Behaviour of ‘free-standing’ hollow Au nanocages at finite temperatures: a BOMD study

Finite-temperature behaviour of a hollow golden cage (HGC) plays a crucialrole in its potential applications as a catalyst, drug delivery agent, contrasting agent and so on. This physico-chemical property of HGCs is not well understood so far. In that context, Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) simulations are performed on a well-known ‘free-standing’ HGC. The cluster considered in this study is the ground state Au₁₈ cluster (a cage with a diameter of about >5.5 Å). The results thus obtained are compared with the BOMD simulation results reported earlier on Au₃₂ icosahedron cage, a conformation with a diameter of nearly. The sphericity of both the clusters is studied using a shape deformation parameter as a function of time and temperature. These results are supplemented by radial distribution function at various temperatures. The observations and analysis of results indicate that, both the clusters retain an HGC conformation from 300 to 400 K, admitting structural fluxionality by the Au₁₈ cluster. Remarkably, the Au₁₈ cluster is able to maintain its hollowness and sphericity up to a high temperature of 1000 K. Underlying structural and electronic properties influencing the individualistic behaviour of cages are highlighted. Composition of the frontier molecular orbitals and the charge distribution play a crucial role in the finite-temperature behaviour of the Au cages. The conclusions are supplemented by supporting calculations on another degenerate ground state Au₁₈ hollow cage and a well-known pyramidal Au₁₈ cage at 300 and 400 K.     

Theoretical study of electronic structure of rhodium mononitride and interpretation of experimental spectra

Potential energy curves of 22 electronic states of RhN have been calculated by the complete active space second‐order perturbation theory method. The X¹Σ₀⁺ is assigned as the ground state, and the first excited state a³Π₀+ is 978 cm^?1 higher. The ¹Δ(I) and B¹Σ⁺ states are located at 9521 and 13,046 cm^?1 above the ground state, respectively. The B¹Σ⁺ state should be the excited state located 12,300 cm^?1 above the ground state in the experimental study. Moreover, two excited states, C¹Π and b³Σ⁺, are found 14,963 and 15,082 cm^?1 above the X¹Σ⁺ state, respectively. The transition C¹Π₁–X¹Σ₀⁺ may contribute to the experimentally observed bands headed at 15,071 cm^?1. There are two excited states, D¹Δ and E¹Σ⁺, situate at 20,715 and 23,145 cm^?1 above the X¹Σ⁺ state. The visible bands near 20,000 cm^?1 could be generated by the electronic transitions D¹Δ₂–a³Π₁ and E¹Σ⁺₀–X¹Σ⁺₀ because of the spin–orbit coupling effect. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

129Xe NMR chemical shift in Xe@C60 calculated at experimental conditions: Essential role of the relativity,dynamics, and explicit solvent

The isotropic ¹²⁹Xe nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shift (CS) in Xe@C₆₀ dissolved in liquid benzene was calculated by piecewise approximation to faithfully simulate the experimental conditions and to evaluate the role of different physical factors influencing the ¹²⁹Xe NMR CS. The ¹²⁹Xe shielding constant was obtained by averaging the ¹²⁹Xe nuclear magnetic shieldings calculated for snapshots obtained from the molecular dynamics trajectory of the Xe@C₆₀ system embedded in a periodic box of benzene molecules. Relativistic corrections were added at the Breit–Pauli perturbation theory (BPPT) level, included the solvent, and were dynamically averaged. It is demonstrated that the contribution of internal dynamics of the Xe@C₆₀ system represents about 8% of the total nonrelativistic NMR CS, whereas the effects of dynamical solvent add another 8%. The dynamically averaged relativistic effects contribute by 9% to the total calculated ¹²⁹Xe NMR CS. The final theoretical value of 172.7 ppm corresponds well to the experimental ¹²⁹Xe CS of 179.2 ppm and lies within the estimated errors of the model. The presented computational protocol serves as a prototype for calculations of ¹²⁹Xe NMR parameters in different Xe atom guest–host systems. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Synthesis,Structure, and Reactivity of Lewis Base Stabilized Plumbacyclopentadienylidenes

Plumbacyclopentadienylidenes, in which the lead atoms have divalent states and are coordinated by THF, pyridine and N‐heterocyclic carbene, were synthesized and characterized. The THF‐ and pyridine‐stabilized compounds can be regarded as rare examples of hypervalent 10‐X‐4 species. The equilibrium between the THF adduct and the free plumbacyclopentadienylidene was evidenced by spectroscopic analysis and theoretical calculations. The THF adduct in benzene converted into a plumbylene dimer, where one of the lead centers is coordinated by THF and the other lead atom is coordinated by a divalent lead atom, the dimer gradually decomposing into spiroplumbole. The THF adduct unexpectedly reacted with trifluoroborane and trichlorogallane to afford fluoroborole and chlorogallole, which are the first examples of non‐annulated fluoroborole and gallole, respectively.     

Interactions of delta shock waves for the relativistic Chaplygin Euler equations with split delta functions

In this article, we are concerned with the interactions of delta shock waves with contact discontinuities for the relativistic Euler equations for Chaplygin gas by using split delta functions method. The solutions are obtained constructively and globally when the initial data consists of three piecewise constant states. The global structure and large time‐asymptotic behaviors of the solutions are analyzed case by case. During the process of the interaction, the strengths of delta shock waves are computed completely. Moreover, it can be found that the Riemann solutions are stable for such small perturbations with special initial data by letting perturbed parameter ε tends to zero. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

磁光阱中超冷钠-铯原子碰撞的实验研究

研究了磁光阱中异核超冷钠铯原子的碰撞机理, 测量了超冷钠原子的碰撞损失率, 得到了钠-铯原子的碰撞损失系数β_Na-Cs与钠原子俘获光强度之间的关系. 利用多普勒模型计算了不同俘获光强度下的钠原子磁光阱的阱深, 得到了临界光强的理论值, 与实验结果符合得较好.     

Experimental and four‐component relativistic DFT studies of tungsten carbonyl complexes

We present a theoretical and experimental study of the structure and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) parameters of the pentacarbonyltungsten complexes of η¹‐2‐(trimethylstannyl)‐4,5‐dimethylphosphinine, η²‐norbornene, and imidazolidine‐2‐thione. The three complexes have a pseudo‐octahedral molecular structure with the six ligands bonded to the tungsten atom. The η¹‐2‐(trimethylstannyl)‐4,5‐dimethylphosphinine‐pentacarbonyl tungsten complex was synthesized for the first time. For all compounds, we present four‐component relativistic calculations of the NMR parameters at the Dirac–Kohn–Sham density functional level of theory using hybrid functionals. These large‐scale relativistic calculations of NMR chemical shifts and spin–spin coupling constants were compared with available experimental data, either taken from the literature or measured in this work. The inclusion of solvent effects modeled using a conductor‐like screening model was found to improve agreement between the calculated and experimental NMR parameters, and our best estimates for the NMR parameters are generally in good agreement with available experimental results. The present work demonstrates that four‐component relativistic theory has reached a level of maturity that makes it a convenient and accurate tool for modeling and understanding chemical shifts and indirect spin–spin coupling constants of organometallic compounds containing heavy elements, for which conventional non‐relativistic theory breaks down. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Theoretical examination of covalency in berkelium(IV) carbonate complexes

Experimental studies on the speciation of berkelium in carbonate media have shown that complexation of berkelium(III) by carbonate results in spontaneous oxidation to berkelium(IV) and that multiple species can be present in solution. We studied two proposed structures present in solution based on theoretical comparisons with spectroscopic data previously reported for Bk(IV) carbonate solutions. The multiconfigurational character of the ground and low-lying excited states in both complexes is demonstrated to result from the strong spin-orbit coupling. Although bonding in Bk(IV) carbonate and carbonate-hydroxide complexes is dominated by strong Coulombic forces, the presence of non-negligible covalent character is supported by ligand-field theory, natural localized orbitals, topological studies of the electron density, and energy transition state natural orbitals for chemical valence. Bond orders based on natural localized molecular orbitals show that Bk OH bonds possess enhanced orbital overlap, which is reflected in the bond strength. This is also observed in the decomposition of the orbital interaction energy into individual deformation density pairs.     

Excimer and Exciplex Formation in Gold(I) Complexes Preconditioned by Aurophilic Interactions

Excimers and exciplexes are defined as assemblies of atoms or molecules A / A ′ where interatomic/intermolecular bonding appears only in excited states such as [ A ₂]* (for excimers) and [ AA ′]* (for exciplexes). Their formation has become widely known because of their role in gas‐phase laser technologies, but their significance in general chemistry terms has been given little attention. Recent investigations in gold chemistry have opened up a new field of excimer and exciplex chemistry that relies largely on the preorganization of gold(I) compounds (electronic configuration Au^I(5d¹⁰)) through aurophilic contacts. In the corresponding excimers, a new type of Au???Au bonding arises, with bond energies and lengths approaching those of ground‐state Au?Au bonds between metal atoms in the Au⁰(5d¹⁰6s¹) and Au^II(5d⁹) configurations. Excimer formation gives rise to a broad range of photophysical effects, for which some of the relaxation dynamics have recently been clarified. Excimers have also been shown to play an important role in photoredox binuclear gold catalysis.