On the singlet–triplet splitting in SiH2, GeH2, and SnH2. Local‐spin‐density calculations

Gas-Phase Preparation of Subvalent Germanium Monoxide (GeO, X1+) via Non-Adiabatic Reaction Dynamics in the Exit Channel

The subvalent germanium monoxide (GeO, X¹Σ⁺) molecule has been prepared via the elementary reaction of atomic germanium (Ge, ³P_j) and molecular oxygen (O₂, X³Σ_g^-) with each reactant in its electronic ground state by means of single-collision conditions. The merging of electronic structure calculations with crossed beam experiments suggests that the formation of germanium monoxide (GeO, X¹Σ⁺) commences on the singlet surface through unimolecular decomposition of a linear singlet collision complex (GeOO, i1, C_∞v, ¹Σ⁺) via intersystem crossing (ISC) yielding nearly exclusively germanium monoxide (GeO, X¹Σ⁺) along with atomic oxygen in its electronic ground state [p1, O(³P)]. These results provide a sophisticated reaction mechanism of the germanium-oxygen system and demonstrate the efficient "heavy atom effect" of germanium in ISC yielding (nearly) exclusive singlet germanium monoxide and triplet atomic oxygen compared to similar systems (carbon dioxide and dinitrogen monoxide), in which non-adiabatic reaction dynamics represent only minor channels.

Singlet-triplet splittings and ground- and excited-state electron affinities of selected cyanosilylenes, XSiCN (X = H, F, Cl, CH3, SiH3, CN)

Several cyanosilylenes, XSiCN, (X = H, F, Cl, CH3, SiH3, CN) have been investigated using the RHF-ACPF and CAS(2,2)-ACPF methods in conjunction with the aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets. All silylenes are found to have singlet ground states. The ground-state electron affinities are found to be rather high, i.e., 1.832, 1.497, 1.896, 1.492, 2.235, and 2.631 eV for HSiCN, FSiCN, ClSiCN, H3CSiCN, H3SiSiCN, and Si(CN)2, respectively. The existence of bound excited negative ion states has been discovered for the first time within these silylenes. All these bound excited anion states belong to the totally symmetric irreducible representations and can be characterized as dipole-bound negative ion states. All triplet excited states have even larger dipole moments than the singlet states and are, therefore, "dressed" by dipole-bound negative ion states, which correspond to Feshbach resonances.

Peculiarities of Magnetic and Spin Effects in a Biradical/Stable Radical Complex (Three-Spin System). Theory and Comparison with Experiment

The field dependencies of biradical recombination probability in the presence of paramagnetic species with spins S(3) = 1 and S(3) = (1)/(2) have been calculated in the framework of the density matrix formalism. To describe the effect of the "third" spin on the spin evolution in biradical, we have also considered the spin exchange interaction between the added spin and one of the paramagnetic biradical centers. A characteristic feature of the calculated field dependencies is the existence of several extrema with positions and magnitudes depending on the signs and values of the exchange integrals in the system. The method proposed can be used to describe the effect of spin catalysis. It is shown that for the system with the third spin S(3) = 1 spin catalysis manifests itself stronger than in the case of spin S(3) = (1)/(2). The dependence of spin catalysis efficiency on the exchange interaction with the third spin has an extremum with position independent of the value of the spin added.

BAC-MP4 Predictions of Thermochemistry for Gas-Phase Tin Compounds in the Sn−H−C−Cl System

In this work, the BAC-MP4 method is extended for the first time to compounds in the fourth row of the periodic table, resulting in a self-consistent set of thermochemical data for 56 tin-containing molecules in the Sn-H-C-Cl system. The BAC-MP4 method combines ab initio electronic structure calculations with empirical corrections to obtain accurate heats of formation. To obtain electronic energies for tin-containing species, the standard 6-31G(d,p) basis set used in BAC-MP4 calculations is augmented with a relativistic effective core potential to describe the electronic structure of the tin atom. Both stable compounds and radical species are included in this study. Trends within homologous series and calculated bond dissociation energies are consistent with previous BAC-MP4 predictions for group 14 compounds and the limited data available from the literature, indicating that the method is performing well for these compounds.

Theoretical Study of Reactions of Arduengo-Type Carbene, Silylene, and Germylene with CH(4)

The potential energy surfaces corresponding to the reaction of cyclic, unsaturated diaminocarbene (DAC), -silylene (DAS), and -germylene (DAG) with methane have been investigated by employing the B3LYP and CCSD(T) levels of theory. Our model calculations demonstrate that the electronic perturbation effect should play a significant role in determining the magnitude of their singlet-triplet splitting. Namely, the singlet-triplet gap of DAC, DAS, and DAG shows the opposite order as the parent compounds (CH(2), SiH(2), and GeH(2)), as well as the compounds with pi-donor substituents (C(NH(2))(2), Si(NH(2))(2), and Ge(NH(2))(2)). Our theoretical investigations suggest that the heavier the X center (X = C, Si, Ge), the larger the insertion barrier, and the less exothermic (or the more endothermic) the insertion reaction. Namely, the chemical reactivity decreases in the order DAC > DAS > DAG. Even so, all the species are predicted to be kinetically stable with respect to insertion reactions with alkanes. Moreover, it is found that a singlet state DAC, DAS, or DAG inserts in a concerted manner, and that the stereochemistry at the X center (X = C, Si, and Ge) is preserved.