New method to study spin-spin coupling constants involving heavy nuclei at the MNDO-RPA level with localized orbitals

The analysis of NMR J-couplings of saturated and unsaturated compounds by the localized second order polarization propagator approach method

Calculations of NMR J-coupling with polarization propagators are not invariant under unitary transformations at second order level of approach, second order polarization propagator approach (SOPPA). They are only invariant at first order or random phase level of approach (RPA). We performed "localized" SOPPA (Loc-SOPPA), calculations of J-couplings applying two different schemes for the localization of molecular orbitals(LMO): Foster-Boys and Pipek-Mezey. We show here that results of such Loc-SOPPA calculations are different though not much: they are less than 6% different in the worst case. Therefore it is possible to apply them with confidence in the analysis of the transmission of different coupling mechanisms within the molecule. We are able now to get reliable information on what LMOs are the most important (and so which are not important) for a given J-coupling in a molecule. This information can then be used for selecting which are the paths that should be described with the highest possible accuracy for that J-coupling calculation. A few unsaturated compounds are analyzed: ethene, trans-difluoroethene or DiF-ethene, and imine. It is shown that different lone pairs (of p(z) or p(x/y) type) are responsible for the vicinal F-F J-coupling in DiF-ethene; and also the fact that the main LP contributor is not the same for the fermi contact and the spin-dipolar mechanisms. We also studied phosphorous containing compounds such as phosphine and cis-propylene phosphine. In both cases the analysis of the main LMO contributing to one-bond P-H coupling and through-space P-C coupling were performed. The above mentioned unsaturated molecular systems have quasiinstability problems that arise at RPA level of approach. We show here that they are mostly originated in the antibonding π∗ LMO, corresponding to the C=C or C=N double bonds. We performed the analysis of the origin of quasiinstabilities for the SD mechanism. The contribution of each kind of excitation terms to SOPPA calculations were considered, meaning the main contributions by single and double excitations. It is shown that one can get more than 97% of the total electron correlation contribution when including terms that mainly contain single excitations (though double-excitation matrix elements should still be calculated).

Relativistic effects on the nuclear magnetic shieldings of rare-gas atoms and halogen in hydrogen halides within relativistic polarization propagator theory

In this work an analysis of the electronic origin of relativistic effects on the isotropic dia- and paramagnetic contributions to the nuclear magnetic shielding sigma(X) for noble gases and heavy atoms of hydrogen halides is presented. All results were obtained within the 4-component polarization propagator formalism at different level of approach [random-phase approximation (RPA) and pure zeroth-order approximation (PZOA)], by using a local version of the DIRAC code. From the fact that calculations of diamagnetic contributions to sigma within RPA and PZOA approaches for HX(X=Br,I,At) and rare-gas atoms are quite close each to other and the finding that the diamagnetic part of the principal propagator at the PZOA level can be developed as a series [S(Delta)], it was found that there is a branch of negative-energy "virtual" excitations that contribute with more than 98% of the total diamagnetic value even for the heavier elements, namely, Xe, Rn, I, and At. It contains virtual negative-energy molecular-orbital states with energies between -2 mc2 and -4 mc2. This fact can explain the excellent performance of the linear response elimination of small component (LR-ESC) scheme for elements up to the fifth row in the Periodic Table. An analysis of the convergency of S(Delta) and its physical implications is given. It is also shown that the total contribution to relativistic effects of the innermost orbital (1s1/2) is by far the largest. For the paramagnetic contributions results at the RPA and PZOA approximations are similar only for rare-gas atoms. On the other hand, if the mass-correction contributions to sigma(p) are expressed in terms of atomic orbitals, a different pattern is found for 1s1/2 orbital contributions compared with all other s-type orbitals when the whole set of rare-gas atoms is considered.