Photodissociation and formation of an ion-pair in CH2 FCl (HCFC-31).

Although CH2 FCl (HCFC-31) recently became of great atmospheric importance, studies concerning its excited states are almost nonexistent. Several excited singlet states were studied (valence nσ* and Rydberg n3s, n3p, σ3s, and σ3p) through highly correlated multireference configuration interaction with singles and doubles, including extensivity correction. Comparison with the states of CH3 Cl indicates a strong influence of the F atom. Potential energy curves suggest formation of an electrostatically bound complex that relaxes to a hydrogen-bonded contact ion-pair (HBCIP) which can decay yielding CH2 F + Cl or to the ground state minimum of CH2 FCl. The HBCIP has a dipole moment of 9.57 D, a CI wavefunction described as 0.65ionic + 0.20biradical and it is strongly bonded by 4.72 eV. Its H bond has characteristics of moderate and strong H bonds. The simulated absorption spectrum confirms the nσ* assignment for the first and suggests the n3s + n3pσ assignment for the second band.

Surface hopping modeling of charge and energy transfer in active environments.

An active environment is any atomic or molecular system changing a chromophore's nonadiabatic dynamics compared to the isolated molecule. The action of the environment on the chromophore occurs by changing the potential energy landscape and triggering new energy and charge flows unavailable in the vacuum. Surface hopping is a mixed quantum-classical approach whose extreme flexibility has made it the primary platform for implementing novel methodologies to investigate the nonadiabatic dynamics of a chromophore in active environments. This Perspective paper surveys the latest developments in the field, focusing on charge and energy transfer processes.

Acid Enriched with Methanol: Formation of a Prebiotic Cluster in the Interstellar Medium.

Organic molecules are a potential source of prebiotic chemistry in the interstellar medium (ISM). Methanol (MetOH) is a very important source of more complex molecules. H3 O+ (aq) and Cl- (aq) are fundamental to living organisms and can be generated in the ISM from the dissociation of HCl with just four water molecules, yielding the (H3 O)+ (H2 O)3 Cl- ion-pair. Here, a detailed mechanism, based on density functional theory (DFT) and ab-initio (2nd order Mϕller-Plesset perturbation theory, MP2) calculations, is suggested for the substitution reactions of these water molecules by MetOH. The time required for formation of an appreciable amount of the product ((H3 O)+ (MetOH)3 Cl- ) can be only few years. Such reaction can take place in Sagittarius B2, where HCl, H2 O and MetOH have already been identified and it can be an important source for the formation of more complex prebiotic structures.

Correction: Modeling the heating and cooling of a chromophore after photoexcitation.

Correction for 'Modeling the heating and cooling of a chromophore after photoexcitation' by Elizete Ventura et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2022, 24, 9403-9410, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2CP00686C.

Modeling the heating and cooling of a chromophore after photoexcitation.

The heating of a chromophore due to internal conversion and its cooling down due to energy dissipation to the solvent are crucial phenomena to characterize molecular photoprocesses. In this work, we simulated the ab initio nonadiabatic dynamics of cytosine, a prototypical chromophore undergoing ultrafast internal conversion, in three solvents-argon matrix, benzene, and water-spanning an extensive range of interactions. We implemented an analytical energy-transfer model to analyze these data and extract heating and cooling times. The model accounts for nonadiabatic effects, and excited- and ground-state energy transfer, and can analyze data from any dataset containing kinetic energy as a function of time. Cytosine heats up in the subpicosecond scale and cools down within 25, 4, and 1.3 ps in argon, benzene, and water, respectively. The time constants reveal that a significant fraction of the benzene and water heating occurs while cytosine is still electronically excited.

Non-Kasha fluorescence of pyrene emerges from a dynamic equilibrium between excited states.

Pyrene fluorescence after a high-energy electronic excitation exhibits a prominent band shoulder not present after excitation at low energies. The standard assignment of this shoulder as a non-Kasha emission from the second-excited state (S2) has been recently questioned. To elucidate this issue, we simulated the fluorescence of pyrene using two different theoretical approaches based on vertical convolution and nonadiabatic dynamics with nuclear ensembles. To conduct the necessary nonadiabatic dynamics simulations with high-lying electronic states and deal with fluorescence timescales of about 100 ns of this large molecule, we developed new computational protocols. The results from both approaches confirm that the band shoulder is, in fact, due to S2 emission. We show that the non-Kasha behavior is a dynamic-equilibrium effect not caused by a metastable S2 minimum. However, it requires considerable vibrational energy, which can only be achieved in collisionless regimes after transitions into highly excited states. This strict condition explains why the S2 emission was not observed in some experiments.

Competition between electron transfer and base-induced elimination mechanisms in the gas-phase reactions of superoxide with alkyl hydroperoxides.

Understanding the mechanism responsible for peroxides decomposition is essential to explain several biochemical processes. The mechanisms of the intrinsic reactions between the superoxide radical anion (O2˙-) and methyl, ethyl, and tert-butyl hydroperoxides (ROOH, with R = Me, Et, and t-Bu) have been characterized to understand the mechanism responsible for peroxides decomposition. The reaction energy diagrams suggest a competition between the spin-allowed and spin-forbidden electron transfer (ET), and base-induced elimination (ECO2) mechanisms. In all cases, the spin-allowed ET mechanism describes formation of the ozonide anion radical (O3˙-), either complexed with an alcohol molecule or separated. For the O2˙-/MeOOH(EtOOH) reactions, HCO2- (MeCO2-) + H2O + HO˙ and OH- + CH2O(MeCHO) + HO2˙ products are associated with the spin-forbidden ET and ECO2 channels, respectively. On the other hand, for the reaction between O2˙- and t-BuOOH, the spin-forbidden ET route describes formation of the MeCOCH2- enolate (either separated or hydrated) along with the methyl peroxyl (MeO2˙) radical. In addition, the regeneration of O2˙-via spin-forbidden ET and ECO2 channels was also characterized from the decomposition of ROOH, yielding diols (CH2(OH)2 and MeCH(OH)2), aldehydes (CH2O and MeCHO), and oxirane (cyc-CH2CMe2O).

Photochemistry of Monohydrated Chloromethane: Formation of Free and Hydrated Cl- and CH3+ Ions from a Solvent-Shared Semi-Ion-Pair.

The effect of water molecule on the excited states of CH3Cl(H2O), as compared to those of the isolated chloromethane, has been studied at the multireference configuration interaction with singles and doubles (MR-CISD), including extensivity corrections. Eight new Rydberg states are due to the water molecule but the common states of both systems are not severely altered. Potential energy curves of 23 singlet states along the C-Cl coordinate have also been computed at the MR-CISD level. The dissociation energy of the C-Cl bond decreases from ∼0.4 to 0.5 eV due to the water molecule. As for CH3Cl (de Medeiros, V. C., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 272-280), a stable ion-pair has also been characterized. However, for CH3Cl(H2O), this ion-pair is better described as a solvent-shared semi-ion-pair, CH3+δ(H2O)Cl-δ. This species is connected with three ionic dissociation channels, with two being due to the water molecule. The presence of these new ionic channels, particularly the lowest energy one, [H3C-O]+ + Cl-, raises a very important question of atmospheric relevance: can the interaction of chloroalkanes with water decrease its deleterious effect on the ozone layer? Several potentially new competing dissociation channels are also studied. The latter results can help to set up the most important states to be included in nonadiabatic dynamic calculations to study how the yields of the ionic channels change due to the water molecule.

The generality of the GUGA MRCI approach in COLUMBUS for treating complex quantum chemistry.

The core part of the program system COLUMBUS allows highly efficient calculations using variational multireference (MR) methods in the framework of configuration interaction with single and double excitations (MR-CISD) and averaged quadratic coupled-cluster calculations (MR-AQCC), based on uncontracted sets of configurations and the graphical unitary group approach (GUGA). The availability of analytic MR-CISD and MR-AQCC energy gradients and analytic nonadiabatic couplings for MR-CISD enables exciting applications including, e.g., investigations of π-conjugated biradicaloid compounds, calculations of multitudes of excited states, development of diabatization procedures, and furnishing the electronic structure information for on-the-fly surface nonadiabatic dynamics. With fully variational uncontracted spin-orbit MRCI, COLUMBUS provides a unique possibility of performing high-level calculations on compounds containing heavy atoms up to lanthanides and actinides. Crucial for carrying out all of these calculations effectively is the availability of an efficient parallel code for the CI step. Configuration spaces of several billion in size now can be treated quite routinely on standard parallel computer clusters. Emerging developments in COLUMBUS, including the all configuration mean energy multiconfiguration self-consistent field method and the graphically contracted function method, promise to allow practically unlimited configuration space dimensions. Spin density based on the GUGA approach, analytic spin-orbit energy gradients, possibilities for local electron correlation MR calculations, development of general interfaces for nonadiabatic dynamics, and MRCI linear vibronic coupling models conclude this overview.

Photoinduced Formation of H-Bonded Ion Pair in HCFC-133a.

High-level multireference electronic structure calculations have been performed to study the Cl- yield from photoexcited CF3CH2Cl (HCFC-133a). The analysis of this process tells that it relates to an electron transfer from the carbon to the Cl atom, forming a highly polar contact ion-pair complex, CF3HCH+···Cl-, in the excited (S3) state. This complex has a strong binding energy of 3.53 eV, from which 0.47 eV is due to an underlying hydrogen bond. Through comparison with the results obtained for the prototype CH3Cl system, where a similar ion-pair state associated with Cl- formation has also been observed, it is suggested that photodissociation of HCFC-133a can also yield Cl- through an analogous process. This hypothesis is further supported by nonadiabatic dynamics simulations, which shows formation of the ion-pair complex in the subpicosecond time scale.

Photochemistry of CH3Cl: Dissociation and CH···Cl Hydrogen Bond Formation.

State-of-the-art electronic structure calculations (MR-CISD) are used to map five different dissociation channels of CH3Cl along the C-Cl coordinate: (i) CH3(X̃(2)A2″) + Cl((2)P), (ii) CH3(3s(2)A1') + Cl((2)P), (iii) CH3(+)((1)A1') + Cl(-)((1)S), (iv) CH3(3p(2)E') + Cl((2)P), and (v) CH3(3p(2)A2″) + Cl((2)P). By the first time these latter four dissociation channels, accessible upon VUV absorption, are described. The corresponding dissociation limits, obtained at the MR-CISD+Q level, are 3.70, 9.50, 10.08, 10.76, and 11.01 eV. The first channel can be accessed through nσ* and n3s states, while the second channel can be accessed through n(e)3s, n(e)3p(σ), and σ3s states. The third channel, corresponding to the CH3(+) + Cl(-) ion-pair, is accessed through n(e)3p(e) states. The fourth is accessed through n(e)3p(e), n(e)3p(σ), and σ3p(σ), while the fifth through σ3p(e) and σ(CH)σ* states. The population of the diverse channels is controlled by two geometrical spots, where intersections between multiple states allow a cascade of nonadiabatic events. The ion-pair dissociation occurs through formation of CH3(+)···Cl(-)and H2CH(+)···Cl(-) intermediate complexes bound by 3.69 and 4.65 eV. The enhanced stability of the H2CH(+)···Cl(-) complex is due to a CH···Cl hydrogen bond. A time-resolved spectroscopic setup is proposed to detect those complexes.

UV-photoexcitation and ultrafast dynamics of HCFC-132b (CF2 ClCH2 Cl).

The UV-induced photochemistry of HCFC-132b (CF2 ClCH2 Cl) was investigated by computing excited-state properties with time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), multiconfigurational second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2), and coupled cluster with singles, doubles, and perturbative triples (CCSD(T)). Excited states calculated with TDDFT show good agreement with CASPT2 and CCSD(T) results, correctly predicting the main excited-states properties. Simulations of ultrafast nonadiabatic dynamics in the gas phase were performed, taking into account 25 electronic states at TDDFT level starting in two different spectral windows (8.5 ± 0.25 and 10.0 ± 0.25 eV). Experimental data measured at 123.6 nm (10 eV) is in very good agreement with our simulations. The excited-state lifetimes are 106 and 191 fs for the 8.5 and 10.0 eV spectral windows, respectively. Internal conversion to the ground state occurred through several different reaction pathways with different products, where 2Cl, C-Cl bond breakage, and HCl are the main photochemical pathways in the low-excitation region, representing 95% of all processes. On the other hand, HCl, HF, and C-Cl bond breakage are the main reaction pathways in the higher excitation region, with 77% of the total yield. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Revisiting the concept of the (a)synchronicity of Diels-Alder reactions based on the dynamics of quasiclassical trajectories.

A number of model Diels-Alder (D-A) cycloaddition reactions (H2C=CH2 + cyclopentadiene and H2C=CHX + 1,3-butadiene, with X = H, F, CH3, OH, CN, NH2, and NO) were studied by static (transition state - TS and IRC) and dynamics (quasiclassical trajectories) approaches to establish the (a)synchronous character of the concerted mechanism. The use of static criteria, such as the asymmetry of the TS geometry, for classifying and quantifying the (a)synchronicity of the concerted D-A reaction mechanism is shown to be severely limited and to provide contradictory results and conclusions when compared to the dynamics approach. The time elapsed between the events is shown to be a more reliable and unbiased criterion and all the studied D-A reactions, except for the case of H2C=CHNO, are classified as synchronous, despite the gradual and quite distinct degrees of (a)symmetry of the TS structures.

Effect of methylation on relative energies of tautomers and on the intramolecular proton transfer barriers of protonated nitrosamine: A MR-CISD study.

MR-CISD, MR-CISD+Q, and MR-AQCC calculations have been performed on the minima and transition states (corresponding to intramolecular proton transfer between the protonation sites) of the ground state of protonated nitrosamine and N,N-dimethylnitrosamine. Our highest level results (MR-AQCC/cc-pVTZ) for the smaller system indicate that protonation on the N amino (2a) is practically as favorable as the most favorable protonation on the O atom (1a). They also suggest that protonation on the nitroso N atom (2c) is ∼14.5 kcal/mol less favorable than 1a. Results obtained at the MR-CISD+Q/cc-pVTZ level indicate that the effect of methylation on the relative energies of the tautomers is, in order of importance, 2a > 2c and increases their energies by ∼17.5 and 4.8 kcal/mol, respectively. They also indicate that methylation alters significantly the intramolecular proton transfer barriers. The largest differences between the common geometric parameters of both systems have been found for 2a.

Dynamic effects dictate the mechanism and selectivity of dehydration-rearrangement reactions of protonated alcohols [Me2 (R)CCH(OH2 )Me](+) (R=Me, Et, iPr) in the gas phase.

The gas-phase dehydration-rearrangement (DR) reactions of protonated alcohols [Me2 (R)CCH(OH2 )Me](+) [R=Me (ME), Et (ET), and iPr (I-PR)] were studied by using static approaches (intrinsic reaction coordinate (IRC), Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus theory) and dynamics (quasiclassical trajectory) simulations at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. The concerted mechanism involves simultaneous water dissociation and alkyl migration, whereas in the stepwise reaction pathway the dehydration step leads to a secondary carbocation intermediate followed by alkyl migration. Internal rotation (IR) can change the relative position of the migrating alkyl group and the leaving group (water), so distinct products may be obtained: [Me(R)CCH(Me)Me⋅⋅⋅OH2 ](+) and [Me(Me)CCH(R)Me⋅⋅⋅OH2 ](+) . The static approach predicts that these reactions are concerted, with the selectivity towards these different products determined by the proportion of the conformers of the initial protonated alcohols. These selectivities are explained by the DR processes being much faster than IR. These results are in direct contradiction with the dynamics simulations, which indicate a predominantly stepwise mechanism and selectivities that depend on the alkyl groups and dynamics effects. Indeed, despite the lifetimes of the secondary carbocations being short (<0.5 ps), IR can take place and thus provide a rich selectivity. These different selectivities, particularly for ET and I-PR, are amenable to experimental observation and provide evidence for the minor role played by potential-energy surface and the relevance of the dynamics effects (non-IRC pathways, IR) in determining the reaction mechanisms and product distribution (selectivity).

Assessment of density-functionals for describing the X(-) + CH3ONO2 gas-phase reactions with X = F, OH, CH2CN.

The energetics of the ECO2, SN2@C and SN2@N channels of X(-) + CH3ONO2 (X = F, OH, CH2CN) gas-phase reactions were computed using the CCSD(T)/CBS method. This benchmark extends a previous study with X = OH [M. A. F. de Souza et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012, 134, 19004] and was used to ascertain the accuracy and robustness of nineteen density-functionals for describing these potential energy profiles (PEP) as well as the kinetic product distributions obtained from RRKM calculations. Assessments were based on the mean unsigned error (MUE), the mean signed error (MSE), the #best : #worst (BW) criterion and the statistical confidence interval (CI) for the MSE. In general, double-hybrid (DH) functionals perform better than the range-separated ones, and both are better than the global-hybrid functionals. Based on the MUE and CI criteria the B2GPPLYP, B2PLYP, M08-SO, BMK, ωB97X-D, CAM-B3LYP, M06, M08-HX, ωB97X and B97-K functionals show the best performance in the description of these PEPs. Within this set, the B2GPPLYP functional is the most accurate and robust. The RRKM results indicate that the DHs are the best for describing the selectivities of these reactions. Compared to CCSD(T), the B2PLYP method has a relative error of only ca. 1% for the selectivity and the accuracy to provide the correct conclusion concerning the nonstatistical behavior of these reactions.

Photochemical deactivation process of HCFC-133a (C2H2F3Cl): a nonadiabatic dynamics study.

The photochemical deactivation process of HCFC-133a (C2H2F3Cl) was investigated by computing excited-state properties with a number of single-reference methods, including coupled cluster to approximated second order (CC2), algebraic diagrammatic construction to second order (ADC(2)), and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). Excited states calculated with these methods, especially TDDFT, show good agreement with our previous multireference configuration interaction (MR-CISD) results. All tested methods were able to correctly predict the properties of the main series of excited states, the n-σ*, n-4p, and n-4s. Nonadiabatic dynamics in the gas phase considering 14 electronic states was simulated with TDDFT starting at the 10 ± 0.25 eV spectral window, to be compared to experimental data measured after 123.6 nm excitation. The excited-state lifetime is 137 fs. Internal conversion to the ground state occurred through several different reaction pathways with different products, including atomic elimination (Cl, F, or H), multifragmentation mechanisms (Cl+F, Cl+H, or F+H), and CC bond-fission mechanisms (alone or with Cl or H elimination). The main photochemical channels observed were Cl, Cl+H, and Cl+F eliminations, representing 54% of all processes.

Theoretical Study of an Authentic Hydrocarbon Ion Pair.

For many years researchers believed that hydrocarbons only contain covalent bonds. However, since 1985 Okamoto et al. demonstrated the formation of hydrocarbon salts in several systems, demolishing the structural principle that hydrocarbons only contain covalent bonds. Despite the great importance of this outcome to the study of chemical bonds, quantum chemical calculations on these systems are essentially nonexistent. The stability of the hydrocarbon ions along with the steric hindrance associated with the formation of the covalent bond contribute to their occurrence either in solution (dissociated) or in the solid state. These facts along with the common formation of ion pairs in solvents of low polarity motivated us to search for hydrocarbon ion pairs in the gas phase. Its energetics has also been studied in four nonprotic solvents, through a continuum solvation model (CPCM). DFT and CASSCF calculations indicate a metastable and highly polar ion pair between the tricyclopropylcyclopropenylium cation and a simplified Kuhn's anion. The barrier to the covalent structure varies from ∼4.8 to 14.4 kcal/mol, while the energy difference between the ion pair and the covalent form varies from ∼4.3 to 25.4 kcal/mol. The obtained theoretical results along with previous experimental results suggest the following strategy to obtain kinetically and thermodynamically stable hydrocarbon ion pairs: choose very stable hydrocarbon ions and systematically increase the steric hindrance between them.

Matrix isolation infrared spectroscopic and theoretical study of 1,1,1-trifluoro-2-chloroethane (HCFC-133a).

The molecular structure and infrared spectrum of the atmospheric pollutant 1,1,1-trifluoro-2-chloroethane (HCFC-133a; CF3CH2Cl) in the ground electronic state were characterized experimentally and theoretically. Excited state calculations (at the CASSCF, MR-CISD, and MR-CISD+Q levels) have also been performed in the range up to ~9.8 eV. The theoretical calculations show the existence of one (staggered) conformer, which has been identified spectroscopically for the monomeric compound isolated in cryogenic (~10 K) argon and xenon matrices. The observed infrared spectra of the matrix-isolated HCFC-133a were interpreted with the aid of MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ calculations and normal coordinate analysis, which allowed a detailed assignment of the observed spectra to be carried out, including identification of bands due to different isotopologues ((35)Cl and (37)Cl containing molecules). The calculated energies of the several excited states along with the values of oscillator strengths and previous results obtained for CFCs and HCFCs suggest that the previously reported photolyses of the title compound at 147 and 123.6 nm [T. Ichimura, A. W. Kirk, and E. Tschuikow-Roux, J. Phys. Chem. 81, 1153 (1977)] are likely to be initiated in the n-4s and n-4p Rydberg states, respectively.

Can a gas phase contact ion pair containing a hydrocarbon carbocation be formed in the ground state?

So far, no conclusive evidence of a ground-state contact ion-pair containing a hydrocarbon carbocation has been given in the gas phase. Due to the very high stability of the 1,2:4,5-dibenzotropylium (or dibenzo[a,d]tropylium) carbocation, we suggest (supported by DFT and MP2 calculations) the formation of a contact ion pair between this carbocation and chloride, occurring during the reaction between 1,2:4,5-dibenzotropyl (also named dibenzo[a,d]tropyl or dibenzo[a,d]cycloheptenyl) radical and chlorine atom at very low temperatures, through the harpoon mechanism. This is the first modeling study to find computational evidence for the possibility of a gas-phase contact ion pair (containing a hydrocarbon carbocation) formed in the ground state. Identification of this metastable species can be carried out by trapping it in He nanodroplets, along with infrared laser spectroscopy routinely coupled with this technique.