Molecular mechanical calculations of the molecular structure of eight-coordinate europium complexes

Molecular mechanics methods were applied to the determination of the structure of eight-coordinate europium complexes: tris(acetylacetonato)Eu(III) trihydrate, tris(acetylacetonato) (1,10-phenanthroline)Eu(III), and tetrakis(benzoylacetonato)Eu(III). Optimization of MM2 force-field parameters and improvement of the calculation method were carried out using models of the complexes based on X-ray structural investigations. Steric ligandligand interactions in the first coordination sphere were treated as dominant for the lanthanide complexes. The major contributions to the energy are those of nonbonded 1,3-interactions between the atoms directly bound to the europium atom. The results of the calculations agree well with the crystal structures of the mentioned complexes.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 9, pp. 1555–1559, September, 1993.