Valence non-Lewis density as an approach to describe and measure aromaticity of organic and inorganic molecules.

Based on the linear combination of atomic orbital-molecular orbital by the natural bond orbitals (NBO) theory, the attractive donor-acceptor superposition interaction between filled (Lewis-type) and vacant (non-Lewis-type) orbitals provide a general mechanism for quantal energy lowering. This interaction has a direct impact on the quantity of the second-order stabilization energy. Therefore, the valence non-Lewis density (VNLD) index, the electron density of unoccupied valence nonbonding and antibonding orbitals, is introduced as an approach to describe and measure aromaticity. This index is based on the frontier orbital concept. To investigate the validity of the proposed aromaticity index, we selected several test sets of organic and inorganic molecules such as different ring sizes in cyclic and heterocyclic hydrocarbons, and all-metal and semimetal clusters, and compared our findings with previous aromaticity analysis. According to the results, VNLD values are well correlated and anticipated the order of aromaticity with the formerly introduced criteria. Furthermore, VNLD reveals that the rings with π-sextet electrons localized in a ring are more aromatic than the other rings, thus, it is in line with Clar's rule. Our proposed aromaticity index has advantages such as, easy to obtain from NBO analysis, and does not require reference molecules which made it more applicable for realizing the aromaticity order in many organic and inorganic compounds.

Fast and accurate procedure to perform SCF or DFT calculation for large molecules.

The roadblock on the way to perform the quantum mechanical calculation as the "SCF or DFT" method for some molecules such as drugs, biological molecules, and so on is that these molecules are too large to study. They need a computer with a large amount of system memory and a very fast CPU. Therefore, we are looking for an entirely quantum-mechanical procedure to study the electronic properties of a large molecule with considerable saving computational time and acceptable accuracy. This procedure is based on searching for the active parts of a molecule, which are essentially HOMO and LUMO parts and their surroundings, and is called truncated molecule (TM) in this manuscript. To this end, at first, this procedure is inspected for Mn-complex, due to the availability of its experimental UV spectra. The calculation of the UV spectrum for TM part of Mn-complex shows λmax = 355.64 nm, while experimental UV spectra is λmax = 334.31 nm, and the corresponding theoretical value for the original molecule reveals λmax = 346.99 nm. The CPU time for the original molecule is 448,045 s that is reduced to 101,555 s for TM with acceptable accuracy (the CPU ratio is 4.41). Furthermore, this procedure is also tested for one of the sequences of A-chain of insulin, Docetaxel (drug molecule), and Taxol (drug molecule); the acceptable resemblance between UV spectra of the original and TM molecule is obtained. The computational time is reduced with a ratio of 3.59, 2.44, and 1.69, respectively.

Total non-lewis structures: An application to predict the stability and reactivity of linear and angular polyacenes.

In the present work, the total non-Lewis structure (TNLS) is introduced for describing the stability and reactivity of linear and angular polyacenes. TNLS of a molecule is derived from the natural bond orbital theory representing the antibonding orbitals and/or electron delocalization of π∗ orbitals. To verify this application, we obtained the TNLS values of thirteen linear and angular polyacenes and evaluated with other quantitative aromaticity probes based on reactivities, energetics, geometrics, and magnetic properties. Our results show that there is a remarkable second-order polynomial correlation between TNLS and seven popular global measures of aromaticity including hardness, resonance energy, aromatic stabilization energy, harmonic oscillator measure of aromaticity, magnetic susceptibility exaltation, global magnetic characteristics, and mean polarizability. By increasing the TNLS values of the systems the reactivity increases and stability decreases. It is worth mentioning that the angular polyacenes produce less TNLS values than the linear systems with the same number of benzene rings. Therefore, it can be stated that TNLS values confirmed with Clar's rule which in general prove the angular polyacenes are more stable than linear ones.

An electronic properties investigation to interpret the substituent constants of monosubstituted benzene derivatives.

In the present work, the π and π∗-electronic nature of substitution constants (σ) of the twenty-two monosubstituted benzene derivatives (MSBDs) are estimated in terms of the para-delocalization index (PDI) and total non-Lewis structure (TNLS), respectively. Since these compounds are aromatic, the other descriptors of aromaticity such as nuclear independent chemical shifts and aromatic stabilization energy have been examined. Because of no considerable variation for the π and π∗-electron delocalization in the ring systems, a very weak correlation has been demonstrated between all aromaticity indices. Also, none of these descriptors has a linear correlation with the values of σ for both electron-donating groups (EDGs) and electron-withdrawing groups (EWGs) in a simultaneous relationship. We now propose the usage of the dipole moments values of molecules, considering their directions, by multiplying the PDI and TNLS values as probes to interpret σ values for benzene and MSBDs since the dipole moment can affect the π and π∗-electron delocalization. It is interesting to note that there is a remarkable linear correlation between our suggested probes, ±µPDI and ±µTNLS, and σp, σm, and σ+/σ- for EDGs and EWGs in simultaneous linear relationships. Also, these probes have a relative relationship with Kirkwood and Westheimer equation. Additionally, the regression coefficient between ±µPDI and ±µTNLS is 0.989.

Introducing nano-particle-type properties of Tin (n=2-6) clusters.

In the present research titanium clusters, Tin (n = 2-6), are studied to highlight their tendency to present nano-particle-type properties as their size grows. Electronic and geometrical structures of clusters and cluster-ligands complexes are obtained at the PBE/QZVP level of theory after density functional theory (DFT) calibration. The correlation between chemical reactivity (hardness) and conductivity with nano-particle-type properties are introduced. Interaction energies of these clusters with N2 and C2H4 ligands are calculated to provide essential information regarding the ascending trend of reactivity as the size of cluster increases. For reactivity, the correlation between the hardness values of titanium clusters and interaction energies are found to be R2 = 0.972 for dissociative adsorption. In addition, the correlation between non-Lewis of pure titanium clusters and size of clusters is R2 = 0.973. For conductivity, the obtained correlation between HOMO-LUMO gap values and the cluster size is R2 = 0.881.

DFT study of the chlorine promotion effect on the ethylene adsorption over iron clusters.

This work explores how electronic perturbations induced by chlorine atoms can enhance the activity of iron toward ethylene. The metal clusters include Fen (n=2-4), in which each adatom (Cl) has an inclination to be adsorbed at the bridge site with electrostatic interaction. Ethylene adsorption over pure and chlorine-doped FenClm (n,m≤4) clusters is analyzed using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, in π and di-σ adsorption modes. One of the interesting features is that the adsorption mode of ethylene changes by going from trimers to tetramers. Ethylene never orients toward di-σ mode for FeFe bond in Fe2 and Fe3 series, while this orientation is preferred in tetramers. Our results demonstrate that the progressive change in the ethylene adsorption could not be sustained with increasing portion of chlorine in metal cluster. In this study, we attempt to provide a sensible justification for this phenomenon by the natural bond orbital (NBO) and quantum theory of atoms-in-molecules (QTAIM) analyses.

The electronic structures of small Ni(n) (n=2-4) clusters and their interactions with ethylene and triplet oxygen: a theoretical study.

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of small nickel clusters and their interacting systems are carried out using the BLYP and B97-2 methods, after DFT calibration. All bare nickel clusters in this study have high multiplicities and are paramagnetic. Our results for the interactions between ethylene and oxygen with Ni(n) (n=2-4) clusters at different adsorption modes show that for ethylene, π-orientation is preferred, and that oxygen adsorption in a bridge mode is stronger than on-top coordination. Vibrational frequency analysis reveals that the vibrational modes of ethylene π-coordinated to nickel clusters converge toward the corresponding value for surface-bound ethylene, as the cluster size increases from two to four, showing that finite clusters can be used as localized models for ligand adsorption on nickel surfaces. We also calculate DFT global reactivity descriptors, chemical potential and hardness, and use these to predict the relative stability and reactivity of each bare cluster.

Deformation density and energy decomposition to describe interactions between (η5-C5H5)M and highly reactive molecules C4H4 and (C3H3)-.

Using DFT calculations, an energy decomposition analysis (EDA) combined with natural orbitals for chemical valence (NOCV), EDA-NOCV approach was used to describe the nature of the interaction between η5-cyclopentadienyl metal complexes (η5-C5H5)M, with M=Co, Rh, and cyclobutadiene (Cb) and cyclopropenyl anion (C3H3)- molecules, which are highly reactive molecules in their free state. EDA-NOCV draws a covalent picture for these interactions. With this interpretation of interactions, the character of aromaticity could be the result of the delocalization of six electrons in π orbitals of the (η5-C5H5)M fragment and Cb/C3H3(-1) ligand. This description of the bonding interaction might also justify the experimental observation that, in complexes of CpM-Cb (M=Co, Rh), the viability of the Friedel-Crafts acylation and other electrophilic substitutions on the four-membered ring is greater than that of the five-membered ring.

Influence of copper substitution on the interaction of ethylene over iron clusters: a theoretical study.

We report the results of density functional theory (DFT) calculations of ethylene adsorption over the most stable pure and bimetallic clusters of Fe(n)Cu(m) (2 ≤ m+n ≤ 4), in two adsorption modes of π and di-σ. Our results show that the quality of interaction of ethylene with iron center in bimetallic clusters of iron-copper is characteristically different from what is found over pure iron. Over the range of our studies for dimers, trimers, and tetramers, whether for π or di-σ mode, alloying iron clusters results in a substantial improvement in adsorption of ethylene over cluster and exhibits a notable increase in binding and interaction energies compared with pure iron clusters. One of the interesting features of this adsorption is that ethylene never orients toward di-σ mode for Cu-Cu or Fe-Cu bonds, and π orientation is strongly preferred. Ethylene adsorption in di-σ coordination is accompanied by the sever restructuring, larger deformation energy, and the larger interaction energy. In the next part, we answer this question of how electronic perturbations induced by copper atoms can enhance the activity of iron toward ethylene. This interpretation is done within the framework of natural bond orbital (NBO) and natural resonance theory (NRT) analyses. Different reaction pathways detected by NRT analysis (donor-acceptor, metallacyclic, and carbanion) reveal interesting aspects of differences between the nature of metal-alkene coordination in bimetallic and purely metallic clusters.

Oxidative addition of n-alkyl halides to diimine-dialkylplatinum(II) complexes: a closer look at the kinetic behaviors.

The n-alkyl halides, RX, were oxidatively added to the platina(II)cyclopentane complexes [Pt[(CH2)4](NN)], in which NN = bpy (2,2'-bipyridyl) or phen (1,10-phenanthroline), to give the platinum(IV) complexes [PtRX[(CH2)4](NN)], R = Et and X = Br or I; R = nBu and X = I, 1-3. The same reactions with the analogous dimethyl complex [PtMe2(bpy)] gave the expected platinum(IV) complexes [PtRXMe2(bpy)], R = Et or nPr and X = Br or I; R = nBu and X = I, 4-8. Kinetics of the reactions in benzene and acetone was studied using UV-vis spectrophotometery and a common S(N)2 mechanism was suggested for each case. The platina(ii)cyclopentane complexes reacted faster than the corresponding dimethyl analogs by a factor of 2-3. This is described as being due to a lower positive charge, calculated by density functional theory (DFT), on the platinum atom of [Pt[(CH)2)4](bpy)] compared with that on the platinum atom of the dimethyl analog [PtMe2(bpy)]. The values of DeltaDeltaS(double dagger) = DeltaS(double dagger)(acetone) - DeltaS(double dagger)(benzene) were found to be either positive or negative in different reactions and this is related to the solvation of the corresponding alkyl halide. It is suggested that in these reactions of RX reagents, for a given X, the electronic effects of the R group are mainly responsible for the change in the rates of the reactions and the bulkiness of the group is far less important.