understanding these experiments the direction of the transition moments is of great interest, as well as the possibility of a HOO…H fragmentation.     

A theoretical study of photoinduced electron transfer between tetracyanoethylene and arene

 Ab initio calculations have been performed to investigate the state transition in photoinduced electron transfer reactions between tetracyanoethylene and biphenyl as well as naphthalene. Face-to-face conformations of electron donor–acceptor (EDA) complexes were selected for this purpose. The geometries of the EDA complexes were determined by using the isolated optimized geometries of the donor and the acceptor to search for the maximum stabilization energy along the center-to-center distance. The correction of interaction energies for basis set superposition error was considered by using counterpoise methods. The ground and excited states of the EDA complexes were optimized with complete-active-space self-consistent-field calculations. The theoretical study of the ground state and excited states of the EDA complex in this work reveals that the S₁ and S₂ states of the EDA complexes are charge–transfer (CT) excited states, and CT absorption which corresponds to the S₀→S₁ and S₀→S₂ transitions arise from π−π^* excitation. On the basis of an Onsager model, CT absorption in dichloromethane was investigated by considering the solvent reorganization energy. Detailed discussions on the excited state and on the CT absorptions were made. Received: 30 April 2001 / Accepted: 18 October 2001 / Published online: 9 January 2002     

Nature and importance of three-body interactions in the (H2O)2HCl trimer

 The nature and importance of nonadditive three-body interactions in the (H₂O)₂HCl cluster have been studied by the supermolecule coupled-cluster method and by symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT). The convergence of the SAPT expansion was tested by comparison with the results obtained from the supermolecule coupled-cluster calculations including single, double, and noniterative triple excitations [CCSD(T)]. It is shown that the SAPT results reproduce the converged CCSD(T) results within 3% at worst. The SAPT method has been used to analyze the three-body interactions for various geometries of the (H₂O)₂HCl cluster. It is shown that the induction nonadditivity is dominant, but it is partly quenched by the first-order Heitler–London-type exchange and higher-order exchange–induction/deformation terms. This implies that the classical induction term alone is not a reliable approximation to the nonadditive energy and that it will be difficult to approximate the three-body potential for (H₂O)₂HCl by a simple analytical expression. The three-body energy represents as much as 21–27% of the pair CCSD(T) intermolecular energy. Received: 15 September 1999 / Accepted: 3 February 2000 / Published online: 2 May 2000     

A theoretical investigation of the mechanism for the reaction between a quebrachitol derivative and N3−

The reaction between a mesylated compound and sodium azide was previously studied experimentally at a temperature of 140 °C using dimethylformamide as a solvent. The product was assigned on the basis of the analysis of the NMR spectra. In this work semiempirical (AM1 and PM3), ab initio (Hartree–Fock and MP2) and density functional theory (BLYP functional) quantum mechanical calculations, using continuum models for describing the solvent effect, were carried out for this process to better understand the reaction mechanism. Three distinct mechanisms involving a carbocation and epoxide intermediates, and a transition-state structure for direct attack of the N₃ ⁻ species to the reactant were investigated. The theoretically calculated preferred reaction pathway passing through an epoxide intermediate agrees nicely with the experimental proposal, providing a good example of where theoretical calculations can be of great help to definitively elucidate the reaction mechanism. Received: 10 July 2001 / Accepted: 20 December 2001 / Published online: 8 April 2002     

Theoretical study of neutral and protonated triple bonded molecules formed between C, N, Si, P, B and Al

A theoretical study of the possible protonation sites of simple molecules formed by C, N, Si, P, B and Al that present a triple bond between those atoms has been carried out. The calculations performed include MP2 and CCSD(T) methods with the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set. The nature of the protonated species has been analyzed with the Atoms In Molecules methodology. To Serafin, a free spirit and a good friend. Contribution to the Serafin Fraga Memorial Issue.     

The valence and Rydberg excited states of CH2: A theoretical exploration

Using the completed active space second‐order perturbation (CASPT2) method, valence and Rydberg excited states of CH₂ molecule are probed with the large atomic natural orbital (ANO‐L) basis set. Five states are optimized and the geometric parameters are in good agreement with the available data in literatures, furthermore, the state of 2¹B₁ is obtained for the first time. Valence and Rydberg excited states of CH₂ are also calculated for the vertical transitions with the ANO‐L+ basis set that is constructed by adding a set of 1s1p1d Rydberg orbitals into the ANO‐L basis set. Two Rydberg states of the p?³A₂ and r?³B₁ at 9.88 and 10.50 eV are obtained for the first time, and the 3a₁ → 3d_yz nature of the state p?³A₂ and the 3a₁ → d_x2?y2 nature of the state r?³B₁ are confirmed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A proposed modification of CBS-4M model chemistry for application to molecules of increasing molecular size

 In order to calculate more accurately the enthalpies of formation, ΔH _f°(298 K), for large molecules using the CBS-4M method, a new formulation of the empirical higher-level correction to the energy is proposed: ΔE=a|S|² _{i i} I _{i i} +b(n _α+n _β)+cΔ<S ²>+Σn _i d _{i .} The new methodology (CBS-4MB) applied to a set of 114 molecules of different size significantly decreases the mean absolute deviation from 3.78 to 2.06 kcal/mol. Received: 7 February 2001 / Accepted: 5 April 2001 / Published online: 13 June 2001     

Prediction of spectroscopic constants for diatomic molecules in the ground and excited states using time-dependent density functional theory

Spectroscopic constants of the ground and next seven low-lying excited states of diatomic molecules CO, N2, P2, and ScF were computed using the density functional theory SAOP/ATZP model, in conjunction with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) and a recently developed Slater type basis set, ATZP. Spectroscopic constants, including the equilibrium distances r(e), harmonic vibrational frequency omega(e), vibrational anharmonicity omega(e)x(e), rotational constant B(e), centrifugal distortion constant D(e), the vibration-rotation interaction constant alpha(e), and the vibrational zero-point energy E(n)0 were generated in an effort to establish a reliable database for electron spectroscopy. By comparison with experimental values and a similar model with an established larger Slater-type basis set, et-QZ3P-xD, it was found that this model provides reliably accurate results at reduced computational costs, for both the ground and excited states of the molecules. The over all errors of all eight lowest lying electronic states of the molecules under study using the effective basis set are r(e)(+/-4%), omega(e)(+/-5% mostly without exceeding +/-20%), omega(e)x(e)(+/-5% mostly without exceeding 20%, much more accurate than a previous study on this constant of +/-30%), B(e)(+/-8%), D(e)(+/-10%), alpha(e)(+/-10%), and E(n)0(+/-10%). The accuracy obtained using the ATZP basis set is very competitive to the larger et-QZ3P-xD basis set in particular in the ground electronic states. The overall errors in r(e), omega(e)x(e), and alpha(e) in the ground states were given by +/-0.7, +/-10.1, and +/-8.4%, respectively, using the efficient ATZP basis set, which is competitive to the errors of +/-0.5, +/-9.2, and +/-9.1%, respectively for those constants using the larger et-QZ3P-xD basis set. The latter basis set, however, needs approximately four times of the CPU time on the National Supercomputing Facilities (Australia). Due to the efficiency of the model (TD-DFT, SAOP and ATZP), it will be readily applied to study larger molecular systems.     

Experimental and theoretical study of the atmospherically important O2-H2O complex

The theoretically predicted water-oxygen van der Waals adduct has been experimentally confirmed by vibrational characterization using matrix isolation spectroscopic studies at 10 K. Vibrational bands for asymmetric and symmetric OH-stretching for this adduct have been found at 3728 cm(-1) and 3639 cm(-1), respectively. Theoretical calculations performed with Gaussian 98 software at the MP2/6-311++G(2d,2p) level of theory support the alternative structure of the hydrated complex proposed by this study.     

An ab initio potential energy surface and spectroscopic constants for the XΣg state of NO2

A three-dimensional potential energy function has been calculated for the X¹Σ⁺_g state of NO⁺₂ from ab initio MRD-CI data. With this PE function, converged vibrational calculations have also been performed for ten vibrational states, with the aid of a computer program developed in the present work for this purpose. The calculated harmonic frequencies, vibrational term values and rotational constants are in good agreement with experimental data.     

Theoretical studies on the interaction of anionic collectors with Cu+, Cu2+, Zn2+ and Pb2+ ions

 The influence of collector structure on interaction with metal cations was modelled by computational ab initio methods. The interaction energies were calculated between metal ions (Cu⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Pb²⁺) and selected collector anions: ethyl xanthate, ethyl trithiocarbonate, dithiobutyric acid, ethyl dithiocarbamate, diethyl dithiocarbamate, diethylphosphinecarbodithioic acid and diethoxyphosphinecar bodithioic acid. The strongest interaction was found with diethyl dithiocarbamate. The results give qualitative information on the effect of the collector structure on the initial adsorption steps on sulphide mineral flotation. Received: 25 September / Accepted: 11 October 2001 / Published online: 22 March 2002     

A theoretical investigation on the mechanism of the α,α-diphenylprolinol trimethylsilyl ether-catalyzed oxyamination reaction

A theoretical investigation on the reaction mechanism of a chiral prolinol silyl ether-catalyzed oxyamination reaction strongly suggests that the reaction proceeds via an enol intermediate and not via an enamine intermediate. The catalyst generates the enol and forms an enol-catalyst complex. Nitrosobenzene subsequently reacts with the enol-catalyst complex to afford the (S)-N-nitroso aldol product. The proposed mechanism is able to account for the experimentally observed enantioselectivity.     

Internal rotation in squaramide and related compounds. A theoretical ab initio study

The structural and energetic changes associated with C–N bond rotation in a squaric acid derivative as well as in formamide, 3-aminoacrolein and vinylamine have been studied theoretically using ab initio molecular orbital methods. Geometry optimizations at the MP2(full)/6-31+G* level confirmed an increase in the C–N bond length and a smaller decrease in the C=O length on going from the equilibrium geometry to the twisted transition state. Other geometrical changes are also discussed. Energies calculated at the QCISD(T)/6-311+G** level, including zero-point-energy correction, show barrier heights decreasing in the order formamide, squaric acid derivative, 3-aminoacrolein and vinylamine. The origin of the barriers were examined using the atoms-in-molecules approach of Bader and the natural bond orbital population analysis. The calculations agree with Pauling's resonance model, and the main contributing factor of the barrier is assigned to the loss of conjugation on rotating the C–N bond. Finally, molecular interaction potential calculations were used to study the changes in the nucleophilicity of N and O (carbonyl) atoms upon C–N rotation, and to obtain a picture of the abilities of the molecules to act in nonbonded interactions, in particular hydrogen bonds. The molecular interaction potential results confirm the suitability of squaramide units for acting as binding units in host–guest chemistry. Received: 13 March 2002 / Accepted: 23 June 2002 / Published online: 21 August 2002     

Contracted well-tempered Gaussian basis sets in SCF calculations on the ground and excited electronic states of neutral and ionized diatomic molecules containing first-row atoms

Summary Calculations were done on ground and excited states of C₂, C ₂ ⁺ , C ₂ ^– , N₂, N ₂ ⁺ , O₂, O ₂ ⁺ , O ₂ ^– , CO, CO⁺, CO²⁺, and CO^– using contracted well-tempered basis sets. The (14s 10p) basis sets were augmented with threed, one or twof, and oneg functions. Total energies, orbital energies, and spectroscopic constants were compared with the best available computational data.