Melting of "non-magic" argon clusters and extrapolation to the bulk limit.

The melting of argon clusters ArN is investigated by applying a parallel-tempering Monte Carlo algorithm for all cluster sizes in the range from 55 to 309 atoms. Extrapolation to the bulk gives a melting temperature of 85.9 K in good agreement with the previous value of 88.9 K using only Mackay icosahedral clusters for the extrapolation [E. Pahl, F. Calvo, L. Koci, and P. Schwerdtfeger, "Accurate melting temperatures for neon and argon from ab initio Monte Carlo simulations," Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 47, 8207 (2008)]. Our results for argon demonstrate that for the extrapolation to the bulk one does not have to restrict to magic number cluster sizes in order to obtain good estimates for the bulk melting temperature. However, the extrapolation to the bulk remains a problem, especially for the systematic selection of suitable cluster sizes.

Communication: Ab initio Joule-Thomson inversion data for argon.

The Joule-Thomson coefficient µ(H)(P, T) is computed from the virial equation of state up to seventh-order for argon obtained from accurate ab initio data. Higher-order corrections become increasingly more important to fit the low-temperature and low-pressure regime and to avoid the early onset of divergence in the Joule-Thomson inversion curve. Good agreement with experiment is obtained for temperatures T > 250 K. The results also illustrate the limitations of the virial equation in regions close to the critical temperature.

Sensitivity of the thermal and acoustic virial coefficients of argon to the argon interaction potential.

Second, third, and fourth thermal and acoustic virial coefficients between 100 and 1000 K are computed for different argon interaction models derived from combinations of accurate two- and three-body potentials. Differences between the various interaction models tested mirror the presumed order in the accuracy of these models, but are not well captured at the level of the lowest-order contributions in the virial expansion: While the second- and third-order virial coefficients are found to be rather insensitive to small variations in the two- and three-body potentials, more pronounced differences in higher-order coefficients are currently of limited use in assessing the accuracy of the interaction potential due to difficulties in the unambiguous experimental determination of these higher-order coefficients. In contrast, pressure-volume and speed-of-sound data--both of which are experimentally known to highest accuracies--are found to be insensitive to small variations in the interaction model. All but the least accurate models reproduce experimental pressure-volume and speed-of-sound data near-quantitatively in regions where the (fourth-order) virial expansions apply. All quantities considered are found to be completely unaffected by a non-vanishing quadruple-dipole four-body potential.

Up to fourth virial coefficients from simple and efficient internal-coordinate sampling: application to neon.

A simple and efficient internal-coordinate importance sampling protocol for the Monte Carlo computation of (up to fourth-order) virial coefficients ̅B(n) of atomic systems is proposed. The key feature is a multivariate sampling distribution that mimics the product structure of the dominating pairwise-additive parts of the ̅B(n). This scheme is shown to be competitive over routine numerical methods and, as a proof of principle, applied to neon: The second, third, and fourth virial coefficients of neon as well as equation-of-state data are computed from ab initio two- and three-body potentials; four-body contributions are found to be insignificant. Kirkwood-Wigner quantum corrections to first order are found to be crucial to the observed agreement with recent ab initio and experimental reference data sets but are likely inadequate at very low temperatures.

Computational study of lanthanide(III) hydration.

Lanthanide(iii) hydration was studied by utilizing density-functional theory and second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory combined with scalar-relativistic 4f-in-core pseudopotentials and valence-only basis sets for the Ln(iii) ions. For [Ln(iii)(H(2)O)(h)](3+) (h = 7, 8, 9) and [Ln(iii)(H(2)O)(h-1)·H(2)O](3+) (h = 8, 9) molecular structures, binding energies, entropies and energies of hydration as well as Gibbs free energies of hydration were calculated using (8s7p6d3f2g)/[6s5p5d3f2g] basis sets for Ln(iii) and aug-cc-pV(D,T)Z basis sets for O and H in combination with the COSMO solvation model. At the generalized gradient approximation level of density-functional theory a preferred hydration number of 8 is found for La(iii)-Tm(iii) and 7 for Yb(iii)-Lu(iii), whereas hybrid density-functional theory predicts a hydration number 8 for all Ln(iii). At the SCS-MP2 level of theory the preferred hydration number is found to be 9 for La(iii)-Sm(iii) and 8 for Eu(iii)-Lu(iii) in good agreement with experimental evidence.

Combined computational and experimental study of uranyl(VI) 1:2 complexation by aromatic acids.

The bis(salicylhydroxamato) and bis(benzohydroxamato) complexes of UO(2)(2+) in aqueous solution have been investigated in a combined experimental and computational effort using extended X-ray absorption fine structure and UV-vis spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) techniques, respectively. The experimentally unknown bis(benzoate) complex of UO(2)(2+) was investigated computationally for comparison. Experimental data indicate 5-fold UO(2)(2+) coordination with mean equatorial U-O distances of 2.42 and 2.40 A for the salicyl- and benzohydroxamate systems, respectively. DFT calculations on microsolvated model systems [UO(2)L(2)OH(2)] indicate UO(2)(2+) eta(2)-chelation via the hydroxamate oxygen atoms in excellent agreement with experimental data; calculated complex stabilities support that UO(2)(2+) prefers hydroxamate over carboxylate coordination. The 414 nm absorption band of UO(2)(2+) in aqueous solution is blue-shifted to 390 and 386 nm upon complexation by salicyl- and benzohydroxamate, respectively. Calculated time-dependent DFT excitation energies of [UO(2)L(2)OH(2)], however, occasionally fail to reproduce accurately experimental UV-vis spectra, which are dominated by UO(2)(2+) <-- L(-) charge-transfer contributions. We additionally show that the U(VI) large-core pseudopotential approximation recently developed by some of the authors can routinely be applied for electronic structure calculations not involving uranium 5f occupations significantly different from U(VI).

Complexation of uranium(VI) with aromatic acids in aqueous solution: a combined computational and experimental study.

The complexes of uranium(VI) with salicylhydroxamate, benzohydroxamate, and benzoate have been investigated in a combined computational and experimental study using density functional theory methods and extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, respectively. The calculated molecular structures, relative stabilities, as well as excitation spectra from time-dependent density functional theory calculations are in good agreement with experimental data. Furthermore, these calculations allow the identification of the coordinating atoms in the uranium(VI)-salicylhydroxamate complex, i.e. salicylhydroxamate binds to the uranyl ion via the hydroxamic acid oxygen atoms and not via the phenolic oxygen and the nitrogen atom. Carefully addressing solvation effects has been found to be necessary to bring in line computational and experimental structures, as well as excitation spectra.