Characterization of Various Phases of Ice on the Basis of the Charge Density

Exploration of the forbidden regions of the Ramachandran plot (ϕ-ψ) with QTAIM

A new QTAIM interpretation of the Ramachandran plot is formulated from the most and least facile eigenvectors of the second-derivative matrix of the electron density with a set of 29 magainin-2 peptide conformers. The presence of QTAIM eigenvectors associated with the most and least preferred directions of electronic charge density explained the role of hydrogen bonding, HH contacts and the glycine amino acid monomer in peptide folding. The highest degree of occupation of the QTAIM interpreted Ramachandran plot was found for the glycine amino acid monomer compared with the remaining backbone peptide bonds. The mobility of the QTAIM eigenvectors of the glycine amino acid monomer was higher than for the other amino acids and was comparable to that of the hydrogen bonding, explaining the flexibility of the magainin-2 backbone. We experimented with a variety of hybrid QTAIM-Ramachandran plots to highlight and explain why the glycine amino acid monomer largely occupies the 'forbidden' region on the Ramachandran plot. In addition, the new hybrid QTAIM-Ramachandran plots contained recognizable regions that can be associated with concepts familiar from the conventional Ramachandran plot whilst retaining the character of the QTAIM most and least preferred regions.

Hybrid QTAIM and electrostatic potential-based quantum topology phase diagrams for water clusters

The topological diversity of sets of isomers of water clusters (W = H₂O)_n, 7 ≤ n ≤ 10, is analyzed employing the scalar fields of total electronic charge density ρ(r) and the molecular electrostatic potential (MESP).

Impact of Lewis base on chemical reactivity and separation efficiency for hydrated fourth-row transition metal (II) complexes: an ONIOM DFT/MM study

In this paper, two-layer ONIOM combinations of high-level quantum mechanics (QM) and inexpensive molecular mechanics (MM) are successfully used to investigate the structural characters of metal (M, all the transition metals in the fourth period)-H2O-Lewis base (A(-)) complexes. Global and local descriptors of chemical reactivity and selectivity from conceptual density functional theory are employed to show the properties of the active complexes of M(H2O)2A2 and to study the effect of the Lewis base for the separation of transition metal ions. It is shown that chemical potential, hardness, electrophilicity, as well as the dual and multiphilic descriptors are adequate for characterizing the global and local reactivity trends of the M(H2O)2A2 complex. It is found that the reactivity is well localized at the metallic center in M(H2O)2A2 and the dual descriptor (ΔfM(r)) can also be used to characterize the directional attack of the electrophile and nucleophile except for the selectivity of the reaction. On the basis of the values of ωM and Δsk, and the sign of ΔfM(r), the selectivity of the nucleophilic reagent (R(-)) for M(II) in M(H2O)2A2 (from high to low) follows this order: Cu(II) > Ni(II) > Co(II) > Fe(II) ≫ Mn(II) > Zn(II) > Cr(II). The Lewis base (A(-)) improves chemical reactivity and selectivity because of changing the reaction path and forming an intermediate, which possesses the higher antibonding character and the larger HOMO/LUMO gap. NBO or AIMALL analysis and Frontier orbital theory results presented here provided more theoretical support for the above reactivity and selectivity studies.

Electronic stress as a guiding force for chemical bonding

In the electron-preceding picture of chemical change, the paramount problem is identifying favorable changes in electronic structure. The electronic stress tensor provides this information; its eigenvectors represent electronic normal modes, pointing the way towards energetically favorable (or unfavorable) chemical rearrangements. The resulting method is well founded in both density functional theory and the quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM). Stress tensor analysis is a natural way to extend the QTAIM to address chemical reactivity. The definition and basic properties of the electronic stress tensor are reviewed and the inherent ambiguity of the stress tensor is discussed. Extending previous work in which the stress tensor was used to analyze hydrogen-bonding patterns, this work focuses on chemical bonding patterns in organic reactions. Other related material (charge-shift bonding, links to the second-density-derivative tensor) is summarized and reviewed. The stress tensor provides a multifaceted characterization of bonding and can be used to predict and describe bond formation and migration.