Electron localizability indicators ELI-D and ELIA for highly correlated wavefunctions of homonuclear dimers. II. N2, O2, F2, and Ne2

Electron Lone-Pairs Stereochemistry and Drastic van der Waals and Pressure Effects in AsF3 from First Principles

AsF3E as a representative of a molecular crystal has been chosen to find the precise localization of the lone pair (LP) E centroid 4s2 of As3+ and to enlighten the behavior of lone pair triplets of fluorine atoms. Starting from stereochemistry rationale, Density Functional (DFT) electronic structure calculations yielding the electron localization (ELF) mapping led to precise large crystal structure evolutions from basic X-rays data (V = 267.2Å3 at 193K), to (V = 230.5Å3) and under Van der Waals forces (DEW) V = 206.4Å3, and then under pressure P, all illustrated with ELF maps and band structures. Calibrated pressures up to 100 GPa exhibit the remarkable shrinking of all inter-atomic distances including As-E from 0.94Å down to 0.46Å, while the major three bonds As-F1, As-F2 and As-F3 are continuously expanding. The resulting picture of the application of pressure on AsF3 molecular structure leads to the progressive immersion of the 4s2 doublet within the electronic cloud with an original new status of As with its 4s2 E expressed as [AsE]3+. The expanded size becomes close to big LP-free K+, Ba2+ cations or LP characterized bismuth cation: [BiE]3+, which appear inserted in cubes or square anti-prisms with coordination number 8 (CN8) or in tricapped trigonal prisms with CN9.

Coordination bonding in dicopper and dichromium tetrakis(μ-acetato)-diaqua complexes: Nature, strength, length, and topology

Geometry optimization, energetics, electronic structure, and topology of electron density of dicopper (I) and dichromium (II) tetrakis(μ-acetato)-diaqua complexes are studied focusing on the metal-metal interactions. The performance of broken symmetry (BS) single-determinant ab initio (Hartree-Fock, Møller-Plesset perturbation theory to the second and third orders, coupled clusters singles and doubles) and density functional theory (BLYP, B3LYP, B3LYP-D3, B2PLYP, MPW2PLYP) methods is compared to multideterminant ab initio (CASSCF, NEVPT2) methods as well as to the multipole model of charge density from a single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiment (Herich et al., Acta Cryst. 2018, B74, 681-692). In vacuo DFT geometry optimizations (improper axial water ligand orientation) are compared against the periodic ones. The singlet state is found to be energetically preferred. J coupling of (I) becomes underestimated for all ab initio methods used, when compared to experiment. It is concluded that the strength of the direct M─M interactions correlates closely with the J coupling magnitude at a given level of theory. The double potential well character of (II) and of the dehydrated form of (II) are considered with respect to the Cr─Cr distance. The physical effective bond order of the metal-metal interaction is small (below 0.1 e) in (I) and moderate (0.4 e) in (II). The CASSCF results overestimate the electron density of the metal-metal bond critical point by 20% and 50% in (I) and (II), respectively, when compared to the multipole model. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Comparative density functional theory and post-Hartree-Fock (CCSD, CASSCF) studies on the electronic structure of halogen nitrites ClONO and BrONO using quantum chemical topology

In this paper, the electronic structures of cis- and trans-ClONO and BrONO are studied at the CCSD∕aug-cc-pVTZ, CASSCF(14,12)/aug-cc-pVTZ, and B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ computational levels. For the Cl-O bond, topological analysis of the electron density field, ρ(r), shows the prevalence of the shared-electron type bond (∇(2)ρ((3,-1)) < 0). The Br-O bond, however, represents the closed-shell interaction (∇(2)ρ((3,-1)) > 0). Topological analysis of the electron localization function, η(r), and electron localizability indicator (ELI-D), (D) (σ)(r), shows that the electronic structure of the central N-O bond is very sensitive to both electron correlation improvements (coupled-cluster single double (CCSD), CASSCF, density functional theory (DFT)) and bond length alteration. Depending on the method used, the N-O bond can be characterized as a "normal" N-O bond with a disynaptic V(N,O) basin (DFT); a protocovalent N-O bond with two monosynaptic, V(N) and V(O), basins (CCSD, CASSCF); or a new type, first discovered for FONO, characterized by a single monosynaptic, V(N) basin (CCSD, DFT). The total basin population oscillates between 0.46-0.96 e (CCSD) and 0.86-1.02 e (CASSCF). The X-O bond is described by the single disynaptic basin, V(X,O), with a basin population between 0.76 and 0.81 e (CCSD) or 0.77 and 0.85 e (CASSCF). Analysis of the localized electron detector distribution for the cis-Cl-O1-N=O2 shows a manifold in the Cl···O2 region, associated with decreased electron density.