KineticNet: Deep learning a transferable kinetic energy functional for orbital-free density functional theory.

Orbital-free density functional theory (OF-DFT) holds promise to compute ground state molecular properties at minimal cost. However, it has been held back by our inability to compute the kinetic energy as a functional of electron density alone. Here, we set out to learn the kinetic energy functional from ground truth provided by the more expensive Kohn-Sham density functional theory. Such learning is confronted with two key challenges: Giving the model sufficient expressivity and spatial context while limiting the memory footprint to afford computations on a GPU and creating a sufficiently broad distribution of training data to enable iterative density optimization even when starting from a poor initial guess. In response, we introduce KineticNet, an equivariant deep neural network architecture based on point convolutions adapted to the prediction of quantities on molecular quadrature grids. Important contributions include convolution filters with sufficient spatial resolution in the vicinity of nuclear cusp, an atom-centric sparse but expressive architecture that relays information across multiple bond lengths, and a new strategy to generate varied training data by finding ground state densities in the face of perturbations by a random external potential. KineticNet achieves, for the first time, chemical accuracy of the learned functionals across input densities and geometries of tiny molecules. For two-electron systems, we additionally demonstrate OF-DFT density optimization with chemical accuracy.

Scaled opposite-spin atomic-orbital based algebraic diagrammatic construction scheme for the polarization propagator with asymptotic linear-scaling effort: Theory and implementation.

A novel local approach for the quantum-chemical computation of excited states is presented, where the concept of the atomic-orbital formulation of the second-order Møller-Plesset energy expression is extended to the second-order algebraic diagrammatic construction scheme by virtue of the Laplace transform. The scaled opposite-spin second-order algebraic diagrammatic construction method with Cholesky decomposed densities and density-fitting, or CDD-DF-SOS-ADC(2) for short, exploits the sparsity of the two-electron repulsion integrals, the atomic ground-state density matrix, and the atomic transition density matrix to drastically reduce the computational effort. By using a local density-fitting approximation, it is shown that asymptotically linear scaling can be achieved for linear carboxylic acids. For electron-dense systems, sub-cubic scaling can be achieved if the excitation is local, and hence the transition density is sparse. Furthermore, the memory footprint and accuracy of the CDD-DF-SOS-ADC(2) method are explored in detail.

The fourth-order algebraic diagrammatic construction scheme for the polarization propagator.

Until today, perturbation-theoretical consistent algebraic diagrammatic construction (ADC) schemes for the polarization propagator had been derived and implemented up to third order. They have turned out to be versatile and reliable ab initio single-reference methods for the quantum chemical investigation of electronic transitions as well as excited-state properties. Here we present, for the first time, the derivation of consistent fourth-order ADC(4) schemes exploiting novel techniques of automated equation and code generation. The accuracies of the resulting ADC(4) excitation energies have been benchmarked against recent high-level, near exact reference data. The mean absolute error for singly and doubly excited states turns out to be smaller than 0.1 and 0.5 eV, respectively. These developments open also new avenues toward highly accurate ADC methods for electron-detached and attached states.

An effective sub-quadratic scaling atomic-orbital reformulation of the scaled opposite-spin RI-CC2 ground-state model using Cholesky-decomposed densities and an attenuated Coulomb metric.

An atomic-orbital reformulation of the Laplace-transformed scaled opposite-spin (SOS) coupled cluster singles and doubles (CC2) model within the resolution of the identity (RI) approximation (SOS-RI-CC2) is presented that extends its applicability to molecules with several hundreds of atoms and triple-zeta basis sets. We exploit sparse linear algebra and an attenuated Coulomb metric to decrease the disk space demands and the computational efforts. In this way, an effective sub-quadratic computational scaling is achieved with our ω-SOS-CDD-RI-CC2 model. Moreover, Cholesky decomposition of the ground-state one-electron density matrix reduces the prefactor, allowing for an early crossover with the molecular orbital formulation. The accuracy and performance of the presented method are investigated for various molecular systems.

X-Ray absorption spectra of microsolvated metal cations.

Core excited states in clusters or bulk medium are known to undergo a process of internal ionisation, whereby the excited electron delocalises throughout the medium. This delocalisation is visible in the shifting and broadening of lines in X-ray absorption spectra, and it impacts the electronic decay initiated by photoabsorption. In this paper we study the delocalisation of electrons excited from the 1s core orbital of Na(+) and Mg(2+) ions in microsolvated Na(+)(H2O)m and Mg(2+)(H2O)m clusters (m = 1-6) by computing the X-ray absorption spectra and electron distributions in different core excited states. We show that addition of water ligands to the ion leads to more and more pronounced delocalisation of the core-to-valence 1s → 3p and core-to-Rydberg 1s → 4p excitations. Even for the compact 1s → 3p excitation the excited electron is mostly located on the water molecules when the solvation shell is complete. We also found that the degree of delocalisation strongly depends on the cluster geometry and the ionic charge. These results indicate that even in small microsolvated clusters delocalisation of core excited electrons is substantial and will affect the following electronic decay. The accuracy and transferability of our results are corroborated by the good agreement between our XAS spectra of microsolvated Na(+) and experimental X-ray absorption spectra of dilute NaCl solutions.

Strong electronic coupling dominates the absorption and fluorescence spectra of covalently bound BisBODIPYs.

The absorption spectrum of a representative BisBODIPY molecule is investigated using high-level quantum chemical methodology; the results are compared with experimental data. The S1 and S2 excited states are examined in detail to illuminate and to understand the electronic coupling between them. With the help of model systems in which the distance between the BODIPY monomers is increased or in which the dihedral angle between the subunits is changed, the electronic coupling is quantified, and its influence on energetics and oscillator strengths is highlighted. For the explanation of the experimental spectrum, orbital interaction effects are found to be important. Because of the large experimental Stokes shift of BisBODIPY, the nature of the emissive state is investigated and found to remain C2 symmetric as the ground state, and no localization of the excitation on one BODIPY subunit occurs. The excitonic coupling is in BisBODIPY still larger than the geometry relaxation energy, which explains the absence of a pseudo-Jahn-Teller effect.

A fresh look at the photoelectron spectrum of bromobenzene: A third-order non-Dyson electron propagator study.

The valence-shell ionization spectrum of bromobenzene, as a representative halogen substituted aromatic, was studied using the non-Dyson third-order algebraic-diagrammatic construction [nD-ADC(3)] approximation for the electron propagator. This method, also referred to as IP-ADC(3), was implemented as a part of the Q-Chem program and enables large-scale calculations of the ionization spectra, where the computational effort scales as n(5) with respect to the number of molecular orbitals n. The IP-ADC(3) scheme is ideally suited for investigating low-lying ionization transitions, so fresh insight could be gained into the cationic state manifold of bromobenzene. In particular, the present IP-ADC(3) calculations with the cc-pVTZ basis reveal a whole class of low-lying low-intensity two-hole-one-particle (2h-1p) doublet and quartet states, which are relevant to various photoionization processes. The good qualitative agreement between the theoretical spectral profile for the valence-shell ionization transitions generated with the smaller cc-pVDZ basis set and the experimental photoelectron spectrum measured at a photon energy of 80 eV on the PLÉIADES beamline at the Soleil synchrotron radiation source allowed all the main features to be assigned. Some theoretical aspects of the ionization energy calculations concerning the use of various approximation schemes and basis sets are discussed.

The influence of the bromine atom Cooper minimum on the photoelectron angular distributions and branching ratios of the four outermost bands of bromobenzene.

Angle resolved photoelectron spectra of the X̃(2)B1, Ã(2)A2, B̃(2)B2, and C̃(2)B1 states of bromobenzene have been recorded over the excitation range 20.5-94 eV using linearly polarized synchrotron radiation. The photoelectron anisotropy parameters and electronic branching ratios derived from these spectra have been compared to theoretical predictions obtained with the continuum multiple scattering approach. This comparison shows that ionization from the 8b2 orbital and, to a lesser extent, the 4b1 orbital is influenced by the Cooper minimum associated with the bromine atom. The 8b2 and 4b1 orbitals are nominally bromine lone-pairs, but the latter orbital interacts strongly with the π-orbitals in the benzene ring and this leads to a reduced atomic character. Simulations of the X̃(2)B1, B̃(2)B2, and C̃(2)B1 state photoelectron bands have enabled most of the vibrational structures appearing in the experimental spectra to be assigned. Many of the photoelectron peaks exhibit an asymmetric shape with a tail towards low binding energy. This asymmetry has been examined in the simulations of the vibrationally unexcited peak, due mainly to the adiabatic transition, in the X̃(2)B1 state photoelectron band. The simulations show that the asymmetric profile arises from hot-band transitions. The inclusion of transitions originating from thermally populated levels results in a satisfactory agreement between the experimental and simulated peak shapes.

The molecular mechanism of photochromism in photo-enolizable quinoline and napthyridine derivatives.

Photochromism, the change of color upon irradiation, is a general property of quinoline derivatives, yet subtle differences in the geometric structure influence its occurrence. To investigate this relation, the mechanism of photoenolization of the photochromic compounds 3-benzoyl-2-benzyl-1-methyl-1H-quinoline-4-one (1) and 3-benzoyl-1,2-dibenzyl-1H-1,8 naphtyridin-4-one (2) as well as of the structurally closely related but nonphotochromic 3-benzoyl-1-benzyl-2-methyl-1H-1,8-naphtyridin-4-one (3) has been investigated theoretically using state-of-the-art quantum chemical methods. Focusing on the difference between 2 and 3 and stressing the absence of a phenyl group in the latter, the excited state potential energy surfaces along the photoenolization coordinate have been calculated for both. While the initial proton transfer initializing photoenolization is feasible when the phenyl group is present in 1 and 2, it is suppressed in 3.

Calculations of nonlinear response properties using the intermediate state representation and the algebraic-diagrammatic construction polarization propagator approach: two-photon absorption spectra.

An earlier proposed approach to molecular response functions based on the intermediate state representation (ISR) of polarization propagator and algebraic-diagrammatic construction (ADC) approximations is for the first time employed for calculations of nonlinear response properties. The two-photon absorption (TPA) spectra are considered. The hierarchy of the first- and second-order ADC∕ISR computational schemes, ADC(1), ADC(2), ADC(2)-x, and ADC(3/2), is tested in applications to H(2)O, HF, and C(2)H(4) (ethylene). The calculated TPA spectra are compared with the results of coupled cluster (CC) models and time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) calculations, using the results of the CC3 model as benchmarks. As a more realistic example, the TPA spectrum of C(8)H(10) (octatetraene) is calculated using the ADC(2)-x and ADC(2) methods. The results are compared with the results of TDDFT method and earlier calculations, as well as to the available experimental data. A prominent feature of octatetraene and other polyene molecules is the existence of low-lying excited states with increased double excitation character. We demonstrate that the two-photon absorption involving such states can be adequately studied using the ADC(2)-x scheme, explicitly accounting for interaction of doubly excited configurations. Observed peaks in the experimental TPA spectrum of octatetraene are assigned based on our calculations.

Molecular mechanism of the Z/E-photoisomerization of hemithioindigo hemistilbene.

Hemithioindigo hemistilbene (HTI) can be selectively photoisomerized from the Z-isomer into the E-isomer and vice versa. Using quantum chemical calculations, we have investigated the mechanism of the photoisomerization in detail. Our calculations demonstrate that two Z- and E-isomers exist in the electronic ground state as well as on the S(1) surface. The S(1) isomers are separated by small energy barriers along the dihedral twisting coordinate, but also a conical intersection with the electronic ground state is present at about 90 degrees twisting angle. Comparison with previously published experimental data reveals that most excited molecules, however, do not isomerize but instead relax to the equilibrium structure of the Z-isomer on the S(1) surface and return back to the ground state via regular fluorescence. Only a small fraction of the excited state population decays via the identified conical intersection and forms ground state E-isomers. This explains the comparably long lifetime of 38 ps of the excited HTI molecules and the observed low quantum yield of photoswitching.

Catalytic role of calix[4]hydroquinone in acetone-water proton exchange: a quantum chemical study of proton transfer via keto-enol tautomerism.

Calix[4]hydroquinone has recently attracted considerable interest since it forms stable tubular aggregates mediated solely by hydrogen bonding and pi-pi-stacking interactions. These aggregates trap specifically various small organic molecules and, in particular, catalyze the proton exchange of water with acetone. Using correlated quantum chemical methods, the mechanism of the observed proton exchange mediated by keto-enol tautomerism of acetone is investigated in detail. Starting with an investigation of keto-enol tautomerism of acetone-water clusters, it appears that four catalytic water molecules are optimal for the catalysis and that additional solvent water molecules lead to a decrease in efficiency. Analyses of the partial charges revealed a decrease of the polarization of the reactive hydrogen bonds due to the additional water molecules. As a next step, hydroquinone-acetone-water complexes were studied as models for the situation in the CHQ moieties. However, the computations revealed that the proton transfer reaction becomes less efficient when one catalytic water molecule is replaced by hydroquinone. Although concerted proton transfer via keto-enol tautomerism of acetone seems to be the predominant mechanism in supercritical water, it is no longer the rate-determining reaction mechanism for the catalyzed acetone-water proton exchange observed in tubular CHQ. Nevertheless, a key feature of the catalytic function of tubular CHQ has been identified to be the stiff hydrogen bonding network and the exclusion of additional solvent water molecules.

Role of electron-transfer quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence by carotenoids in non-photochemical quenching of green plants.

NPQ (non-photochemical quenching) is a fundamental photosynthetic mechanism by which plants protect themselves against excess excitation energy and the resulting photodamage. A discussed molecular mechanism of the so-called feedback de-excitation component (qE) of NPQ involves the formation of a quenching complex. Recently, we have studied the influence of formation of a zeaxanthin-chlorophyll complex on the excited states of the pigments using high-level quantum chemical methodology. In the case of complex formation, electron-transfer quenching of chlorophyll-excited states by carotenoids is a relevant quenching mechanism. Furthermore, additionally occurring charge-transfer excited states can be exploited experimentally to prove the existence of the quenching complex during NPQ.

Gas-phase stability of derivatives of the closo-hexaborate dianion B(6)H(6)(2-).

B(6)H(6)(2-) does not represent a stable gas-phase dianion, but emits spontaneously one of its excess electrons in the gas phase. In this work we address the question whether small stable gas-phase dianions can be constructed from the parent B(6)H(6)(2-) dianion by substitution of the hydrogens with appropriate ligands. Various hexa-, tetra-, and disubstituted derivatives B(6)L(6)(2-), B(6)H(2)L(4)(2-), and B(6)H(4)L(2)(2-) (L = F, Cl, CN, NC, or BO) are investigated with ab initio methods in detail. Four stable hexasubstituted B(6)L(6)(2-) (L = Cl, CN, NC, or BO) and three stable B(6)H(2)L(4)(2-) (L = CN, NC, or BO) gas-phase dianions could be identified and predicted to be observable in the gas phase. The trends in the electron-detachment energies depending on various ligands are discussed and understood in the underlying electrostatic pattern and the electronegativities of the involved elements.