Arpita Varadwaj

DFT-B3LYP, NPA-, and QTAIM-Based Study of the Physical Properties of [M(II)(H2O)2(15-crown-5)] (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) Complexes

A density functional theory study of the structure of the title compounds with the divalent metal ions in their high-spin ground state, obtained using B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) in vacuo and in aqueous solution simulated using a polarized continuum medium, is reported for the first time. The modeling reproduces the pseudo pentagonal bipyramidal crystallographic structures very well, including some asymmetry in the equatorial bonds lengths to the crown ether O donors. The very marked asymmetry in the Ni(2+) structure due to a Jahn-Teller distortion of a d(8) system in a D(5h) ligand field is also well reproduced. The gas phase binding energies of the complexes follow the order Mn(2+) < Fe(2+) < Co(2+) < Ni(2+) < Cu(2+) > Zn(2+), in precise agreement with the Irving-William series. Both the NPA and Bader charges show there is ligand-to-metal charge transfer; however, the values obtained from the NPA procedure, unlike those obtained from Baders quantum theory of molecules approach, do not correlate with the electronegativity of the metal ions, the stabilization energies of the solvated complexes or the ionic radii of the metal ions, and so appear to be less reliable. The nature of the bonding between the ligands and the metal ions has been explored using the topological properties of the electron charge density. The metal-ligand bond distances were found to be exponentially correlated with the electron charge density, its Laplacian, and with its curvature in the direction of the bond path at M-O bond critical points. While the bonding with coordinated H(2)O is predominantly ionic, that to the crown ether donor atoms has some covalent character the extent of which increases across the first transition series. The delocalization indices of M-O bonds in these complexes correlate reasonably well with the electron density and its Laplacian at the bond critical points; this therefore provides a rapid and computationally very efficient way of determining these properties, from which insight into the nature of the bonding can be obtained, obviating the need for time-consuming integration over atomic basins.

Conformational Analysis of 18-Azacrown-6 and Its Bonding with Late First Transition Series Divalent Metals: Insight from DFT Combined with NPA and QTAIM Analyses

Density functional theory calculations, together with quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) analyses, have been performed to investigate 18-azacrown-6 complexes of the high-spin late first transition series divalent metal ions in the gas phase and, in some cases, in aqueous solution simulated by a polarizable continuum model. Six intramolecular H-H bonding interactions in the meso-complexes are found to arise from folding of the ligand upon its electrostatic interaction with the metal ions, which are largely absent in the lowest-energy C(2h) conformer of the free ligand. The ligand-to-metal charge transfer obtained from QTAIM analysis, among other things, is found to be an important factor that controls the stability of these complexes. The inter-relationship between the ligand preorganization energy, the zero-point corrected formation energy of the metal complexes, and the H-H bonding pair distances, as well as the dependence of the electron density and the total energy density at the H-H bond critical points on the H-H bonding pair distances, provides a physical basis for understanding and explaining the stabilizing nature of these closed-shell interactions, which are often viewed as steric clashes that lead to complex destabilization.

Can a Single Molecule of Water be Completely Isolated Within the Subnano‐Space Inside the Fullerene C60 Cage? A Quantum Chemical Prospective

Based on an experimental observation, it has been controversially suggested in a study (Kurotobi et al., Science 2011, 33, 613) that a single molecule of water can completely be localized within the subnano-space inside the fullerene C(60) cage and, that neither the H atoms nor the O lone-pairs are linked, either via hydrogen bonding or through dative bonding, with the interior C-framework of the C(60) cage. To resolve the controversy, electronic structure calculations were performed by using the density functional theory, together with the quantum theory of atoms in molecules, the natural population and bond orbital analyses, and the results were analyzed by using varieties of recommended diagnostics often used to interpret noncovalent interactions. The present results reveal that the mechanically entrapped H(2)O molecule is not electronically innocent of the presence of the cage; each H atom of H(2)O is weakly O-H···C(60) bonded, whereas the O lone-pairs are O···C(60) bonded regardless of the conformations investigated. Exploration of various featured properties suggests that H(2)O@C(60) may be regarded as a unique system composed of both inter- and intramolecular interactions.

Hybrid organic–inorganic CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite building blocks: Revealing ultra-strong hydrogen bonding and mulliken inner complexes and their implications in materials design

Methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3) perovskite compound has produced a remarkable breakthrough in the photovoltaic history of solar cell technology because of its outstanding device‐based performance as a light‐harvesting semiconductor. Whereas the experimental and theoretical studies of this system in the solid state have been numerously reported in the last 4 years, its fundamental cluster physics is yet to be exploited. To this end, this study has performed theoretical investigations using DFT‐M06‐2X/ADZP to examine the principal geometrical, electronic, topological, and orbital properties of the CH3NH3PbI3 molecular building block. The intermolecular hydrogen bonded interactions examined for the most important conformers of the system are found to be unusually strong, with binding energies lying between −93.53 and −125.11 kcal mol−1 (beyond the covalent limit, −40 kcal mol−1), enabling us to classify the underlying interactions as ultra‐strong type since their characteristic properties are unidentical with those have already been proposed as very strong, strong, moderate, weak, and van der Waals. Based on this, together with the unusually high charge transfers, strong hyperconjugative interactions, sophisticated topologies of the charge density, and short intermolecular distances of separation, we have characterized the conformers of CH3NH3PbI3 as Mulliken inner complexes. The consequences of these, as well as of the ultra‐strong interactions, in designing novel functional nanomaterials are outlined.

An electronic structure theory investigation of the physical chemistry of the intermolecular complexes of cyclopropenylidene with hydrogen halides

The proton accepting and donating abilities of cyclopropenylidene (c‐C3H2) on its complexation with hydrogen halides HX (X = F, Cl, Br) are analyzed using density‐functional theory with three functionals (PBE0, B3LYP, and B3LYP‐D) and benchmarked against second‐order Møller–Plesset (MP2) theory. Standard signatures including, inter alia, dipole moment enhancement, charge transfer from the carbenic lone pair to the antibonding σ*(HX) orbital, and HX bond elongation are examined to ascertain the presence of hydrogen bonding in these complexes. The latter property is found to be accompanied with a pronounced red shift in the bond stretching frequency and with a substantial increase in the infrared intensity of the band on complex formation. The MP2/aug‐cc‐pVTZ c‐C3H2···HF complex potential energy surface turns out to be an asymmetric deep single well, while asymmetric double wells are found for the c‐C3H2···HCl and c‐C3H2···HBr complexes, with an energy barrier of 4.1 kcal mol−1 for proton transfer along the hydrogen bond in the latter complex. Hydrogen‐bond energy decomposition, with the reduced variational space self‐consistent field approach, indicates that there are large polarization and charge‐transfer interactions between the interacting partners in c‐C3H2···HBr compared to the other two complexes. The C···H bonds are found to be predominantly ionic with partial covalent character, unveiled by the quantum theory of atoms in molecules. The present results reveal that the c‐C3H2 carbene divalent carbon can act as a proton acceptor and is responsible for the formation of hydrogen bonds in the complexes investigated.

Revealing the Chemistry between Band Gap and Binding Energy for Lead-/Tin-Based Trihalide Perovskite Solar Cell Semiconductors

A relationship between reported experimental band gaps (solid) and DFT-calculated binding energies (gas) is established, for the first time, for each of the four ten-membered lead (or tin) trihalide perovskite solar cell semiconductor series examined in this study, including CH3 NH3 PbY3 , CsPbY3 , CH3 NH3 SnY3 and CsSnY3 (Y=I(3-x) Brx=1-3 , I(3-x) Clx=1-3 , Br(3-x) Cl x=1-3 , and IBrCl). The relationship unequivocally provides a new dimension for the fundamental understanding of the optoelectronic features of solid-state solar cell thin films by using the 0 K gas-phase energetics of the corresponding molecular building blocks.

Do surfaces of positive electrostatic potential on different halogen derivatives in molecules attract? like attracting like!

Coulombs law states that like charges repel, and unlike charges attract. However, it has recently been theoretically revealed that two similarly charged conducting spheres will almost always attract each other when both are in close proximity. Using multiscale first principles calculations, we illustrate practical examples of several intermolecular complexes that are formed by the consequences of attraction between positive atomic sites of similar or dissimilar electrostatic surface potential on interacting molecules. The results of the quantum theory of atoms in molecules and symmetry adapted perturbation theory support the attraction between the positive sites, characterizing the F•••X (X = F, Cl, Br) intermolecular interactions in a series of 20 binary complexes as closed‐shell type, although the molecular electrostatic surface potential approach does not (a failure!). Dispersion that has an r−6 dependence, where r is the equilibrium distance of separation, is found to be the sole driving force pushing the two positive sites to attract.

Revealing Factors Influencing the Fluorine-Centered Non-Covalent Interactions in Some Fluorine-Substituted Molecular Complexes: Insights from First-Principles Studies

We examine the equilibrium structure and properties of six fully or partially fluorinated hydrocarbons and several of their binary complexes using computational methods. In the monomers, the electrostatic surface of the fluorine is predicted to be either entirely negative or weakly positive. However, its lateral sites are always negative. This enables the fluorine to display an anisotropic distribution of charge density on its electrostatic surface. While this is the electrostatic surface scenario of the fluorine atom, its negative sites in some of these monomers are shown to have the potential to engage in attractive engagements with the negative site(s) on the same atom in another molecule of the same type, or a molecule of a different type, to form bimolecular complexes. This is revealed by analyzing the results of current state-of-the-art computational approaches such as DFT, together with those obtained from the quantum theory of atoms in molecules, molecular electrostatic surface potential and symmetry adapted perturbation theories. We demonstrate that the intermolecular interaction energy arising in part from the universal London dispersion, which has been underappreciated for decades, is an essential factor in explaining the attraction between the negative sites, although energy arising from polarization strengthens the extent of the intermolecular interactions in these complexes.

Halogen in materials design: Chloroammonium lead triiodide perovskite (ClNH3PbI3) a dynamical bandgap semiconductor in 3D for photovoltaics

Methylammonium lead trihalides and their derivatives are photovoltaic materials. CH3NH3PbI3 is the most efficient light harvester among all the known halide perovskites (PSCs). It is regarded as unsuitable for long‐term stable solar cells, thus it is necessary to develop other types of PSC materials to achieve stable PSCs (Wang et al., Nat. Energy 2016, 2, 16195). Because of this, various research efforts are on‐going to discover novel lead‐based or lead‐free single/double PSCs, which can be stable, synthesizable, transportable, abundant and efficient in solar energy conversion. Keeping these factors in mind, we report here the electronic structures, energetic stabilities and some materials properties (viz. band structures, density of states spectra and photo‐carrier masses) of the PSC chloroammonium lead triiodide (ClNH3PbI3). This emerges through compositional engineering that often focuses on B‐ and Y‐site substitutions within the domain of the BMY3 PSC stoichiometry. ClNH3PbI3 is found to be stable as orthorhombic and pseudocubic polymorphs, which are analogous with the low and high temperature polymorphs of CH3NH3PbI3. The bandgap of ClNH3PbI3 (values between 1.28 and 1.60 eV) is found to be comparable with that of CH3NH3PbI3, (1.58 eV), both obtained with periodic DFT at the PBE level of theory. Spin orbit coupling is shown to have a pronounced effect on both the magnitude and character of the bandgap. The computed results show that ClNH3PbI3 may act as a competitor for CH3NH3PbI3 for photovoltaics.