Predicting spin states of iron porphyrins with DFT methods including crystal packing effects and thermodynamic corrections.

Accurate computational treatment of spin states for transition metal complexes, exemplified by iron porphyrins, lies at the heart of quantum bioinorganic chemistry, but at the same time represents a great challenge for approximate density functional theory (DFT) methods, which are predominantly used. Here, the accuracy of DFT methods for spin-state splittings in iron porphyrin is assessed by probing the ability to correctly predict the ground states for six FeIII or FeII complexes experimentally characterized in solid state. For each case, molecular and periodic DFT calculations are employed to quantify the effect of porphyrin side substituents and the crystal packing effect (CPE) on the spin-state splitting. It is proposed to partition the total CPE into additive components, the direct and structural one, the importance of which is shown to significantly vary from case to case. By knowing the substituent effect, the CPE, and the Gibbs free energy thermodynamic correction from calculations, one can employ the experimental ground-state information in order to derive a quantitative constraint on the electronic energy difference for a simplified (porphin) model of the experimentally characterized metalloporphyrin. The constraints derived in such a way-in the form of single or double inequalities-are used to assess the accuracy of dispersion-corrected DFT methods for 6 spin-state splittings of [FeIII(P)(2-MeIm)2]+, [FeIII(P)(2-MeIm)]+, [FeII(P)(THF)2] and [FeII(P)] models (where P is porphin, 2-MeIm is 2-methylimidazole, THF is tetrahydrofuran). These data constitute the new benchmark set of spin states for crystalline iron porphyrins (SSCIP6). The highest accuracy is obtained in the case of double-hybrid functionals (B2PLYP-D3, DSD-PBEB95-D3), whereas hybrid functionals, especially those with reduced admixture of the exact exchange (B3LYP*-D3, TPSSh-D3), are found to considerably overstabilize the intermediate spin state, leading to incorrect ground-state prediction in FeIII porphyrins. The present approach, which can be generalized to other transition metal complexes, is not only useful in method benchmarking, but also sheds light on the interpretations of experimental data for metalloporphyrins, which are important models to understand the electronic properties of heme proteins.

Approaching the Complete Basis Set Limit for Spin-State Energetics of Mononuclear First-Row Transition Metal Complexes.

Convergence to the complete basis set (CBS) limit is analyzed for the problem of spin-state energetics in mononuclear first-row transition metal (TM) complexes by taking under scrutiny a benchmark set of 18 energy differences between spin states for 13 chemically diverse TM complexes. The performance of conventional CCSD(T) and explicitly correlated CCSD(T)-F12a/b calculations in approaching the CCSD(T)/CBS limits is systematically studied. An economic computational protocol is developed based on the CCSD-F12a approximation and (here proposed) modified scaling of the perturbative triples term (T#). This computational protocol recovers the relative spin-state energetics of the benchmark set in excellent agreement with the reference CCSD(T)/CBS limits (mean absolute deviation of 0.4, mean signed deviation of 0.2, and maximum deviation of 0.8 kcal/mol) and enables performing canonical CCSD(T) calculations for mononuclear TM complexes sized up to ca. 50 atoms, which is illustrated by application to heme-related metalloporphyrins. Furthermore, a good transferability of the basis set incompleteness error (BSIE) is demonstrated for spin-state energetics computed using CCSD(T) and other wave function methods (MP2, CASPT2, CASPT2/CC, NEVPT2, and MRCI + Q), which justifies efficient focal-point approximations and simplifies the construction of multimethod benchmark studies.

Benchmarks for transition metal spin-state energetics: why and how to employ experimental reference data?

Accurate prediction of energy differences between alternative spin states of transition metal complexes is essential in computational (bio)inorganic chemistry-for example, in characterization of spin crossover materials and in the theoretical modeling of open-shell reaction mechanisms-but it remains one of the most compelling problems for quantum chemistry methods. A part of this challenge is to obtain reliable reference data for benchmark studies, as even the highest-level applicable methods are known to give divergent results. This Perspective discusses two possible approaches to method benchmarking for spin-state energetics: using either theoretically computed or experiment-derived reference data. With the focus on the latter approach, an extensive general review is provided for the available experimental data of spin-state energetics and their interpretations in the context of benchmark studies, targeting the possibility of back-correcting the vibrational effects and the influence of solvents or crystalline environments. With a growing amount of experience, these effects can be now not only qualitatively understood, but also quantitatively modeled, providing the way to derive nearly chemically accurate estimates of the electronic spin-state gaps to be used as benchmarks and advancing our understanding of the phenomena related to spin states in condensed phases.

Experimental and Computational Insight into the Mechanism of NO Binding to Ferric Microperoxidase. The Likely Role of Tautomerization to Account for the pH Dependence.

According to the current paradigm, the metal-hydroxo bond in a six-coordinate porphyrin complex is believed to be significantly less reactive in ligand substitution than the analogous metal-aqua bond, due to a much higher strength of the former bond. Here, we report kinetic studies for nitric oxide (NO) binding to a heme-protein model, acetylated microperoxidase-11 (AcMP-11), that challenge this paradigm. In the studied pH range 7.4-12.6, ferric AcMP-11 exists in three acid-base forms, assigned in the literature as [(AcMP-11)FeIII(H2O)(HisH)] (1), [(AcMP-11)FeIII(OH)(HisH)] (2), and [(AcMP-11)FeIII(OH)(His-)] (3). From the pH dependence of the second-order rate constant for NO binding (kon), we determined individual rate constants characterizing forms 1-3, revealing only a ca. 10-fold decrease in the NO binding rate on going from 1 (kon(1) = 3.8 × 106 M-1 s-1) to 2 (kon(2) = 4.0 × 105 M-1 s-1) and the inertness of 3. These findings lead to the abandonment of the dissociatively activated mechanism, in which the reaction rate can be directly correlated with the Fe-OH bond energy, as the mechanistic explanation for the process with regard to 2. The reactivity of 2 is accounted for through the existence of a tautomeric equilibrium between the major [(AcMP-11)FeIII(OH)(HisH)] (2a) and minor [(AcMP-11)FeIII(H2O)(His-)] (2b) species, of which the second one is assigned as the NO binding target due to its labile Fe-OH2 bond. The proposed mechanism is further substantiated by quantum-chemical calculations, which confirmed both the significant labilization of the Fe-OH2 bond in the [(AcMP-11)FeIII(H2O)(His-)] tautomer and the feasibility of the tautomer formation, especially after introducing empirical corrections to the computed relative acidities of the H2O and HisH ligands based on the experimental pKa values. It is shown that the "effective lability" of the axial ligand (OH-/H2O) in 2 may be comparable to the lability of the H2O ligand in 1.

Zeolites at the Molecular Level: What Can Be Learned from Molecular Modeling.

This review puts the development of molecular modeling methods in the context of their applications to zeolitic active sites. We attempt to highlight the utmost necessity of close cooperation between theory and experiment, resulting both in advances in computational methods and in progress in experimental techniques.

Spin-state energetics of metallocenes: How do best wave function and density functional theory results compare with the experimental data?

We benchmark the accuracy of quantum-chemical methods, including wave function theory methods [coupled cluster theory at the CCSD(T) level, multiconfigurational perturbation-theory (CASPT2, NEVPT2) and internally contracted multireference configuration interaction (MRCI)] and 30 density functional theory (DFT) approximations, in reproducing the spin-state splittings of metallocenes. The reference values of the electronic energy differences are derived from the experimental spin-crossover enthalpy for manganocene and the spectral data of singlet-triplet transitions for ruthenocene, ferrocene, and cobaltocenium. For ferrocene and cobaltocenium we revise the previous experimental interpretations regarding the lowest triplet energy; our argument is based on the comparison with the lowest singlet excitation energy and herein reported, carefully determined absorption spectrum of ferrocene. When deriving vertical energies from the experimental band maxima, we go beyond the routine vertical energy approximation by introducing vibronic corrections based on simulated vibrational envelopes. The benchmarking result confirms the high accuracy of the CCSD(T) method (in particular, for UCCSD(T) based on Hartree-Fock orbitals we find for our dataset: maximum error 0.12 eV, weighted mean absolute error 0.07 eV, weighted mean signed error 0.01 eV). The high accuracy of the single-reference method is corroborated by the analysis of a multiconfigurational character of the complete active space wave function for the triplet state of ferrocene. On the DFT side, our results confirm the non-universality problem with approximate functionals. The present study is an important step toward establishing an extensive and representative benchmark set of experiment-derived spin-state energetics for transition metal complexes.

Benchmarking quantum chemistry methods for spin-state energetics of iron complexes against quantitative experimental data.

The accuracy of relative spin-state energetics predicted by selected quantum chemistry methods: coupled cluster theory at the CCSD(T) level, multiconfigurational perturbation theory (CASPT2, NEVPT2), multireference configuration interaction at the MRCISD+Q level, and a number of DFT methods, is quantitatively evaluated by comparison with the experimental data of four octahedral iron complexes. The available experimental data, either spin-forbidden transition energies or spin crossover enthalpies, are corrected for relevant environmental effects in order to derive the quantitative benchmark set of iron spin-state energetics. Comparison of theory predictions with the resulting reference data: (1) validates the high accuracy of the CCSD(T) method, particularly when based on Kohn-Sham orbitals, giving the maximum error below 2 kcal mol-1 and the mean absolute error (MAE) below 1 kcal mol-1; (2) corroborates the tendency of CASPT2 to systematically overstabilize higher-spin states by up to 5.5 kcal mol-1; (3) confirms that the latter problem is partly remedied by the recently proposed CASPT2/CC approach [Phung et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput., 2018, 14, 2446-2455]; (4) demonstrates that NEVPT2 performs worse than CASPT2, by giving errors up to 7 kcal mol-1; (5) shows that the accuracy of MRCISD+Q spin-state energetics strongly depends on the size-consistency correction: the Davidson-Silver and Pople corrections perform best (MAE < 3 kcal mol-1), whereas the standard Davidson correction is not recommended (MAE of 7 kcal mol-1). Only a few DFT methods (including the best performing ones identified in this study: B2PLYP-D3 and OPBE) are able to provide a balanced description of the spin-state energetics for all four studied iron complexes simultaneously, corroborating the non-universality problem of approximate density functionals.

Spin States and Other Ligand-Field States of Aqua Complexes Revisited with Multireference ab Initio Calculations Including Solvation Effects.

High-level multireference (CASPT2, NEVPT2) calculations are reported for transition metal aqua complexes with electronic configurations from (3d)1 to (3d)8. We focus on the experimentally evidenced excitation energies to their various ligand-field states, including different spin states. By employing models accounting for both explicit and implicit solvation, we find that solvation effect may contribute up to 0.5 eV to the excitation energies depending on the charge of ion and character of the electronic transition. We further demonstrate that with an adequate choice of the active space and the energetics extrapolated to the complete basis set limit, the presently computed excitation energies are in a good agreement with the experimental data. This allows us to conclusively resolve significant discrepancies reported in earlier theory works [e.g., J. Phys. Chem. C 2014 , 118 , 29196 - 29208 ]. For the benchmark set of 19 spin-forbidden and 24 spin-allowed transitions (for which experimental data are unambiguous), we find the mean absolute error of 0.15 or 0.13 eV and the maximum error of 0.56 or 0.42 eV for CASPT2 or NEVPT2 calculations, respectively. For the particularly challenging sextet-quartet gap for [Fe(H2O)6]3+, we support our interpretation by additional calculations with multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) and coupled cluster theory up to the CCSDT(Q) level. By underlining a rather subtle interplay between the solvation and correlation effects, the findings of this Article are relevant not only for modeling and interpretation of optical spectra of transition metal complexes but also in further benchmarking of theoretical methods for the challenging problem of spin-state energetics.

Spin-State Energetics of Fe(III) and Ru(III) Aqua Complexes: Accurate ab Initio Calculations and Evidence for Huge Solvation Effects.

Aqua complexes of transition metals are useful models for understanding the electronic structure of metal-oxide species relevant in photocatalytic water splitting. Moreover, spin-forbidden d-d transitions of aqua complexes provide valuable experimental data of spin-state energetics, which can be used for benchmarking of computational methods. Here, low-energy spin states of Fe(III) and Ru(III) aqua complexes are studied with an array of DFT and high-level wave function methods (CASPT2, RASPT2, NEVPT2, CCSD(T)-F12, and other coupled cluster methods up to full CCSDT). The results from single-reference and multireference methods are cross-checked, and the amount of multireference character for both considered spin states of [Fe(H2O)6](3+) is carefully analyzed. In addition to small [M(H2O)6](3+) clusters (M = Fe, Ru), we also employ larger models [M(H2O)6·(H2O)12](3+), with explicit water molecules in the second coordination sphere, to describe the situation in aqueous solution. By comparing the results for both types of models, our calculations evidence large and systematic solvation effects on the spin-state energetics. It is found that, due to the interaction with hydrogen-bonded water molecules in the second coordination sphere, the first coordination sphere undergoes a noticeable contraction and deformation. In consequence, the presence of solvation shell affects the relative energies of spin states by as much as 3-4 × 10(3) cm(-1) (∼10 kcal/mol). Once this solvation effect is accounted for, the spin-state energetics from CCSD(T) and NEVPT2 calculations turn out to be in an excellent agreement with the experimental estimates, which was not the case for isolated [M(H2O)6](3+) species is gas phase. We thus postulate that significant discrepancies between theory and experimental data for [Fe(H2O)6](3+) that were previously reported in the literature may be plausibly resolved and attributed to the neglect of explicit solvation effects and also, to some extent, to incompleteness of the active space and/or basis set used in the previous theoretical studies. The findings of this work contradict an anecdotal conjecture that energies of ligand-field (d-d) transitions are almost unaffected by solvation. On the contrary, it is highlighted that medium effects may contribute very significantly to spin-state energetics of transition metal complexes.

Mechanism of O2 Activation by α-Ketoglutarate Dependent Oxygenases Revisited. A Quantum Chemical Study.

Four mechanisms previously proposed for dioxygen activation catalyzed by α-keto acid dependent oxygenases (α-KAO) were studied with dispersion-corrected DFT methods employing B3LYP and TPSSh functionals in combination with triple-ζ basis set (cc-pVTZ). The aim of this study was to revisit mechanisms suggested in the past decade and resolve remaining issues related to dioxygen activation. Mechanism A, which runs on the quintet potential energy surface (PES) and includes formation of an Fe(III)-superoxide radical anion complex, subsequent oxidative decarboxylation, and O-O bond cleavage, was found to be most likely. However, mechanism B taking place on the septet PES involves a rate limiting barrier comparable to the one found for mechanism A, and thus it cannot be excluded, though two other mechanisms (C and D) were ruled out. Mechanism C is a minor variation of mechanism A, whereas mechanism D proceeds through formation of a triplet Fe(IV)-alkyl peroxo bridged intermediate. The study covered also full optimization of relevant minimum energy crossing points (MECPs). The relative energy of critical intermediates was also studied with the CCSD(T) method in order to benchmark TPSSh and B3LYP functionals with respect to their credibility in predicting relative energies of septet and triplet spin states of the ternary enzyme-Fe-α-keto glutarate (α-KG)-O2 complex.

Ammonia-modified Co(II) sites in zeolites: spin and electron density redistribution through the Co(II)-NO bond.

Electronic factors essential for the bonding of a non-innocent NO ligand to ammonia-modified Co(2+) sites in cobalt-exchanged zeolites are examined for small cluster models using DFT and advanced correlated wave function calculations. The analysis of charge transfer processes between the NO ligand and the cobalt center involves two protocols: valence-bond expansion of the multiconfiguration CASSCF wave function (in terms of fragment-localized active orbitals) and spin-resolved natural orbitals for chemical valence (SR-NOCV). Applicability of SR-NOCV analysis to transition metal complexes involving non-innocent fragments is critically assessed and the approach based on the CASSCF wave function turns out to be much more robust and systematic for all studied models. It is shown that the character and direction of electron density redistribution through the Co-N-O bond, quantified by relative share of the Co(II)-NO(0), Co(III)-NO(-), and Co(I)-NO(+) resonance structures in the total wave function, fully rationalize the activation of the N-O bond upon NH3 co-ligation (evidenced by calculated and measured red-shift of the NO stretching frequency and commonly ascribed to enhanced backdonation). The huge red-shift of νN-O is attributed to an effective electron transfer between the ammonia-modified Co(ii) centers and the NO antibonding π*-orbitals (related to the increased share of the Co(III)-NO(-) form). Unexpectedly, the effect is stronger for the singlet complex with three NH3 ligands than for that with five NH3 ligands bound to the cobalt center. Our results also indicate that high-efficiency electron transfers between the Co(ii) center and the NO ligand may be enabled for the selected spin state and disabled for the other spin state of the adduct. This illustrates how the cobalt center may serve to fine-tune the electronic communication between the NO ligand and its binding site.

Role of Spin States in Nitric Oxide Binding to Cobalt(II) and Manganese(II) Porphyrins. Is Tighter Binding Always Stronger?

Binding of nitric oxide (NO) to metalloporphyrins and heme groups is important in biochemistry while challenging to describe accurately by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Here, the structural and thermochemical aspect of NO binding to Co(II) and Mn(II) porphyrins is investigated by DFT and DFT-D (dispersion-corrected) calculations, supported by reliable coupled-cluster methodology (CCSD(T)), and critically correlated with the experimental data. It is argued that whereas the bonding of NO to Co(II) porphyrin is a simple radical recombination, the bonding of NO to Mn(II) porphyrin is accompanied by a crossing of spin states. For this reason, the spin-state conversion energy contributes to the Mn-NO bond energy, and the paradigmatic correlation between bond length and bond energy is violated for the considered nitrosyl complexes: the Mn-NO bond is (structurally) shorter by ∼0.2 Å, albeit (energetically) weaker by a few kcal/mol, compared with the Co-NO bond. Moreover, none of the many tested DFT methods can reproduce the Co-NO and Mn-NO bond energies simultaneously, except for calculations with B3LYP*-D3, TPSSh-D3, and M06-D3 methods supplemented with the proposed spin-state energy correction (to compensate for an error on the calculated spin-state conversion energy). The results of this study are important to appreciate the role of spin-state changes in ligand binding properties of heme-related models. They also highlight the need for accurate calculations for correct interpretation of experimental data, including the qualitative structure-energy relationship.

How can [Mo(IV)(CN)6](2-), an apparently octahedral (d)(2) complex, be diamagnetic? Insights from quantum chemical calculations and magnetic susceptibility measurements.

Quantum chemical calculations are employed to elucidate the origin of a puzzling diamagnetism for a hexacyanomolybdate(IV) anion, [Mo(CN)6](2-), which was previously reported by Szklarzewicz et al. [Inorg. Chem., 2007, 46, 9531-9533]. The diamagnetism is surprising because for the octahedral (d)(2) complex one would rather expect a (paramagnetic) triplet ground state, clearly favored over a (diamagnetic) singlet state by an exchange interaction between two d electrons in the t2g orbitals. Nevertheless, the present calculations reveal that the minimum energy structure of isolated [Mo(CN)6](2-) is not an octahedron, but a trigonal prism; the latter geometry allows maximization of a σ-donation from the cyanides to the electron-deficient Mo(iv) center. Unlike for the octahedron, for the trigonal prism structure the singlet and triplet spin states are close in energy to within a few kcal mol(-1). Although the actual relative energy of the two spin states turns out to be method-dependent, the complete active space calculations (CASPT2; with the appropriate choice of the IPEA shift parameter) can reproduce the singlet ground state, in agreement with the experimentally observed diamagnetism. Moreover, magnetic measurements reveal a slight increase of the magnetic susceptibility with the increase of temperature from 100 to 300 K, suggesting an admixture of a thermally induced paramagnetism (possibly due to Boltzmann population of the low-energy triplet state) on top of the dominant diamagnetism. Our prediction that the geometry of [Mo(CN)6](2-) should significantly deviate from the ideal octahedron, not only in the gas phase, but also in a periodic DFT model of the crystalline phase, as well as the experimentally confirmed diamagnetic properties, does not agree with the previously reported ideal octahedral structure. We suggest that this crystal structure might have been determined incorrectly (e.g., due to overlooked merohedral twinning or superstructure properties) and it should be re-investigated.

Ammonia-modified Co(II) sites in zeolites: IR spectroscopy and spin-resolved charge transfer analysis of NO adsorption complexes.

IR spectroscopic studies and quantum chemical modeling (aided by the analysis of charge transfer processes between co-adsorbed ammonia and the Co(II)-NO adduct) evidence that donor ammonia molecules, ligated to extraframework Co(2+) centers in zeolites, vitally affect the strength of the N-O bond. Calculations indicate that versatility of ammine nitrosyl complexes, differing in the number of NH3 ligands as well as in the geometry and electronic structure of the Co-N-O unit (showing variable activation of NO) may co-exist in zeolite frameworks. However, only combined analysis of experimental and calculation results points to the adducts with three or five NH3 coligands as decisive. The novel finding concerning the interpretation of discussed IR spectra is the assignment of the most down-shifted bands at 1600-1615 cm(-1) to the N-O stretch in the singlet [Co(NH3)3(NO)](2+) adduct, in place of tentative ascription to pentaammine adducts. Theory indicates also that the Co(ii) center (with manifold of close-lying electronic and spin states) acts as a tunable electron donor where the spin state may open or close specific channels transferring electron density from the donor ligands (treated as the part of environment) to the NO molecule.

Revisiting the role of exact exchange in DFT spin-state energetics of transition metal complexes.

The effect of the exact exchange on the spin-state energetics of transition metal complexes is revisited with an attempt to clarify its origin and with regard to performance of DFT methods. Typically, by increasing an amount of the exact exchange in an exchange-correlation functional, higher spin states are strongly stabilized with respect to lower spin states. But this is not always the case, as revealed from the presented studies of heme and non-heme complexes, and of metal cations surrounded by point charges. It is argued that the sensitivity of the DFT spin-state energetics to the exact exchange admixture is rooted in the DFT description of the metal-ligand bonding rather than of the metal-centered exchange interactions. In the typical case, where transition from a lower spin state to a higher spin state involves an electron promotion from a nonbonding to an antibonding orbital, the lower spin state has a more delocalized charge distribution and contains a larger amount of nondynamical correlation energy than the higher spin state. However, DFT methods have problems with describing these two effects accurately. This interpretation allows us to explain why the exact exchange admixture has a much smaller effect on the energetics of spin transitions that involve only nonbonding d orbitals.

Nitric oxide as a non-innocent ligand in (bio-)inorganic complexes: spin and electron transfer in Fe(II)-NO bond.

The nature of electron density transfer upon bond formation between NO ligand and Fe(II) center is analyzed on the basis of DFT calculation for two {Fe-NO}(7) complexes with entirely diverse geometric and electronic structures: Fe(II)P(NH3)NO (with bent Fe-N-O unit) and [Fe(II)(H2O)5(NO)](2+) (with linear Fe-N-O structure). Proper identification of an electronic status of the fragments, "prepared" to make a bond, was found necessary to get meaningful resolution of charge and spin transfer processes from a spin-resolved analysis of natural orbitals for chemical valence. The Fe(II)P(NH3)NO adduct (built of NO(0) (S=1/2) and Fe(II)P(NH3) (S=0) fragments) showed a strong π*-backdonation competing with spin transfer via a σ-donation, yielding significant red-shift of the NO stretching frequency. [Fe(II)(H2O)5(NO)](2+) (built of NO(0) (S=1/2) antiferromagnetically coupled to Fe(II)(H2O)5 (S=2) fragment) gave no noticeable charge or spin transfer between fragments; a slight blue-shift of the NO stretching frequency could be related to a residual π-donation due to weak π-bonding.

Spin-State Energetics of Heme-Related Models from DFT and Coupled Cluster Calculations.

Spin-state energetics of metalloporphyrins and heme groups is elucidated by performing high-level coupled cluster calculations for their simplified mimics. An efficient computational protocol is proposed-based on the mix of extrapolation to complete basis set and explicitly correlated (F12) methodology-which retains the high accuracy of the CCSD(T) method at a cost that makes it applicable also to relatively large models, e.g., FeP and FeP(Cl) (P = porphin). Adequacy of CCSD(T) is supported by analysis of multireference character and comparison with the completely renormalized CR-CC(2,3) method. The high-level coupled cluster results are used for assessment of density functional theory (DFT) methods, for which an accurate description of the spin-state energetics is recognized as a major challenge. Although the DFT results are highly functional-dependent, it is shown that the spin-state energetics of a full heme model and its simplified mimic remain in a good linear correlation. This makes it possible to estimate the spin-state energetics of full heme models based on the accurate CCSD(T) results for their mimics, as illustrated for porphyrin complexes of Fe(II), Mn(II), and Co(II); pentacoordinate heme complexes of Fe(II) and Fe(III); and a ferryl heme model. Comparison with the available experimental data is also presented.

Autocatalytic cathodic dehalogenation triggered by dissociative electron transfer through a C-H···O hydrogen bond.

A combined action of the C-H···Oalkoxide hydrogen bonding and Cl···πpyrazolyl dispersive interactions facilitates intramolecular electron transfer (ET) in the transient {Mo(I)(NO)(Tp(Me2))(Oalkoxide)}˙(-)···HCCl3 adduct ([Tp(Me2)](-) = κ(3)-hydrotris(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)borate), setting off a radical autocatalytic process, eventually leading to chloroform degradation. In the voltammetric curve, this astonishingly fast process is seen as an almost vertical drop-down. The potential at which it occurs is favorably shifted by ca. 1 V in comparison with uncatalyzed reduction. As predicted by DFT calculations, crucial in the initial step is a close and prolonged contact between the electron donor (Mo(I) 4d-based SOMO) and acceptor (σ(*)(C-Cl)-based LUMO). This occurs owing to the exceptionally short (dH···O = 1.82 Å) and nearly linear C-H···Oalkoxide bonding, which is reflected by a large ΔνC-H red-shift of 380 cm(-1) and a noticeable reorganization of electronic density along the H-bond axis. The advantageous noncovalent interactions inside the cavity formed by two pyrazolyl (pz) rings are strengthened during the C-Cl bond elongation coupled with the ET, giving rise to possible transition state stabilization. After the initial period, the reaction proceeds as a series of consecutive alternating direct or Mo(II/I)-mediated electron and proton transfers. Alcohols inhibit the electrocatalysis by binding with the {Mo(I)-Oalkoxide}˙(-) active site, and olefins by trapping transient radicals. The proximity and stabilization effects, and competitive inhibition in the studied system may be viewed as analogous to those operating in enzymatic catalysis.

Mono- and dinitrosyls on copper(I) site in a zeolite model: effects of static correlation.

Multiconfigurational RASSCF/RASPT2 approach has been applied to investigate bonding of one and two nitric oxide (NO) molecules to a simple model of Cu(I) site in zeolite environment, Cu(I)[Al(OH)(4)]. Two binding modes were considered for the mononitrosyls and four alternative structures for the dinitrosyls (each one in either singlet or triplet state). Stabilities of the mono- and dinitrosyl complexes obtained from the multireference calculations were compared to the previously reported coupled cluster CCSD(T) results, as well as to DFT calculations performed here with various functionals, either hybrid or nonhybrid ones. RASSCF calculations provided also a qualitative insight into the electronic structure of the studied complexes, concerning mainly the interaction between the Cu and the NO ligand, and between the two NO fragments. Whereas the electronic structure of the mononitrosyls is dominated by a single configuration, the dinitrosyls have a considerably multireference character. Various effects of nondynamical correlation have been pointed out for these interesting species, trying to assess their impact on performance of the tested DFT methods.

Spin ground state and magnetic properties of cobalt(II): relativistic DFT calculations guided by EPR measurements of bis(2,4-acetylacetonate)cobalt(II)-based complexes.

The spin ground state of the core ion and structure of the bis(2,4-acetylacetonate)cobalt(II) model complex and its synthetic aqua and ethanol derivatives, Co(acac)(2)L(n), (L = EtOH, H(2)O), were examined by means of density functional theory (DFT) calculations supported by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements. Geometry optimizations were carried out for low-spin (doublet) and high-spin (quartet) states. For the Co(acac)(2) complex two possible conformations, a square-planar and a tetrahedral one, were taken into account. For all structures relative energies were calculated with both "pure" and hybrid functionals. The calculated data were complemented with the results of the EPR investigations carried out at liquid helium temperature, allowing for definite assignment of the high-spin state for the Co(acac)(2)(EtOH)(2) complex. However, because of the unresolved spectral features, only effective g-values could be assessed, whereas the zero-field splitting parameters (ZFS) were calculated by means of the spin-orbit mean field (SOMF) relativistic DFT method for which direct spin-spin (SS) and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) contributions were quantified.