The nature of the chemical bond revisited: an energy-partitioning analysis of nonpolar bonds

The nature of the chemical bond in nonpolar molecules has been investigated by energy-partitioning analysis (EPA) of the ADF program using DFT calculations. The EPA divides the bonding interactions into three major components, that is, the repulsive Pauli term, quasiclassical electrostatic interactions, and orbital interactions. The electrostatic and orbital terms are used to define the nature of the chemical bond. It is shown that nonpolar bonds between main-group elements of the first and higher octal rows of the periodic system, which are prototypical covalent bonds, have large attractive contributions from classical electrostatic interactions, which may even be stronger than the attractive orbital interactions. Fragments of molecules with totally symmetrical electron-density distributions, like the nitrogen atoms in N(2), may strongly attract each other through classical electrostatic forces, which constitute 30.0 % of the total attractive interactions. The electrostatic attraction can be enhanced by anisotropic charge distribution of the valence electrons of the atoms that have local areas of (negative) charge concentration. It is shown that the use of atomic partial charges in the analysis of the nature of the interatomic interactions may be misleading because they do not reveal the topography of the electronic charge distribution. Besides dinitrogen, four groups of molecules have been studied. The attractive binding interactions in H(n)E-EH(n) (E=Li to F; n=0-3) have between 20.7 (E=F) and 58.4 % (E=Be) electrostatic character. The substitution of hydrogen by fluorine does not lead to significant changes in the nature of the binding interactions in F(n)E-EF(n) (E=Be to O). The electrostatic contributions to the attractive interactions in F(n)E-EF(n) are between 29.8 (E=O) and 55.3 % (E=Be). The fluorine substituents have a significant effect on the Pauli repulsion in the nitrogen and oxygen compounds. This explains why F(2)N-NF(2) has a much weaker bond than H(2)N-NH(2), whereas the interaction energy in FO-OF is much stronger than in HO-OH. The orbital interactions make larger contributions to the double bonds in HB=BH, H(2)C=CH(2), and HN=NH (between 59.9 % in B(2)H(2) and 65.4 % in N(2)H(2)) than to the corresponding single bonds in H(n)E-EH(n). The orbital term Delta E(orb) (72.4 %) makes an even greater contribution to the HC triple bond CH triple bond. The contribution of Delta E(orb) to the H(n)E=EH(n) bond increases and the relative contribution of the pi bonding decreases as E becomes more electronegative. The pi-bonding interactions in HC triple bond CH amount to 44.4 % of the total orbital interactions. The interaction energy in H(3)E-EH(3) (E=C to Pb) decreases monotonically as the element E becomes heavier. The electrostatic contributions to the E-E bond increases from E=C (41.4 %) to E=Sn (55.1 %) but then decreases when E=Pb (51.7 %). A true understanding of the strength and trends of the chemical bonds can only be achieved when the Pauli repulsion is considered. In an absolute sense the repulsive Delta E(Pauli) term is in most cases the largest term in the EPA.     

Comment on “Realization of Lewis Basic Sodium Anion in the NaBH3− Cluster”

We challenge the interpretation of the chemical bond in NaBH₃⁻ proposed by Liu et al. We argue that NaBH₃⁻ has an electron-sharing Na−BH₃⁻ covalent bond rather than a dative bond Na⁻→BH₃.     

Is This a Chemical Bond? A Theoretical Study of Ng2@C60 (Ng=He,Ne, Ar,Kr, Xe)

Quantum-chemical calculations using DFT (BP86) and ab initio methods (MP2, SCS-MP2) have been carried out for the endohedral fullerenes Ng2@C60 (Ng=He-Xe). The nature of the interactions has been analyzed with charge- and energy-partitioning methods and with the topological analysis of the electron density (Atoms-in-Molecules (AIM)). The calculations predict that the equilibrium geometries of Ng2@C60 have D3d symmetry when Ng=Ne, Ar, Kr, while the energy-minimum structure of Xe2@C60 has D5d symmetry. The precession movement of He2 in He2@C60 has practically no barrier. The Ng--Ng distances in Ng2@C60 are much shorter than in free Ng2. All compounds Ng2@C60 are thermodynamically unstable towards loss of the noble gas atoms. The heavier species Ar2@C60, Kr2@C60, and Xe2@C60 are high energy compounds which are at the BSSE corrected SCS-MP2/TZVPP level in the range 96.7-305.5 kcal mol(-1) less stable than free C60+2 Ng. The AIM method reveals that there is always an Ng--Ng bond path in Ng2@C60. There are six Ng--C bond paths in (D3d) Ar2@C60, Kr2@C60, and Xe2@C60, whereas the lighter D3d homologues He2@C60 and Ne2@C60 have only three Ng--C2 paths. The calculated charge distribution and the orbital analysis clearly show that the bonding situation in Xe2@C60 significantly differs from those of the lighter homologues. The atomic partial charge of the [Xe2] moiety is +1.06, whereas the charges of the lighter dimers [Ng2] are close to zero. The a2u HOMO of (D3d) Xe2@C60 in the 1A1g state shows a large mixing of the highest lying occupied sigma* orbital of [Xe2] and the orbitals of the C60 cage. There is only a small gap between the a2u HOMO of Xe2@C60 and the eu LUMO and the a2u LUMO+1. The calculations show that there are several triplet states which are close in energy to each other and to the 1A1g state. The bonding analysis suggests that the interacting species in Xe2@C60 are the charged species Xe2q+ and C60q-, where 1相似文献   

HCCO自由基与水分子氢键复合物的从头算研究

在MP2/aug-cc-pvdz水平下,对二体氢键复合物H2O…HCCO(Ⅰ)和HCCO…H2O(Ⅱ)以及三体氢键复合物(H2O)2…HCCO(Ⅲ),H2O…H2O…HCCO(Ⅳ)和H2O…HCCO…H2O(Ⅴ)的几何和相互作用能进行了计算.轨道分析表明Ⅲ中HCCO中的H(1),C(2)通过2个氢键与2个水分子形成了环...     

XeO$_{3}$和XeOF$_{2}$与三种不同杂化方式N原子的Xe$cdots$N非共价作用的理论研究

本文采用密度泛函理论和二级微扰理论方法研究了XeO$_3$和XeOF$_2$与一系列不同杂化含氮给体配合物之间的相互作用. 含氮给体与XeO$_3$和XeOF$_2$之间的相互作用能在6.5$sim$19.9 kcal/mol之间. 相互作用强弱顺序为sp$^3$$>$sp$^2$$>$sp,且XeO$_3$比XeOF$_2$高. 约化密度梯度图证明,对于sp$^2$和sp$^3$杂化的给体,空间位阻效应在相互作用中起着一定的影响. 能量成分分析发现,Xe$cdots$N作用主要的吸引部分是静电相互作用. 在XeO$_3$配合物中,极化能的占比大于色散,而在XeOF$_2$配合物中则相反. 除表面静电势($V_mathrm{s}$)外,其他5个相互作用参数之间的线性相关系数均较大.     

Reply to “Comment on the Comparative Use of the Electron Density and Its Laplacian”

In our reply to the preceding comment by Richard Bader we show that the statements of the author are not justified and that he contradicts his own previous work.     

Electronic structure and chemical bond in carbides crystallizing in the Fe-W-C system

The electronic energy structure of MC, M₆C, and M₁₂C carbide systems and iron martensite in the absence of spin polarization was studied by the local coherent potential method using the cluster version of the MT approximation in terms of multiple scattering theory. The local partial density of the electronic states of atoms in crystals was calculated and their electronic structures were compared. The peculiarities of chemical bonding in crystals are discussed.     

Direct estimate of the strength of conjugation and hyperconjugation by the energy decomposition analysis method

The intrinsic strength of pi interactions in conjugated and hyperconjugated molecules has been calculated using density functional theory by energy decomposition analysis (EDA) of the interaction energy between the conjugating fragments. The results of the EDA of the trans-polyenes H2C=CH-(HC=CH)n-CH=CH2 (n = 1-3) show that the strength of pi conjugation for each C=C moiety is higher than in trans-1,3-butadiene. The absolute values for the conjugation between Si=Si pi bonds are around two-thirds of the conjugation between C=C bonds but the relative contributions of DeltaE pi to DeltaE orb in the all-silicon systems are higher than in the carbon compounds. The pi conjugation between C=C and C=O or C=NH bonds in H2C=CH--C(H)=O and H2C=CH-C(H)=NH is comparable to the strength of the conjugation between C=C bonds. The pi conjugation in H2C=CH-C(R)=O decreases when R = Me, OH, and NH2 while it increases when R = halogen. The hyperconjugation in ethane is around a quarter as strong as the pi conjugation in ethyne. Very strong hyperconjugation is found in the central C-C bonds in cubylcubane and tetrahedranyltetrahedrane. The hyperconjugation in substituted ethanes X3C-CY3 (X,Y = Me, SiH3, F, Cl) is stronger than in the parent compound particularly when X,Y = SiH3 and Cl. The hyperconjugation in donor-acceptor-substituted ethanes may be very strong; the largest DeltaE pi value was calculated for (SiH3)3C-CCl3 in which the hyperconjugation is stronger than the conjugation in ethene. The breakdown of the hyperconjugation in X3C-CY3 shows that donation of the donor-substituted moiety to the acceptor group is as expected the most important contribution but the reverse interaction is not negligible. The relative strengths of the pi interactions between two C=C double bonds, one C=C double bond and CH3 or CMe3 substituents, and between two CH3 or CMe3 groups, which are separated by one C-C single bond, are in a ratio of 4:2:1. Very strong hyperconjugation is found in HC[triple bond]C-C(SiH3)3 and HC[triple bond]C-CCl3. The extra stabilization of alkenes and alkynes with central multiple bonds over their terminal isomers coming from hyperconjugation is bigger than the total energy difference between the isomeric species. The hyperconjugation in Me-C(R)=O is half as strong as the conjugation in H2C=CH-C(R)=O and shows the same trend for different substituents R. Bond energies and lengths should not be used as indicators of the strength of hyperconjugation because the effect of sigma interactions and electrostatic forces may compensate for the hyperconjugative effect.