Stability of different zinc(II)-diamine complexes in aqueous solution with respect to structure and dynamics: a QM/MM MD study

In the context of our detailed study of the chemical behavior of aquo- and ammine-Zn(II) complexes, ab initio quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed at the Hartree-Fock (HF) level for the zinc(II)-diamine complexes in aqueous solution. The initial structures of cis and trans isomers of the tetraaquodiamminezinc(II) complex were found to transform into the triaquodiamminezinc(II) complex by releasing one water ligand after approximately 6 and approximately 22 ps of simulation time, respectively. The structural and dynamical properties of these three zinc complexes, i.e., cis-[Zn(NH3)2(H2O)4]2+, trans-[Zn(NH3)2(H2O)4]2+, and [Zn(NH3)2(H2O)3]2+, were analyzed in terms of radial distribution functions (RDF), coordination number distributions (CND), angular distribution functions (ADF), tilt and theta angle distributions, ligands' mean residence times (MRTs), and ion-ligand stretching frequencies. One considerably elongated Zn-O bond of 2.43 A was observed in the case of the cis isomer for one of the water ligands located in the trans position to an ammonia ligand. In the trans isomer the average Zn-O bond length was observed to be 2.23 A, while in the triaquodiamminezinc(II) complex two distinct Zn-O bonds, namely 2.12 A for the ligands in the trigonal plane and 2.26 A for axial water molecules, were observed. As both of the octahedral isomers are transformed into the pentacoordinated structure within the picosecond range, they might be regarded as "metastable species or intermediates", while the triaquodiamminezinc(II) complex is the most stable species of the zinc(II)-diamine complex in aqueous solution.