Eric Furet

On the Sensitivity of f Electrons to Their Chemical Environment

Density functional calculations have been carried out on three families of lanthanide complexes of D3 or C4 symmetry, namely [Ln(H2O)9]3+, [Ln(DPA)3]3-, and [Ln(DOTAM)]3+ (Ln = Y, La, Lu; DPA = pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate; DOTAM = 1,4,7,10-tetracarbamoylmethyl-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane), to get some insights concerning the sensitivity of 4f electrons to the surrounding ligands. We show that the electron density accumulations found within 0.7 A of the metal center, that precisely give the opposite image of the coordination sphere as they are located trans with respect to the Ln-ligand bonds, are almost exclusively due the f electrons. This polarization of the 4f electrons in lanthanides complexes has therefore to be considered as a general feature that plays a crucial role in some experimentally observed phenomenons such as the dependency of quadratic hyperpolarizability to the number of f electrons in [Ln(DPA)3]3- complexes that we have evidenced.

Characterization of a Six-Coordinate Ferrous High-Spin Heme with Both Intramolecular Axial Carboxylic Acid and Pyridine

Synthesis of a bis-strapped porphyrin with a pyridyl residue on one side and a malonic acid on the other side gives after iron(II) insertion a six-coordinate complex in which both apical groups are the two axial ligands of the iron atom. Unexpectedly, this six-coordinate iron(II) complex proves to be high-spin, likely due to some stabilization of the axial metal-ligand antibonding orbitals.

VOPO4·H2O: A Stacking Faults Structure Studied by X-ray Powder Diffraction and DFT-D Calculations

The dehydration process of VOPO(4)·2H(2)O occurs in two steps corresponding to successive elimination of the two crystallographically distinct water molecules. The intermediate phase VOPO(4)·H(2)O has been stabilized for X-ray powder diffraction studies. The resulting data suggest a tetragonal cell (a = 6.2203(2) Å and c = 6.18867(7) Å), but an important anisotropy in the line broadening points out the necessity of considering a not perfectly organized structure. Because of the layered structure of this compound, density functional theory calculations including dispersion corrections have been carried out to evaluate the possible presence of stacking faults. The results of these calculations give information about the nature of the translations and their probabilities using a Boltzmann distribution. DIFFaX+ simulations of the X-ray powder diffraction pattern have been carried out using the results of the theoretical calculations and confirm the presence and nature of stacking faults.

Application of a modified EHMO-ASED formalism to the determination of the structural parameters of organometallics

The parametrization of the EHMO-ASED method we have recently suggested for organometallics is shown to be also applicable, in principle without any modification, to derive the major structural parameters of second-row transition metal systems such as carbonyls or metallocenes. Furthermore, this model leads to satisfactory results when used to calculate the structure of compounds as large as (N-methylindole)tricarbonylchromium(0) or (phenylo.xazoline) tricarbonylchromlum(0) with full geometry optimization of the ligands.

Density functional calculations of the structures and bond energies of Cr(CO)6 and (η6-C6H6) Cr(CO)2(CX) (X=O, S) complexes

SummaryQuantum chemical calculations based on density functional theory have been performed on Cr(CO)6, (η6-C6H6)Cr(CO)3 and (η6-C6H6)Cr(CO)2(CS) at the local and nonlocal level of theory using different functionals. Good agreement is obtained with experiment for both optimized geometries and metal-ligand binding energies. In particular, a comparison of metal-arene bond energies calculated for the (η6-C6H6)Cr(CO)3 and (η6-C6H6)Cr(CO)2(CS) complexes correlates well with kinetic data demonstrating that substitution of one CO group by CS leads to an important labilizing effect of this bond, which may be primarily attributed to a larger π-backbonding charge transfer to the CS ligand as compared with CO.

CCDC 985869: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

Related Article: Lei Ji, Robert M. Edkins, Laura J. Sewell, Andrew Beeby, Andrei S. Batsanov, Katharina Fucke, Martin Drafz, Judith A. K. Howard, Odile Moutounet, Fatima Ibersiene, Abdou Boucekkine, Eric Furet, Zhiqiang Liu, Jean-Francois Halet, Claudine Katan, Todd B. Marder|2014|Chem.-Eur.J.|20|13618|doi:10.1002/chem.201402273