A CSOV study of the difference between HF and DFT intermolecular interaction energy values: the importance of the charge transfer contribution.

Intermolecular interaction energy decompositions using the Constrained Space Orbital Variation (CSOV) method are carried out at the Hartree-Fock level on the one hand and using DFT with usual GGA functionals on the other for a number of model complexes to analyze the role of electron correlation in the intermolecular stabilization energy. In addition to the overall stabilization, the results provide information on the variation, with respect to the computational level, of the different contributions to the interaction energy. The complexes studied are the water linear dimer, the N-methylformamide dimer, the nucleic acid base pairs, the benzene-methane and benzene-N2 van der Waals complexes, [Cu+ -(ImH)3]2, where "ImH" stands for the Imidazole ligand, and ImH-Zn++. The variation of the frozen core energy (the sum of the intermolecular electrostatic energy and the Pauli repulsion energy) calculated from the unperturbed orbitals of the interacting entities indicates that the intramolecular correlation contributions can be stabilizing as well as destabilizing, and that general trends can be derived from the results obtained using usual density functionals. The most important difference between the values obtained from HF and DFT computations concerns the charge transfer contribution, which, in most cases, undergoes the largest increase. The physical meaning of these results is discussed. The present work gives reference calculations that might be used to parametrize new correlated molecular mechanics potentials.

Inclusion of the ligand field contribution in a polarizable molecular mechanics: SIBFA-LF.

To account for the distortion of the coordination sphere that takes place in complexes containing open-shell metal cations such as Cu(II), we implemented, in sum of interactions between fragments ab initio computed (SIBFA) molecular mechanics, an additional contribution to take into account the ligand field splitting of the metal d orbitals. This term, based on the angular overlap model, has been parameterized for Cu(II) coordinated to oxygen and nitrogen ligands. The comparison of the results obtained from density functional theory computations on the one hand and SIBFA or SIBFA-LF on the other shows that SIBFA-LF gives geometric arrangements similar to those obtained from quantum mechanical computations. Moreover, the geometric improvement takes place without downgrading the energetic agreement obtained from SIBFA. The systems considered are Cu(II) interacting with six water molecules, four ammonia or four imidazoles, and four water plus two formate anions.

Influence of the correlation, aggregation, and solvation on ab initio computed Li-C, Li-N, and Li-Li NMR coupling constants.

The (1)J and (3)J(C-Li), (1)J(N-Li), and (2)J(Li-Li) NMR coupling constants have been calculated for various homogeneous and heterogeneous aggregates of methyllithium and lithium dimethylamide at the HF and MP2 levels of calculation. Ethereal solvation has also been taken into account either through a continuum model or through the explicit introduction of Me(2)O molecules. The results obtained are in good general agreement with the experimental data available for methyllithium itself or model alkyllithiums and supports the empirical rule proposed by Bauer, Winchester, and Schleyer to evaluate (1)J(C-Li) provided that calculations include solvent and/or aggregation effects.

Improved Formulas for the Calculation of the Electrostatic Contribution to the Intermolecular Interaction Energy from Multipolar Expansion of the Electronic Distribution.

We have, within the framework of the molecular mechanics method SIBFA, improved the formulation of the Coulomb (electrostatic) energy contribution to the intermolecular interaction energy. This was done by integrating "overlap-like" terms into two components of the multipolar development used to calculate this contribution in SIBFA. The calibration of the new component is done on five water dimers by fitting this augmented electrostatic contribution to the corresponding Ec term. Several tests are done on (i) representative neutral and ionic hydrogen-bonded complexes; (ii) the complexes of metal cations (Cu(I) and Cu(II)) with a neutral or an anionic ligand; and (iii) a representative stacked complex. The improvement brought by the new formulation reduces the difference between the ab initio (Ec) and molecular mechanics (EMTP*) values by almost an order of magnitude when compared to the values of EMTP calculated using the standard method.

A NMR and theoretical study of the aggregates between alkyllithium and chiral lithium amides: control of the topology through a single asymmetric center.

The complexes between methyllithium and chiral 3-aminopyrrolidine (3-AP) lithium amides bearing a second asymmetric center on their lateral amino group were studied using multinuclear ((1)H, (6)Li, (13)C, (15)N) low-temperature NMR spectroscopies in tetrahydrofuran-d(8). The results indicate that lithium chelation forces the pyrrolidine ring of the 3-AP to adopt a norbornyl-like conformation and that robust 1:1 noncovalent complexes between methyllithium and 3-AP lithium amides form in the medium. A set of (1)H-(1)H and (1)H-(6)Li NMR cross-coupling correlations shows that the binding of methyllithium can take place along the "exo" or the "endo" face of this puckered structure, depending on the relative configuration of the lateral chiral group. This aggregation step renders the nitrogen of the 3-amino group chiral, the "exo" and "endo" topologies corresponding to the (S) and (R) configurations, respectively, of this atom. Density functional theory calculations show that the "exo" and "endo" arrangements are, for both diastereomers, almost isoenergetic even when solvent is taken into account. This result suggests that the formation of the mixed aggregates is under strict kinetic control. A relationship between the topology of these complexes and the sense of induction in the enantioselective alkylation of aromatic aldehydes by alkyllithiums is proposed.