Felipe Fantuzzi

Description of Polar Chemical Bonds from the Quantum Mechanical Interference Perspective.

The Generalized Product Function Energy Partitioning (GPF-EP) method has been applied to a set of molecules, AH (A = Li, Be, B, C, N, O, F), CO and LiF with quite different dipole moments, in order to investigate the role played by the quantum interference effect in the formation of polar chemical bonds. The calculations were carried out with GPF wave functions treating all the core electrons as a single Hartree-Fock group and the bonding electrons at the Generalized Valence Bond Perfect-Pairing (GVB-PP) level, with the cc-pVTZ basis set. The results of the energy partitioning into interference and quasi-classical contributions along the respective Potential Energy Surfaces (PES) show that the main contribution to the depth of the potential wells comes from the interference term, which is an indication that all the molecules mentioned above form typical covalent bonds. In all cases, the stabilization promoted by the interference term comes from the kinetic contribution, in agreement with previous results. The analysis of the effect of quantum interference on the electron density reveals that while polarization effects (quasi-classical) tend to displace electronic density from the most polarizable atom toward the less polarizable one, interference (quantum effects) counteracts by displacing electronic density to the bond region, giving rise to the right electronic density and dipole moment.

Nature of the chemical bond and origin of the inverted dipole moment in boron fluoride: a generalized valence bond approach.

The generalized product function energy partitioning (GPF-EP) method has been applied to investigate the nature of the chemical bond and the origin of the inverted dipole moment of the BF molecule. The calculations were carried out with GPF wave functions treating all of the core electrons as a single Hartree-Fock group and the valence electrons at the generalized valence bond perfect-pairing (GVB-PP) or full GVB levels, with the cc-pVTZ basis set. The results show that the chemical structure of both X (1)Σ(+) and a (3)Π states is composed of a single bond. The lower dissociation energy of the excited state is attributed to a stabilizing intraatomic singlet coupling involving the B 2sp-like lobe orbitals after bond dissociation. An increase of electron density on the B atom caused by the reorientation of the boron 2sp-like lobe orbitals is identified as the main responsible effect for the electric dipole inversion in the ground state of BF. Finally, it is shown that π back-bonding from fluorine to boron plays a minor role in the electron density displacement to the bonding region in both states. Moreover, this effect is associated with changes in the quasi-classical component of the electron density only and does not contribute to covalency in either of the states. Therefore, at least for the case of the BF molecule, the term back-bonding is misleading, since it does not contribute to the bond formation.

Interference Energy in C–H and C–C Bonds of Saturated Hydrocarbons: Dependence on the Type of Chain and Relationship to Bond Dissociation Energy

Interference energy for C-H and C-C bonds of a set of saturated hydrocarbons is calculated by the generalized product function energy partitioning (GPF-EP) method in order to investigate its sensitivity to the type of chain and also its contribution to the bond dissociation energy. All GPF groups corresponding to chemical bonds are calculated by use of GVB-PP wave functions to ensure the correct description of bond dissociation. The results show that the interference energies are practically the same for all the C-H bonds, presenting only small variations (0.5 kcal.mol(-1)) due to the structural changes in going from linear to branched and cyclic chains. A similar trend is verified for the C-C bonds, the sole exception being the cyclopropane molecule, for which only the C-C bond exhibits a more significant variation. On the other hand, although the interference energy is quantitatively the most important contribution to the bond dissociation energy (DE), one cannot predict DE only from the bond interference energy. Differences in the dissociation energies of C-C and C-H bonds due to structural changes in the saturated hydrocarbons can be mainly attributed to quasi-classical effects.

The Nature of the Singlet and Triplet States of Cyclobutadiene as Revealed by Quantum Interference.

The generalized product function energy partitioning (GPF-EP) method is applied to the description of the cyclobutadiene molecule. The GPF wave function was built to reproduce generalized valence bond (GVB) and spin-coupled (SC) wave functions. The influence of quasiclassical and quantum interference contributions to each chemical bond of the system are analyzed along the automerization reaction coordinate for the lowest singlet and triplet states. The results show that the interference effect on the π space reduces the electronic energy of the singlet cyclobutadiene relative to the second-order Jahn-Teller distortion, which takes the molecule from a D4h to a D2h structure. Our results also suggest that the π space of the (1) B1g state of the square cyclobutadiene is composed of a weak four center-four electron bond, whereas the (3) A2g state has a four center-two electron π bond. Finally, we also show that, although strain effects are nonnegligible, the thermodynamics of the main decomposition pathway of cyclobutadiene in the gas phase is dominated by the π space interference.

Prediction of Boron–Boron Triple‐Bond Polymers Stabilized by Janus‐Type Bis(N‐heterocyclic) Carbenes

A class of polymeric compounds containing boron-boron triple bonds stabilized by N-heterocyclic biscarbenes is proposed. Since a triply bonded B2 is related to its third excited state, the predicted macromolecule would be composed by several units of an electronically excited first-row homonuclear dimer. Moreover, it is shown that the replacement of biscarbene with N2 or CO as spacers could change the bonding profile of the boron-boron units to a cumulene-like structure. Based on these results, different types of diboryne polymers are proposed, which could lead to an unprecedented set of boron materials with distinct physical properties. The novel diboryne macromolecules could be synthesized by the reaction of Janus-type biscarbenes with tetrabromodiborane, B2 Br4 , and sodium naphthalenide, [Na(C10 H8 )], similarly to Braunschweigs work on the room temperature stable boron-boron triple bond compounds (Science, 2012, 336, 1420).

Doubly and Triply Charged Species Formed from Chlorobenzene Reveal Unusual C–Cl Multiple Bonding

In free-radical halogenation of aromatics, singly charged ions are usually formed as intermediates. These stable species can be easily observed by time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS). Here we used electron and proton beams to ionize chlorobenzene (C6H5Cl) and investigate the ions stability by TOF-MS. Additionally to the singly charged parent ion and its fragments, we find a significant yield of doubly and triply charged parent ions not previously reported. In order to characterize these species, we used high-level theoretical methods based on density functional theory (DFT), coupled-cluster (CC), and generalized valence bond (GVB) to calculate the structure, relative stabilities, and bonding of these dications and trications. The most stable isomers exhibit unusual carbon-chlorine multiple bonding: a terminal C═Cl double bond in a formyl-like CHCl moiety (1, rC-Cl = 1.621 Å) and a ketene-like C═C═Cl cumulated species (2, rC-Cl = 1.542 Å). The calculations suggest that an excited state of 2 has a nitrile-like C≡Cl triple bond structure.

SINGLE AND DOUBLE PHOTOIONIZATION AND PHOTODISSOCIATION OF TOLUENE BY SOFT X-RAYS IN A CIRCUMSTELLAR ENVIRONMENT

The formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their methyl derivatives occurs mainly in the dust shells of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. The bands at 3.3 and 3.4

Diboryne Nanostructures Stabilized by Multitopic N-Heterocyclic Carbenes: A Computational Study

\mu

The non-covalent nature of the molecular structure of the benzene molecule.

m, observed in infrared emission spectra of several objects, are attributed C-H vibrational modes in aromatic and aliphatic structures, respectively. In general, the feature at 3.3

The role of quantum-mechanical interference and quasi-classical effects in conjugated hydrocarbons

\mu