Cyclic alkylene carbonates. Experiment and first principle calculations for prediction of thermochemical properties

The standard molar enthalpies of formation of ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate, and butylene carbonate were measured using combustion calorimetry. Ab initio calculations of molar enthalpies of formation of alkylene carbonates were performed using the G3MP2 method. The calculated values are in excellent agreement with available experimental data. Ring strain corrections were quantified for the refinement of the group-contribution method for prediction of enthalpies of formation and vaporization of alkylene carbonates.     

Propionaldehyde: ab initio and semi-empirical calculations

The internal rotation of propionaldehyde about the 1–2 bond has been studied by means of ab initio calculations. The most stable conformer has methyl and carbonyl eclipsed. Increasing the 1–2 dihedral angle to 60°, 120°, and 180° gives energies of 1.7, 0.4, and 0.7 Kcal/mol, respectively. The agreement with force field calculations and with experiment is reasonable.     

Accurate ab initio determination of spectroscopic and thermochemical properties of mono- and dichlorocarbenes

The best technically feasible values for the triplet-singlet energy gap and the enthalpies of formation of the HCCl and CCl2 radicals have been determined through the focal-point approach. The electronic structure computations were based on high-level coupled cluster (CC) methods, up to quadruple excitations (CCSDTQ), and large-size correlation-consistent basis sets, ranging from aug-cc-pVDZ to aug-cc-pV6Z, followed by extrapolation to the complete basis set limit. Small corrections due to core correlation, relativistic effects, diagonal Born-Oppenheimer correction, as well as harmonic and anharmonic zero-point vibrational energy corrections have been taken into account. The final estimates for the triplet-singlet energy gap, T0(?), are 2170+/-40 cm-1 for HCCl and 7045+/-60 cm-1 for CCl2, favoring the singlet states in both cases. Complete quartic force fields in internal coordinates have been computed for both the X and ? states of both radicals at the frozen-core CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVQZ level. Using these force fields vibrational energy levels of {HCCl, DCCl, CCl2} up to {6000, 5000, 7000} cm-1 were calculated both by second-order vibrational perturbation theory (VPT2) and variationally. These results, especially the variational ones, show excellent agreement with the experimentally determined energy levels. The enthalpies of formation of HCCl (X1A') and CCl2(X1A1), at 0 K, are 76.28+/-0.20 and 54.54+/-0.20 kcal mol-1, respectively.     

Enthalpies of formation and strain of chlorobenzoic acids from thermochemical measurements and from ab initio calculations

Molar enthalpies of sublimation of 2-chloro-, 3-chloro-, and 4-chlorobenzoic acids were obtained from the temperature dependence of the vapor pressure measured by the transpiration method. Thermochemical investigations of chlorobenzoic acids available in the literature were collected and combined with own experimental results to obtain their reliable standard molar enthalpies of formation at T = 298.15 K in the gaseous state. Ab initio calculations of chlorobenzoic acids have been performed using the G3(MP2) theory, and results from the homodesmic reactions are in excellent agreement with experiment. New results help us to resolve the uncertainty in the available thermochemical data on chlorobenzoic acids. The strain enthalpies of chlorobenzoic acids have been assessed using an isodesmic reaction procedure.     

Organic peracids: a structural puzzle for 17O NMR and ab initio chemical shift calculations

We have applied (17)O NMR spectroscopy to investigate the structure of the organic peracids formed by reaction of acetic acid (AA) or lactic acid (LA) with aqueous hydrogen peroxide (HP), which are used in several "green chemistry" applications. The interpretation of the experimental spectra has been supported by ab initio calculations of the (17)O chemical shifts for several possible species, using a continuum representation of the solvent. The combined use of these tools has also allowed us to discuss the decomposition mechanism of LA/HP solutions. The calculated electric field gradients for water, HP, and CO(2) (a decomposition product of LA) correlate well with the experimental (17)O line widths.     

DNA base trimers: empirical and quantum chemical ab initio calculations versus experiment in vacuo

A complete scan of the potential‐energy surfaces for selected DNA base trimers has been performed by a molecular dynamics/quenching technique using the force field of Cornell et al. implemented in the AMBER7 program. The resulting most stable/populated structures were then reoptimized at a correlated ab initio level by employing resolution of the identity, Møller–Plesset second‐order perturbation theory (RI‐MP2). A systematic study of these trimers at such a complete level of electronic structure theory is presented for the first time. We show that prior experimental and theoretical interpretations were incorrect in assuming that the most stable structures of the methylated trimers corresponded to planar systems characterized by cyclic intermolecular hydrogen bonding. We found that stacked structures of two bases with the third base in a T‐shape arrangement are the global minima in all of the methylated systems: they are more stable than the cyclic planar structures by about 10 kcal mol^?1. The different behaviors of nonmethylated and methylated trimers is also discussed. The high‐level geometries and interaction energies computed for the trimers serve also as a reference for the testing of recently developed density functional theory (DFT) functionals with respect to their ability to correctly describe the balance between the electrostatic and dispersion contributions that bind these trimers together. The recently reported M052X functional with a polarized triple‐zeta basis set predicts 11 uracil trimer interaction energies with a root‐mean‐square error of 2.3 kcal mol^?1 relative to highly correlated ab initio theoretical calculations.     

An ab initio method for performing valence-electron-only calculations

We present a new method for performing valence-electron-only calculations on systems containing heavy atoms. The method contains no adjustable parameters and when used with a large orbital basis set yields exactly the same valence electron energy as an all-electron ab initio calculation. Good results are also obtained with truncated orbital basis sets.     

FT-IR spectral data and ab initio calculations for haloketenes

Photolysis of haloacetyl chlorides isolated in cryogenic xenon matrix generates hydrochloric acid which is growing at the same rate as a ketene-like moiety. This last species is found to be different in the experiment involving fluoroacetyl and chloroacetyl chloride, from Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectral results. The frequencies and intensities of the corresponding FT-IR spectral features are compared with the theoretical values obtained from ab initio calculations for fluoroketene HFCCO, chloroketene HClCCO and dichloroketene ClClCCO. The theoretical results give a satisfactory account of the haloketene HXCCO (X=F or Cl) assumption.     

A charge-conserving approximation method for ab initio calculations

A new method is presented for approximate ab initio calculations in quantum chemistry. It is called CCAM (charge conserving approximation method). The calculation method does not include the use of empirical parameters. We use Slater type orbitals as basis set, replacing STO's by STO-2G functions to evaluate three- and four-center integrals and making the STO-2G two-orbital charge distributions have the same total charge as STO. The results are presented for test calculations on five molecules. In view of these results, CCAM is better than ab initio calculations over STO-6G in the results on total energies, kinetic energies and occupied orbital energies. In atomic populations, dipole moments and unoccupied orbital energies, CCAM is also satisfactory. We estimate that CCAM would be as fast as ab initio calculations over STO-2G in evaluating molecular integrals.     

The geometry of pyrazole: A test for ab initio calculations

Ab initio calculations on the structure of pyrazole have been carried out at different levels of accuracy. At the Hartree-Fock (HF) level, the performance of several basis sets, namely 3-21G, 6-31G, 6-31G**, and 6–311G** was investigated. The influence of electron correlation effects also was studied by carrying out geometry optimizations at the MP2, MP4, and QCISD levels. The performance of a density functional method also was evaluated. We have also investigated the possible influence of the frozen core approximation on the final optimized geometry. Three different statistical analyses were considered in determining which geometry is closest to the experimental microwave geometry—namely Paul Curtin's diagrams, cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling. From these analyses, we conclude that there is no asymptotic approach to the experimental geometry by increasing the quality of the theoretical model, although, as expected, the more reliable structures are those obtained at the MP2, MP4, and QCISD levels, as well as those obtained by the B3LYP density functional method. We have also found that the values of the rotational constants are a tight criterion to define the quality of a molecular geometry. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

硝基烷系列分子的从头计算研究

硝基甲烷作为最简单的硝基类爆炸物,Marynick等曾以各种半经验分子轨道法和从头计算法进行过研究.我们也对其进行过全电子自洽场从头计算,获得有益启示.本文将类似计算用于硝基乙烷、1-和2-硝基丙烷等,发现用其电子结构可阐明各烷基的供电子能力、缩合反应能力、核磁共振谱和热安定性等诸多实验事实.还进行了相应构型和ρ指数下的CNDO/2计算,得到与从头计算平行的结果.     

Prediction of macroscopic properties of protic ionic liquids by ab initio calculations

We have systematically investigated combinations of anions and cations in a number of protic ionic liquids based on alkylamines and used ab initio methods to gain insight into the parameters determining their liquid range and their conductivity. A simple, almost linear, relation of the experimentally determined melting temperature with the calculated volume of the anion forming the ionic liquid is found, whereas the dependence of the melting temperature with increasing cation volume goes through a minimum for relatively short side chain length. On the basis of the present results, we propose a strategy to predict the nature of protic ionic liquids in terms of low vapor pressure and conductivity. Comparisons with previously reported strategies for prediction of melting temperatures for aprotic ionic liquids are also made.     

Lithium cluster anions: photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations

Structural and energetic properties of small, deceptively simple anionic clusters of lithium, Li(n)(-), n = 3-7, were determined using a combination of anion photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations. The most stable isomers of each of these anions, the ones most likely to contribute to the photoelectron spectra, were found using the gradient embedded genetic algorithm program. Subsequently, state-of-the-art ab initio techniques, including time-dependent density functional theory, coupled cluster, and multireference configurational interactions methods, were employed to interpret the experimental spectra.     

Pyrrolidinium-based ionic liquids. 1-Butyl-1-methyl pyrrolidinium dicyanoamide: thermochemical measurement, mass spectrometry, and ab initio calculations

The standard molar enthalpy of formation of the ionic liquid 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide has been determined at 298 K by means of combustion calorimetry, while the enthalpy of vaporization and the mass spectrum of the vapor (ion pairs) have been determined by temperature-programmed desorption and line of sight mass spectrometry. Ab initio calculations for 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide have been performed using the G3MP2 and CBS-QB3 theory, and the results from homodesmic reactions are in excellent agreement with the experiments.     

Simultaneous ab initio calculations of isoelectronic diatomic molecules

Large gaussian basis sets are employed in simultaneous configuration interaction calculations for the ground states of isoelectronic diatomic molecules. The resulting potential energy curves for three members respectively of four different isoelectronic molecule sequences show the applicability of the method. Comparisons with available results of standard configuration interaction calculations for selected molecules are given. Using our method we often get lower upper bounds for the electronic energy, save computer time and treat physically totally different molecules simultaneously.     

Large-scale ab initio calculations of archetypical ionic liquids

Fully ab initio large-scale calculations of archetypical ionic liquids consisting of up to eight ion pairs are presented for the first time. These are used to validate the computationally efficient Fragment Molecular Orbital approach applied to these semi-Coulombic systems, paving the way towards accurate prediction of their transport properties.     

Water binding sites in 2-para- and 2-ortho-fluorophenylethanol: a high-resolution UV experiment and ab initio calculations

The singly hydrated complexes of the flexible prototype molecules 2-para-fluorophenylethanol and 2-ortho-fluorophenylethanol have been investigated by combination of high-resolution resonance-enhanced two-photon ionization spectroscopy in a cold supersonic beam and quantum chemistry ab initio calculations. We have identified the conformational structures of the above complexes, which correspond to water binding to the most stable gauche monomer's conformers in both cases. No structural changes of the host molecules upon the attachment of a single water molecule have been found. For the 2-ortho-fluorophenylethanol-water complex we have observed an additional structure with one of the higher-in-energy gauche conformers of the monomer. This corroborates the assumption that the complexation with water stabilizes the higher-energy conformer of the monomer, precluding it from relaxation to the lowest-energy geometry.