Toward deformation densities for intramolecular interactions without radical reference states using the fragment, atom, localized, delocalized, and interatomic (FALDI) charge density decomposition scheme

DFT Study of the Adsorption and SERS of Pyridine on M10N10 (M, N = Cu, Ag) Tetrahedral Clusters

This work presents a theoretical detailed analysis of the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of the pyridine-M10N10 (M, N = Ag, Cu) tetrahedral (Td) clusters considering two binding positions: vertex (V) and surface (S). In addition to the well-known monometallic Td structure, we added two different bimetallic Ag-Cu compositions, named Td1 and Td2 geometries. Density functional methodology with the use of BP86 and CAM-B3LYP exchange-correlation functionals (XCs) and LANL2DZ pseudopotential has been employed for analyzing the electronic structure and geometries, the chemical static (CHEM), and resonant Raman mechanisms (RR): charge transfer RR-CT and intracluster excitation RR-CR. The static CHEM mechanism shows an increase in the enhancement factors (EFs) of Py-V concerning Py-S positions, which can also be distinguished by the averaged adsorption energies and bond polarizabilities. The static SERS response for Cu-Py-V junction is from 5 to 10 times greater than Ag-Py-V EFs and up to 28 times greater than Py-S complexes. For the static Raman, we found that the analyses of ν8a and ν1 normal modes are related to the EF changes and allow us to distinguish V from S complexes. The TDDFT calculations show striking differences between BP86 and CAM-B3LYP XCs analyzed spectra, and CAM-B3LYP granted a clear distinction between V and S for the location of CT-type transitions. In addition, important differences were obtained from the analysis of the charge transfer excitations between both XCs. Resonant Raman calculations evidenced significant enhancements for RR-CT and RR-CR as compared to the static enhancements, and RR-CT can be distinguished from the RR-CR mechanism, while specific normal modes help to differentiate the vertex from the surface Py-junction. Bimetallic Ag-Cu nanostructures represent promising choices for SERS substrates, showing EFs higher than those of monometallic Ag.

On the question of steric repulsion versus noncovalent attractive interactions in chiral phosphoric acid catalyzed asymmetric reactions

The origin of enantioselectivity in asymmetric catalysis is often built around the differential steric interaction in the enantiocontrolling transition states (TSs). A closer perusal of enantiocontrolling TSs in an increasingly diverse range of reactions has revealed that the cumulative effect of weak noncovalent interactions could even outweigh the steric effects. While enunciating this balance is conspicuously important, quantification of such intramolecular forces within a TS continues to remain scarce and challenging. Herein, we demonstrate the utility of the fragment molecular orbital method in establishing the relative contributions of various attractive and repulsive contributions in the total interaction energy between the suitably chosen fragments in enantiocontrolling TSs. Three types of reactions of high contemporary importance, namely, axially chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) catalyzed kinetic resolution of rac-α-methyl-γ-hydroxy ester (reaction I), asymmetric dearomative amination of β-naphthols by dimethyl azodicarboxylate (IIa and IIb), and intramolecular desymmetrization of β,β-disubstituted methyl oxetanes (IIIa) and hydroxyl oxetane (IIIb), bearing a tethered alcohol (-OCH₂CH₂OH or -(CH₂)₂CH₂OH), are considered. In all the five reactions, the differences in the stabilizing contributions arising due to electrostatic, charge-transfer, and dispersion interactions between the catalyst and the reacting partners in the enantiocontrolling transition states are weighed against the destabilizing exchange interaction. The balancing interactions are found to be between dispersion and exchange repulsion in reaction I, a combination of charge transfer and dispersion energies offsets the repulsive energy in reaction IIb involving the electron rich anthryl groups in the catalyst, whereas the -(CF₃)₂C₆H₄ 3,3'-substituent in the catalyst (reaction IIa) leads to a trade-off between dispersion and exchange energies. In reactions IIIa and IIIb, however, electrostatic and dispersion energies help compensate the repulsive interactions. These quantitative insights on the intramolecular interactions in the stereocontrolling TSs could help in the rational design of asymmetric catalysis.

The CH···HC interaction in biphenyl is a delocalized, molecular-wide and entirely non-classical interaction: Results from FALDI analysis

In this study we aim to determine the origin of the electron density describing a CH···HC interaction in planar and twisted conformers of biphenyl. In order to achieve this, the fragment, atomic, localized, delocalized, intra- and inter-atomic (FALDI) decomposition scheme was utilized to decompose the density in the inter-nuclear region between the ortho-hydrogens in both conformers. Importantly, the structural integrity, hence also topological properties, were fully preserved as no 'artificial' partitioning of molecules was implemented. FALDI-based qualitative and quantitative analysis revealed that the majority of electron density arises from two, non-classical and non-local effects: strong overlap of ortho CH σ-bonds, and long-range electron delocalization between the phenyl rings and ortho carbons and hydrogens. These effects resulted in a delocalized electron channel, that is, a density bridge or a bond path in a QTAIM terminology, linking the H-atoms in the planar conformer. The same effects and phenomena are present in both conformers of biphenyl. We show that the CH···HC interaction is a molecular-wide event due to large and long-range electron delocalization, and caution against approaches that investigate CH···HC interactions without fully taking into account the remainder of the molecule.

Characterization of bonding modes in metal complexes through electron density cross-sections

Qualitative inspection of molecular orbitals (MOs) remains one of the most popular analysis tools used to describe the electronic structure and bonding properties of transition metal complexes. In symmetric coordination complexes, the use of group theory and the symmetry-adapted linear combination (SALC) of fragment orbitals allows for a very accurate and informative interpretation of MOs, but the same procedure cannot be performed for asymmetric complexes, such as Schrock and Fischer carbenes. In this work, we present a straight-forward approach for classifying and quantifying MO contributions to a particular metal-ligand interaction. Our approach utilizes the topology of MO density contributions to a cross-section of an inter-nuclear region, and is computationally inexpensive and applicable to symmetric and asymmetric complexes alike. We also apply the same approach with similar decompositions using Natural Bond Orbitals (NBO) and the recently developed Fragment, Atomic, Localized, Delocalized and Interatomic (FALDI) density decomposition scheme. In particular, FALDI analysis provides additional insights regarding the multi-centric nature of metal-carbene bonds without resorting to expensive multi-reference calculations.

Comparison of DAFH and FALDI-like approaches

Two complementary methodologies for extracting useful insights into electronic structure and bonding from contemporary wavefunctions are compared. The first of these, known as the analysis of domain-averaged Fermi holes (DAFH), mostly provides visually appealing descriptions of the role and the extent of electron sharing in chemical bonding. The second one, known as the fragment, atom, localized, delocalized and interatomic (FALDI) charge density decomposition scheme, uses the partitioning of certain localization and delocalization indices to focus on highly visual contributions associated with individual domains and with pairs of domains, respectively. Four variants of a FALDI-like approach are investigated here in some detail, mostly to establish which of them are the most reliable and the most informative. In addition to ‘full’ calculations that use the correlated pair density, the consequences for the DAFH and FALDI-like procedures of using instead a popular one-electron approximation are explored. Additionally, the geometry dependence of the degree of acceptability of the errors that this introduces for delocalization indices is assessed for different formal bond multiplicities. The familiar molecular test systems employed for these various linked investigations are the breaking of the bonds in H2 and in N2, as well as the nature of the bonding in B2H6, as a simple example of multicenter bonding. One of the key outcomes of this study is a clear understanding of how DAFH analysis and a particular variant of FALDI-like analysis could be most profitably deployed to extract complementary insights into more complex and/or controversial bonding situations.

Origin of Hydrocarbons Stability from a Computational Perspective: A Case Study of Ortho-Xylene Isomers

It is shown herein that intuitive and text-book steric-clash based interpretation of the higher energy "in-in" xylene isomer (as arising solely from the repulsive CH⋅⋅⋅HC contact) with respect to the corresponding global-minimum "out-out" configuration (where the clashing C-H bonds are tilted out) is misleading. It is demonstrated that the two hydrogen atoms engaged in the CH⋅⋅⋅HC contact in "in-in" are involved in attractive interaction so they cannot explain the lower stability of this isomer. We have proven, based on the arsenal of modern bonding descriptors (EDDB, HOMA, NICS, FALDI, ETS-NOCV, DAFH, FAMSEC, IQA), that in order to understand the relative stability of "in-in" versus "out-out" xylenes isomers one must consider the changes in the electronic structure encompassing the entire molecules as arising from the cooperative action of hyperconjugation, aromaticity and unintuitive London dispersion plus charge delocalization based intra-molecular CH⋅⋅⋅HC interactions.

FALDI-based criterion for and the origin of an electron density bridge with an associated (3,-1) critical point on Bader's molecular graph

The total electron density (ED) along the λ₂ -eigenvector is decomposed into contributions which either facilitate or hinder the presence of an electron density bridge (DB, often called an atomic interaction line or a bond path). Our FALDI-based approach explains a DB presence as a result of a dominating rate of change of facilitating factors relative to the rate of change of hindering factors; a novel and universal criterion for a DB presence is, thus, proposed. Importantly, facilitating factors show, in absolute terms, a concentration of ED in the internuclear region as commonly observed for most chemical bonds, whereas hindering factors show a depletion of ED in the internuclear region. We test our approach on four intramolecular interactions, namely (i) an attractive classical H-bond, (ii) a repulsive O⋅⋅⋅O interaction, (iii) an attractive Cl⋅⋅⋅Cl interaction, and (iv) an attractive CH⋅⋅⋅HC interaction. (Dis)appearance of a DB is (i) shown to be due to a "small" change in molecular environment and (ii) qualitatively and quantitatively linked with specific atoms and atom-pairs. The protocol described is equally applicable (a) to any internuclear region, (b) regardless of what kind of interaction (attractive/repulsive) atoms are involved in, (c) at any level of theory used to compute the molecular structure and corresponding wavefunction, and (d) equilibrium or nonequilibrium structures. Finally, we argue for a paradigm shift in the description of chemical interactions, from the ED perspective, in favor of a multicenter rather than diatomic approach in interpreting ED distributions in internuclear regions. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.