Evolution of chemical bonding and electron density rearrangements during D3h → D3d reaction in monolayered TiS2: A QTAIM and ELF study

Monolayered titanium disulfide TiS₂, a prospective nanoelectronic material, was previously shown to be subject to an exothermic solid‐state D_3h–D_3d reaction that proceeds via a newly discovered transition state. Here, we study the reaction in detail using topological methods of quantum chemistry (quantum theory of atoms in molecules and electron localization function analysis) and show how electron density and chemical bonding between the atoms change in the course of the reaction. The reaction is shown to undergo a series of topological catastrophes, associated with elementary chemical events such as break and formation of bonds (including the unexpected formation of S? S bonding between sulfur layers), and rearrangement of electron density of outer valence and core shells. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Spontaneous dissociation of xenon tetroxide: phase and structural changes

XeO(4) is a noble gas compound remarkable for its high explosiveness in the crystalline state and spontaneous explosion at melting temperature. Both phenomena are studied by analyzing potential energy surfaces corresponding to elementary dissociation acts. It is shown that a spontaneous explosion of xenon tetroxide can be explained by a phase transition associated with structural T(d) → D(2h) change and be triggered by rearrangement of electron levels due to the Jahn-Teller effect.