Atomistic simulations of the aggregation of small aromatic molecules in homogenous and heterogenous mixtures.

The relatively weak London dispersion forces are the only interactions that could cause aggregation between simple aromatic molecules. The use of molecular dynamics and high-level ab initio computer simulations has been used to describe the aggregation and interactions between molecular systems containing benzene, naphthalene and anthracene. Mixtures containing one type of molecule (homogenous) and more than one type of molecule (heterogenous) were considered. Our results indicate that as molecular weight increases so does the temperature at which aggregation will occur. In all simulations, the mechanism of aggregation is through small clusters coalescing into larger clusters. The structural analysis of the molecules within the clusters reveals that benzene will orient itself in T-shaped and parallel displaced configurations. Molecules of anthracene prefer to orient themselves in a similar manner to a bulk crystal with no T-shaped configuration observed. The aggregation of these aromatic molecules is discussed in the context of astrochemistry with particular reference to the dust formation region around stars.

Covalency and Ionicity Do Not Oppose Each Other-Relationship Between Si-O Bond Character and Basicity of Siloxanes.

Covalency and ionicity are orthogonal rather than antipodal concepts. We demonstrate for the case of siloxane systems [R3 Si-(O-SiR2 )n -O-SiR3 ] that both covalency and ionicity of the Si-O bonds impact on the basicity of the Si-O-Si linkage. The relationship between the siloxane basicity and the Si-O bond character has been under debate since previous studies have presented conflicting explanations. It has been shown with natural bond orbital methods that increased hyperconjugative interactions of LP(O)→σ*(Si-R) type, that is, increased orbital overlap and hence covalency, are responsible for the low siloxane basicity at large Si-O-Si angles. On the other hand, increased ionicity towards larger Si-O-Si angles has been revealed with real-space bonding indicators. To resolve this ostensible contradiction, we perform a complementary bonding analysis, which combines orbital-space, real-space, and bond-index considerations. We analyze the isolated disiloxane molecule H3 SiOSiH3 with varying Si-O-Si angles, and n-membered cyclic siloxane systems Si2 H4 O(CH2 )n-3 . All methods from quite different realms show that both covalent and ionic interactions increase simultaneously towards larger Si-O-Si angles. In addition, we present highly accurate absolute hydrogen-bond interaction energies of the investigated siloxane molecules with water and silanol as donors. It is found that intermolecular hydrogen bonding is significant at small Si-O-Si angles and weakens as the Si-O-Si angle increases until no stable hydrogen-bond complexes are obtained beyond φSiOSi =168°, angles typically displayed by minerals or polymers. The maximum hydrogen-bond interaction energy, which is obtained at an angle of 105°, is 11.05 kJ mol-1 for the siloxane-water complex and 18.40 kJ mol-1 for the siloxane-silanol complex.

Neutron diffraction structures of water in crystalline hydrates of metal salts.

Neutron diffraction structures of water molecules in crystalline hydrates of metal salts have been collected from the literature up to December 2011. Statistical methods were used to investigate the influence on the water structures of the position and nature of hydrogen bond acceptors and cations coordinated to the water oxygen. For statistical modelling the data were pruned so that only structures with oxygen as hydrogen acceptors, single hydrogen bonds, and no more than two metals or hydrogens coordinated to the water oxygen were included. Multiple linear regression models were fitted with the water OH bond length and bond angle as response variables. Other variables describing the position and nature of the acceptors and ions coordinated to the waters were taken as explanatory variables. These variables were sufficient to give good models for the bond lengths and angles. There were sufficient structures involving coordinated Mg(2+) or Cu(2+) for a separate statistical modelling to be done for these cases.

Matrix isolation ESR and theoretical studies of metal phosphides.

The ZnP, (67)ZnP, CdP, (111)CdP, and (113)CdP radicals have been formed by laser ablation of the metal with GaP pressed into the metal surface, isolated in an inert neon matrix at 4.3 K and their electronic structure was established using electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The following magnetic parameters were determined experimentally for ZnP/(67)ZnP, g(⊥)=1.9982(2), A(⊥)(P)=111(6) MHz, A(⊥)((67)Zn)=160(2) MHz, and D=-29 988(3) MHz and estimates were made for the following ZnP/(67)ZnP magnetic parameters: g(∥)=1.9941(2), A(∥)(P)=-5(6) MHz, and A(∥)((67)Zn)=180(50) MHz. The following magnetic parameters for CdP/(111)CdP/(113)CdP were determined experimentally: g(⊥)=1.9963(2), A(⊥)(P)=97(3) MHz, A(⊥)((111)Cd)=862(3) MHz, and A(⊥)((113)Cd)=902(3) MHz. Evidence for the formation of the MgP radical was also obtained and an approximate hyperfine coupling constant of A(⊥)(P)=157(6) MHz was determined. The low-lying electronic states of ZnP and MgP were also investigated using the multiconfigurational self-consistent field technique. Potential energy surfaces, binding energies, optimized bond lengths, energy separations, and dissociation energies have been determined. Both radicals are found to have (4)Σ(-) ground states with a leading configuration at r(e) of 10σ(2)11σ(2)5π(1)5π(1)12σ(1) for ZnP and 7σ(2)8σ(2)3π(1)3π(1)9σ(1) for MgP. Significant mixing to this state is calculated for MgP.

Can a multipole analysis faithfully reproduce topological descriptors of a total charge density?

Total charge densities rho(r) of solid NH(3) have been derived using an ab initio crystalline molecular-orbital approach and also from multipole refinement of the structure factors obtained from the same charge density. Comparison of the topological features of these charge densities, as defined by the quantum theory of atoms in molecules, has been used to probe the ability of the multipole analysis to reproduce exactly known total charge-density distributions. For the most part, multipole refinement satisfactorily returns the features of the original density, although the fit to theoretical data is not as good as that to the experimental data. The one topological parameter that is poorly reproduced is the Laplacian nabla (2)rho(r(b)) at NH bond critical points.

Wavefunctions derived from experiment. IV. Investigation of the crystal environment of ammonia.

Constrained Hartree-Fock calculations have been performed to obtain wavefunctions that reproduce experimental X-ray structure-factor magnitudes for crystalline NH3 to within the limits of experimental error. Different model densities using both a single molecule and clusters of NH3 in the calculation of X-ray structure-factor magnitudes have been examined. The effects of the crystalline lattice on the experimental wavefunction of the NH3 unit can be reproducibly recovered. The construction of structure-factor magnitudes based on normally distributed random perturbations of the experimental values has also been used to gauge the accuracy of integrated atomic properties obtained from the wavefunctions, the point at which the constraint procedure should be terminated, and the approximate error in the experimental sigma(k) values.