Lucas Koziol

The theoretical prediction of infrared spectra of trans- and cis-hydroxycarbene calculated using full dimensional ab initio potential energy and dipole moment surfaces

Accurate infrared spectra of the two hydroxycarbene isomers are computed by diagonalizing the Watson Hamiltonian including up to four mode couplings using full dimensional potential energy and dipole moment surfaces calculated at the CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ (frozen core) and CCSD6-311G(**) (all electrons correlated) levels, respectively. Anharmonic corrections are found to be very important for these elusive higher-energy isomers of formaldehyde. Both the energy levels and intensities of stretching fundamentals and all overtone transitions are strongly affected by anharmonic couplings between the modes. The results for trans-HCOHHCOD are in excellent agreement with the recently reported IR spectra, which validates our predictions for the cis-isomers.

Effect of a Heteroatom on Bonding Patterns and Triradical Stabilization Energies of 2,4,6-Tridehydropyridine versus 1,3,5-Tridehydrobenzene

Electronic structure of 2,4,6-tridehydropyridine and isoelectronic 1,3,5-tridehydrobenzene is characterized by the equation-of-motion spin-flip coupled-cluster calculations with single and double substitutions and including perturbative triple corrections. Equilibrium geometries of the three lowest electronic states, vertical and adiabatic states ordering, and triradical stabilization energies are reported for both triradicals. In 1,3,5-tridehydrobenzene, the ground (2)A(1) state is 0.016 eV below the (2)B(2) state, whereas in 2,4,6-tridehydropyridine the heteroatom reverses adiabatic state ordering bringing (2)B(2) below (2)A(1) by 0.613 eV. The adiabatic doublet-quartet gap of 2,4,6-tridehydropyridine is smaller than that of 1,3,5-tridehydrobenzene by 0.08 eV; the respective values are 1.223 and 1.302 [corrected] eV. Moreover, the heteroatom reduces bonding interactions between the C(2) and C(6) radical centers, which results in the increased stabilizing interactions between C(4) and C(2)/C(6). Triradical stabilization energies corresponding to the separation of C(4) and C(2) are 19.7 and -0.2 kcal/mol, respectively, in contrast to 2.8 kcal/mol in 1,3,5-tridehydrobenzene. Similarly weak interactions between C(2) and C(6) are also observed in 2,6-didehydropyridine resulting in a nearly zero singlet-triplet energy gap, in contrast to m-benzyne and 2,4-didehydropyridine. The total interaction energy of the three radical centers is very similar in 1,3,5-tridehydrobenzene and 2,4,6-tridehydropyridine and is 19.5 and 20.1 kcal/mol, respectively.

Ab initio calculation of the photoelectron spectra of the hydroxycarbene diradicals.

Photoelectron spectra of the cis and trans isomers of HCOH were computed using vibrational wave functions calculated by diagonalizing the Watson Hamiltonian, including up to four mode couplings. The full-dimensional CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ potential energy surfaces were employed in the calculation. Photoionization induces significant changes in equilibrium structures, which results in long progressions in the nu(5), nu(4), and nu(3) modes. The two isomers show progressions in different modes, which leads to qualitatively distinguishable spectra. The spectra were also calculated in the double harmonic parallel-mode (i.e, neglecting Duschinsky rotation) approximation. Calculating displacements along the normal coordinates of the cation state was found to give a better approximation to the vibrational configuration interaction spectrum; this is due to the effects of Duschinsky rotations on the vibrational wave functions.

Electronically excited and ionized states of the CH2CH2OH radical: A theoretical study

The low lying excited electronic states of the 2-hydroxyethyl radical, CH(2)CH(2)OH, have been investigated theoretically in the range 5-7 eV by using coupled-cluster and equation-of-motion coupled-cluster methods. Both dissociation and isomerization pathways are identified. On the ground electronic potential energy surface, two stable conformers and six saddle points at energies below approximately 900 cm(-1) are characterized. Vertical excitation energies and oscillator strengths for the lowest-lying excited valence state and the 3s, 3p(x), 3p(y), and 3p(z) Rydberg states have been calculated and it is predicted that the absorption spectrum at approximately 270-200 nm should be featureless. The stable conformers and saddle points differ primarily in their two dihedral coordinates, labeled d(HOCC) (OH torsion around CO), and d(OCCH) (CH(2) torsion around CC). Vertical ionization from the ground-state conformers and saddle points leads to an unstable structure of the open-chain CH(2)CH(2)OH(+) cation. The ion isomerizes promptly either to the 1-hydroxyethyl ion, CH(3)CHOH(+), or to the cyclic oxirane ion, CH(2)(OH)CH(2) (+), and the Rydberg states are expected to display a similar behavior. The isomerization pathway depends on the d(OCCH) angle in the ground state. The lowest valence state is repulsive and its dissociation along the CC, CO, and CH bonds, which leads to CH(2)+CH(2)OH, CH(2)CH(2)+OH, and H+CH(2)CHOH, should be prompt. The branching ratio among these channels depends sensitively on the dihedral angles. Surface crossings among Rydberg and valence states and with the ground state are likely to affect dissociation as well. It is concluded that the proximity of several low-lying excited electronic states, which can either dissociate directly or via isomerization and predissociation pathways, would give rise to prompt dissociation leading to several simultaneous dissociation channels.

A Fixed-Node Diffusion Monte Carlo Study of the 1,2,3-Tridehydrobenzene Triradical

The electronic structure of 1,2,3-tridehydrobenzene was investigated using quantum Monte Carlo methods. The radical contains two low-lying electronic states that are nearly degenerate adiabatically (within 2 kcal/mol separation), according to previous coupled cluster calculations. We performed Diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) calculations starting from Multi-Reference Configuration Interaction (MRCI) trial wavefunctions, with a complete active space (CAS) containing 9 electrons in 9 orbitals, CAS(9,9). Our converged DMC results are in close agreement with the best coupled-cluster results, and further strengthen the assignment of a (2)A1 ground state.