Collision-energy-resolved penning ionization electron spectroscopy of HCOOH, CH3COOH, and HCOOCH3 by collision with He*(2(3)S) metastable atoms

Penning ionization of formic acid (HCOOH), acetic acid (CH3COOH), and methyl formate (HCOOCH3) upon collision with metastable He*(2(3)S) atoms was studied by collision-energy/electron-energy-resolved two-dimensional Penning ionization electron spectroscopy (2D-PIES). Anisotropy of interaction between the target molecule and He*(2(3)S) was investigated based on the collision energy dependence of partial ionization cross sections (CEDPICS) obtained from 2D-PIES as well as ab initio molecular orbital calculations for the access of a metastable atom to the target molecule. For the interaction potential calculations, a Li atom was used in place of He*(2(3)S) metastable atom because of its well-known similarity in interaction with targets. The results indicate that in the studied collision energy range the attractive potential localizes around the oxygen atoms and that the potential well at the carbonyl oxygen atom is at least twice as much as that at the hydroxyl oxygen. Moreover we can notice that attractive potential is highly anisotropic. Repulsive interactions can be found around carbon atoms and the methyl group.     

Collision-energy-resolved penning ionization electron spectroscopy of phenylacetylene and diphenylacetylene by collision with He*(2(3)s) metastable atoms

Penning ionization of phenylacetylene and diphenylacetylene upon collision with metastable He*(2(3)S) atoms was studied by collision-energy-/electron-energy-resolved two-dimensional Penning ionization electron spectroscopy (2D-PIES). On the basis of the collision energy dependence of partial ionization cross-sections (CEDPICS) obtained from 2D-PIES as well as ab initio molecular orbital calculations for the approach of a metastable atom to the target molecule, anisotropy of interaction between the target molecule and He*(2(3)S) was investigated. For the calculations of interaction potential, a Li(2(2)S) atom was used in place of He*(2(3)S) metastable atom because of its well-known interaction behavior with various targets. The results indicate that attractive potentials localize in the pi regions of the phenyl groups as well as in the pi-conjugated regions of the acetylene group. Although similar attractive interactions were also found by the observation of CEDPICS for ionization of all pi MOs localized at the C[triple bond]C bond, the in-plane regions have repulsive potentials. Rotation of the phenyl groups about the C[triple bond]C bond can be observed for diphenylacetylene because of a low torsion barrier. So the examination of measured PIES was performed taking into consideration the change of ionization energies for conjugated molecular orbitals.     

Penning ionization electron spectroscopy of C6H6 by collision with He*(2 3 S) metastable atoms and classical trajectory calculations: optimization of ab initio model potentials

The potential energy surface of benzene (C(6)H(6)) with a He*(2(3)S) atom was obtained by comparison of experimental data in collision-energy-resolved two-dimensional Penning ionization electron spectroscopy with classical trajectory calculations. The ab initio model interaction potentials for C(6)H(6)+He*(2(3)S) were successfully optimized by the overlap expansion method; the model potentials were effectively modified by correction terms proportional to the overlap integrals between orbitals of the interacting system, C(6)H(6) and He*(2(3)S). Classical trajectory calculations with optimized potentials gave excellent agreement with the observed collision-energy dependence of partial ionization cross sections. Important contributions to corrections were found to be due to interactions between unoccupied molecular orbitals and the He*2s orbital. A C(6)H(6) molecule attracts a He*(2(3)S) atom widely at the region where pi electrons distribute, and the interaction of -80 meV (ca. -1.8 kcal/mol) just cover the carbon hexagon. The binding energy of a C(6)H(6) molecule and a He* atom was 107 meV at a distance of 2.40 A on the sixfold axis from the center of a C(6)H(6) molecule, which is similar to that of C(6)H(6)+Li and is much larger than those of the C(6)H(6)+[He,Ne,Ar] systems.     

Collision-energy-resolved Penning ionization electron spectroscopy of p-benzoquinone: study of electronic structure and anisotropic interaction with He(*)(2 (3)S) metastable atoms

Collision energy dependence of partial ionization cross sections (CEDPICS) of p-benzoquinone with He(*)(2 (3)S) metastable atoms indicates that interaction potentials between p-benzoquinone and He(*)(2 (3)S) are highly anisotropic in the studied collision energy range (100-250 meV). Attractive interactions were found around the C==O groups for in-plane and out-of-plane directions, while repulsive interactions were found around CH bonds and the benzenoid ring. Assignment of the first four ionic states of p-benzoquinone and an analogous methyl-substituted compound was examined with CEDPICS and anisotropic distributions of the corresponding two nonbonding oxygen orbitals (n(O) (+),n(O) (-)) and two pi(CC) orbitals (pi(CC) (+),pi(CC) (-)). An extra band that shows negative CEDPICS was observed at ca. 7.2 eV in Penning ionization electron spectrum.     

Development of a cooled He*(23S) beam source for measurements of state-resolved collision energy dependence of Penning ionization cross sections: Evidence for a stereospecific attractive well around methyl group in CH3CN

A low-temperature discharge nozzle source with a liquid-N(2) circulator for He*(2(3)S) metastable atoms has been developed in order to obtain the state-resolved collision energy dependence of Penning ionization cross sections in a low collision energy range from 20 to 80 meV. By controlling the discharge condition, we have made it possible to measure the collision energy dependence of partial ionization cross sections (CEDPICS) for a well-studied system of CH(3)CN+He*(2(3)S) in a wide energy range from 20 to 350 meV. The anisotropic interaction potential energy surface for the present system was obtained starting from an ab initio model potential via an optimization procedure based on classical trajectory calculations for the observed CEDPICS. A dominant attractive well depth was found to be 423 meV (ca. 10 kcal/mol) at a distance of 3.20 A from the center of mass of CH(3)CN in the N-atom side along the CCN axis. In addition, a weak attractive well (ca. 0.9 kcal/mol) surrounding the methyl group (-CH(3)) has been found and ascribed to the interaction between an unoccupied molecular orbital of CH(3)CN and 2s atomic orbital of He*(2(3)S).     

Probing the shape and stereochemistry of molecular orbitals in locally flexible aromatic chains: a penning ionization electron spectroscopy and Green's function study of the electronic structure of biphenyl

We report on the results of an exhaustive study of the interplay between the valence electronic structure, the topology and reactivity of orbitals, and the molecular structure of biphenyl by means of Penning ionization electron spectroscopy in the gas phase upon collision with metastable He*(2(3)S) atoms. The measurements are compared with one-particle Green's function calculations of one-electron and shake-up valence ionization spectra employing the third-order algebraic diagrammatic construction scheme [ADC(3)]. Penning ionization intensities are also analyzed by means of the exterior electron-density model and comparison with photoelectron spectra: in contrast with the lines originating from sigma orbitals, ionization lines belonging to the pi-band system have large Penning ionization cross sections due to their greater extent outside the molecular van der Waals surface. The involved chemi-ionization processes are further experimentally investigated using collision-energy-resolved Penning ionization electron spectroscopy. The cross sections of pi-ionization bands exhibit a markedly negative collision-energy dependence and indicate that the interaction potential that prevails between the molecule and the He*(2(3)S) atom is strongly attractive in the pi-orbital region. On the other hand, the partial ionization cross sections pertaining to sigma-ionization channels are characterized by more limited collision-energy dependencies, as a consequence of rather repulsive interactions within the sigma-orbital region. A comparison of ADC(3) simulations with the Penning ionization electron spectra and UV photoelectron spectra measured by Kubota et al. [Chem. Phys. Lett. 1980, 74, 409] on thin films of biphenyl deposited at 170 and 109 K on copper demonstrates that biphenyl molecules lying at the surface of polycrystalline layers adopt predominantly a planar configuration, whereas within an amorphous sample most molecules have twisted structures similar to those prevailing in the gas phase.     

Collision-energy-resolved Penning ionization electron spectroscopy of bromomethanes (CH3Br, CH2Br2, and CHBr3) by collision with He*(2(3)S) metastable atoms

Ionization of bromomethanes (CH3Br, CH2Br2, and CHBr3) upon collision with metastable He*(2(3)S) atoms has been studied by means of collision-energy-resolved Penning ionization electron spectroscopy. Lone-pair (nBr) orbitals of Br4p characters have larger ionization cross sections than sigma(C-Br) orbitals. The collision-energy dependence of the partial ionization cross sections shows that the interaction potential between the molecule and the He*(2(3)S) atom is highly anisotropic around CH3Br or CH2Br2, while isotropic attractive interactions are found for CHBr3. Bands observed at electron energies of approximately 2 eV in the He*(2(3)S) Penning ionization electron spectra (PIES) of CH2Br2 and CHBr3 have no counterpart in ultraviolet (He I) photoionization spectra and theoretical (third-order algebraic diagrammatic construction) one-electron and shake-up ionization spectra. Energy analysis of the processes involved demonstrates that these bands and further bands overlapping with sigma(C-Br) or piCH2 levels are related to autoionization of dissociating (He+ - Br-) pairs. Similarly, a band at an electron energy of approximately 1 eV in the He*(2(3)S) PIES spectra of CH3Br has been ascribed to autoionizing Br** atoms released by dissociation of (unidentified) excited states of the target molecule. A further autoionization (S) band can be discerned at approximately 1 eV below the lone-pair nBr bands in the He*(2(3)S) PIES spectrum of CHBr3. This band has been ascribed to the decay of autoionizing Rydberg states of the target molecule (M**) into vibrationally excited states of the molecular ion. It was found that for this transition, the interaction potential that prevails in the entrance channel is merely attractive.     

Probing anisotropic interaction potentials of unsaturated hydrocarbons with He*(2 3S) metastable atom: attractive-site preference of sigma-direction in C2H2 and pi-direction in C2H4

State-resolved collision energy dependence of Penning ionization cross sections of acetylene (C2H2) and ethylene (C2H4) with He*(2 3S) metastable atoms was observed in a wide collision energy range from 20 to 350 meV. A recently developed discharge nozzle source with a liquid N2 circulator was employed for the measurements in the low-energy range from 20 to 80 meV. Based on classical trajectory calculations for the energy dependence of the partial ionization cross sections, anisotropic potential energy surfaces for the present systems were obtained by optimizing ab initio model potentials for the chemically related systems Li+C2H2 and C2H4. In the case of C2H2, the global minimum was found to be located around the H atom along the molecular axis with a well depth of 48 meV (ca. 1.1 kcal/mol). On the other hand, a dominant attractive well with a depth of 62 meV (ca. 1.4 kcal/mol) was found in the piCC electron region of C2H4. These findings were discussed in connection with orbital interactions between molecular orbitals of the target molecules and atomic orbitals of the metastable atom. It is concluded that sigma-type unoccupied molecular orbitals of C2H2 and a piCC-type highest occupied molecular orbital of C2H4 play a significant role for the attractive-site preference of sigma direction in C2H2 and pi direction in C2H4, respectively.     

A theoretical analysis of the explanation of the significant differences in antiferromagnetic interactions between homologous μ-alkoxo and acetate bridged dicopper(II) complexes: ab initio and semi-empirical calculations

A magnetostructural classification of dimmers, containing the Cu (μ-alkoxo) Cu core, based on data obtained from X-ray diffraction analysis reported in the literature has been performed. In these complexes, the local geometry around the copper ions is generally a square planar and each copper ion is surrounded by one N atom and three O atoms. The influence of the overlap interactions between the bridging ligands and the metal (Cu) d orbitals on the super-exchange coupling constant has been studied by means of ab initio Restricted Hatree–Fock molecular orbital calculations. The interaction between the magnetic d orbitals and highest occupied molecular orbitals of the acetate oxygens has been investigated in homologous μ-acetato-bridged dicopper(II) complexes which have significantly different −2J values (the energy separation between the spin-triplet and spin-singlet states). In order to determine the nature of the fronter orbitals, Extended Hückel molecular Orbital calculations are also reported. Ab initio restricted Hartree–Fock calculations have shown that the acetato bridge and the alkoxide bridge contribute to the magnetic interaction countercomplementarily to reduce antiferromagnetic interaction.     

DFT and CI Studies of Electronic Structure and Photoionization of Sc,Ti, V,Cr, and Co Tris-β-diketonate Complexes

Orbital structure calculations were performed in the density functional theory (DFT) approximation for neutral complexes of Sc, Ti, V, Cr, and Co tris-β-diketonates; for the first three compounds, the structures of the ground ionic states and ionization energies were calculated in the CI approximation with decomposition on the orbitals of DFT. The sequence of the highest occupied orbitals found by this procedure coincides with the order of bands in the PES spectrum, while in the SCF-HF ab initio method, it does not. After the electron removal, all orbitals are stabilized by about 4.5 eV; for the vanadium complex, the removal of one d electron leads to the greatest stabilization of the remaining occupied orbital, which is essentially a d orbital. In CI calculations, using the DFT orbitals for decomposition does not lead to significantly better agreement with experiment when compared to the single-determinantal approximation and to the CI method with orbitals of the ab initio approximation.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by I. S. Osmushko and V. I. Vovna__________Translated from Zhurnal Strukturnoi Khimii, Vol. 45, No. 5, pp. 783–791, September–October, 2004.     

ⅤA族元素甲基化合物的赝势从头算研究

使用相对论赝势从头算方法研究了XMe3(X=N, P, As, Sb, Bi)系列分子的Koopmans电离能, 孤对电子轨道特征及电子结构, 并将某些分子轨道能与相应X的原子轨道能进行了线性关联。     

Hole-mixing effects in the ionization of some unsaturated oxo-compounds

The He(II) photoelectron spectra of acrolein, propynal, propynol and propiolic acid are interpreted with the aid of ab initio many-body Green's function calculations in the outer and inner valence region. Koopmans' approximation fails to supply the correct ordering of electronic states in the radical cation if the lone pair orbital on the oxygen atom is of a′ symmetry. In the case of propynal the ordering of two ionic states o f equal symmetry is interchanged with respect to the Koopmans' orderin. A strong mixing of hole configurations occurs for outer valence states of propynol and propiolic acid. The implications of this mixing are briefly discussed.     

Theoretical Study of Electronic Structures and Spectra of Chalcogenido Complexes of Molybdenum, trans-Mo(Q)(2)(PH(3))(4) (Q = O, S, Se, Te)

Electronic structures of the title complexes have been studied using quantum chemical computations by different methods. It is shown that the results of Xalpha calculations agree well with expectations from classical ligand-field theory, but both are far from being in agreement with the results given by ab initio calculations. The HOMO in the ab initio Hartree-Fock molecular orbital diagrams of all these complexes is a chalcogen p(pi) lone pair orbital rather than the metal nonbonding d(xy)() orbital previously proposed. Electronic transition energies were calculated by CASSCF and CI methods. The results suggest that in the cases when Q = S, Se, and Te the lowest energy transitions should be those from the p(pi) lone pair orbitals to the metal-chalcogen pi orbitals. The calculated and observed electronic spectra of the oxo complex are in good agreement and very different from the spectra of the other complexes, and the lowest absorptions were accordingly assigned to transitions of different origins.     

Electronic control of the stereochemistry of electrophilic and nucleophilic attack on double bonds in 6-membered rings

CNDO and ab initio MO calculations reveal a deformation of the π^* and π orbitals of cyclohexene in the axial directions, thus providing a reasonable explanation for the axial attack on cyclohexene either by electrophiles or by nucleophiles. It is shown in the case of 1-butene by an ab initio calculation that this orbital deformation is a result of the mixing of the π and σ orbitals of the double bond under the influence of the allylic C-C bond.     

An ab initio study of electron density relaxation effects in CoO during ionization

The relaxation in the electron density which accompanies the ionization of an electron from a transition metal atom in an ionic complex has been illustrated by ab initio calculations on the CoO^10?₆ cluster. It is found that the relaxation density is almost independent of the particular orbital from which the electron is removed.     

Electron momentum spectroscopy of trisubstituted amines: The valence shell orbitals of triethylamine

The ionization potentials of the valence shell orbitals (up to 40 eV) of triethylamine have been measured by means of the binary (e,2e) technique. Satellite structure, due to transitions to ionic excited states, has been observed in the outer valence shell for binding energies larger than 15 eV. The electron momentum distributions of the valence orbitals have been measured on ionization peaks corresponding to main and satellite transitions. Results are compared with SCF calculations. The electron momentum distribution of the most external orbital, formed mostly by the N 2p lone pair, is discussed in detail.     

On the construction of diabatic and adiabatic potential energy surfaces based on ab initio valence bond theory

A theoretical model is presented for deriving effective diabatic states based on ab initio valence bond self-consistent field (VBSCF) theory by reducing the multiconfigurational VB Hamiltonian into an effective two-state model. We describe two computational approaches for the optimization of the effective diabatic configurations, resulting in two ways of interpreting such effective diabatic states. In the variational diabatic configuration (VDC) method, the energies of the diabatic states are variationally minimized. In the consistent diabatic configuration (CDC) method, both the configuration coefficients and orbital coefficients are simultaneously optimized to minimize the adiabatic ground-state energy in VBSCF calculations. In addition, we describe a mixed molecular orbital and valence bond (MOVB) approach to construct the CDC diabatic and adiabatic states for a chemical reaction. Note that the VDC-MOVB method has been described previously. Employing the symmetric S(N)2 reaction between NH(3) and CH(3)NH(3)(+) as a test system, we found that the results from ab initio VBSCF and from ab initio MOVB calculations using the same basis set are in good agreement, suggesting that the computationally efficient MOVB method is a reasonable model for VB simulations of condensed phase reactions. The results indicate that CDC and VDC diabatic states converge, respectively, to covalent and ionic states as the molecular geometries are distorted from the minimum of the respective diabatic state along the reaction coordinate. Furthermore, the resonance energy that stabilizes the energy of crossing between the two diabatic states, resulting in the transition state of the adiabatic ground-state reaction, has a strong dependence on the overlap integral between the two diabatic states and is a function of both the exchange integral and the total diabatic ground-state energy.     

HeI photoelectron spectroscopic study of the electronic structure of SSF2 and FSSF compounds

HeI photoelectron (PE) spectra are re-recorded for SSF₂ and FSSF. The assignment of bands has been made with the aid of band shapes, band intensities and ab initio calculations. In the PE spectrum of SSF₂, two sharp peaks at 10.48 and 11.22 eV are considered to result from through-space interaction of lone-pair orbitals in the two S atoms and two sharp peaks at 12.50 and 12.90 eV from through-space interaction of lone-pair orbitals in the two F atoms. The larger splitting of the S atoms can be attributed to the larger 3p orbital of S. The lack of sharp peaks in the PE spectrum of FSSF shows that there is no orbital which embodies the character of a lone-pair. So the PE spectra of SSF₂ and FSSF are examples embodying through-space interaction of lone-pair orbitals.     

Effect of noncovalent interactions on conformers of the n-butylbenzene monomer studied by mass analyzed threshold ionization spectroscopy and basis-set convergent ab initio computations

Two conformational isomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon n-butylbenzene have been studied using two-color MATI (mass analyzed threshold ionization) spectroscopy to explore the effect of conformation on ionization dynamics. Cationic states of g auche-conformer III and anti- conformers IV were selectively produced by two-color excitation via the respective S 1 origins. Adiabatic ionization potentials of the gauche- and anti-conformations were determined to be 70146 and 69872 +/- 5 cm (-1) respectively. Spectral features and vibrational modes are interpreted with the aid of MP2/cc-pVDZ ab initio calculations, and ionization-induced changes in the molecular conformations are discussed. Complete basis set (CBS) ab initio studies at MP2 level reveal reliable energetics for all four n-butylbenzene conformers observed in earlier two-color REMPI (resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization) spectra. For the S 0 state, the energies of conformer III, IV and V are above conformer I by 130, 289, 73 cm (-1), respectively. Furthermore, the combination of the CBS calculations with the measured REMPI, MATI spectra allowed the determination of the energetics of all four conformers in the S 1 and D 0 states.     

Study of the photoelectron and electron momentum spectra of cyclopentene using benchmark Dyson orbital theories

A complete study of the valence electronic structure and related electronic excitation properties of cyclopentene in its C(s) ground state geometry is presented. Ionization spectra obtained from this compound by means of photoelectron spectroscopy (He I and He II) and electron momentum spectroscopy have been analyzed in details up to electron binding energies of 30 eV using one-particle Green's function (1p-GF) theory along with the outer-valence (OVGF) and the third-order algebraic diagrammatic construction [ADC(3)] schemes. The employed geometries derive from DFT/B3LYP calculations in conjunction with the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set, and closely approach the structures inferred from experiments employing microwave spectroscopy or electron diffraction in the gas phase. The 1p-GF/ADC(3) calculations indicate that the orbital picture of ionization breaks down at electron binding energies larger than approximately 17 eV in the inner-valence region, and that the outer-valence 7a' orbital is also subject to a significant dispersion of the ionization intensity over shake-up states. This study confirms further the rule that OVGF pole strengths smaller than 0.85 foretell a breakdown of the orbital picture of ionization at the ADC(3) level. Spherically averaged (e, 2e) electron momentum distributions at an electron impact energy of 1200 eV that were experimentally inferred from an angular analysis of EMS intensities have been interpreted by comparison with accurate simulations employing ADC(3) Dyson orbitals. Very significant discrepancies were observed with momentum distributions obtained from several outer-valence ionization bands using standard Kohn-Sham orbitals.