Observation of the rotational spectra of CuI and AgI molecules generated by laser ablation in a pulsed-jet, Fourier-transform microwave spectrometer

H3PAgI: generation by laser-ablation and characterization by rotational spectroscopy and ab initio calculations

The new compound H3PAgI has been synthesized in the gas phase by means of the reaction of laser-ablated silver metal with a pulse of gas consisting of a dilute mixture of ICF3 and PH3 in argon. Ground-state rotational spectra were detected and assigned for the two isotopologues H3P(107)AgI and H3P(109)AgI in their natural abundance by means of a chirped-pulse, Fourier-transform, microwave spectrometer. Both isotopologues exhibit rotational spectra of the symmetric-top type, analysis of which led to accurate values of the rotational constant B0, the quartic centrifugal distortion constants DJ and DJK, and the iodine nuclear quadrupole coupling constant χaa(I) = eQqaa. Ab initio calculations at the explicitly-correlated level of theory CCSD(T)(F12*)/aug-cc-pVDZ confirmed that the atoms PAg-I lie on the C3 axis in that order. The experimental rotational constants were interpreted to give the bond lengths r0(PAg) = 2.3488(20) Å and r0(Ag-I) = 2.5483(1) Å, in good agreement with the equilibrium lengths of 2.3387 Å and 2.5537 Å, respectively, obtained in the ab initio calculations. Measures of the strength of the interaction of PH3 and AgI (the dissociation energy De for the process H3PAgI = H3P + AgI and the intermolecular stretching force constant FPAg) are presented and are interpreted to show that the order of binding strength is H3PHI < H3PICl < H3PAgI for these metal-bonded molecules and their halogen-bonded and hydrogen-bonded analogues.

Gas phase complexes of H3N⋯CuF and H3N⋯CuI studied by rotational spectroscopy and ab initio calculations: the effect of X (X = F, Cl, Br, I) in OC⋯CuX and H3N⋯CuX

Complexes of H₃N⋯CuF and H₃N⋯CuI have been synthesised in the gas phase and characterized by microwave spectroscopy.

The pure rotational spectra of the open-shell diatomic molecules PbI and SnI

Pure rotational spectra of the ground electronic states of lead monoiodide and tin monoiodide have been measured using a chirped pulsed Fourier transform microwave spectrometer over the 7-18.5 GHz region for the first time. Each of PbI and SnI has a X (2)Π1/2 ground electronic state and may have a hyperfine structure that aids the determination of the electron electric dipole moment. For each species, pure rotational transitions of a number of different isotopologues and their excited vibrational states have been assigned and fitted. A multi-isotopologue Dunham-type analysis was carried out on both species producing values for Y01, Y02, Y11, and Y21, along with Λ-doubling constants, magnetic hyperfine constants and nuclear quadrupole coupling constants. The Born-Oppenheimer breakdown parameters for Pb have been evaluated and the parameter rationalized in terms of finite nuclear field effects. Analysis of the bond lengths and hyperfine interaction indicates that the bonding in both PbI and SnI is ionic in nature. Equilibrium bond lengths have been evaluated for both species.

The nuclear electric quadrupole moment of copper

The nuclear electric quadrupole moment (NQM) of the (63)Cu nucleus was determined from an indirect approach by combining accurate experimental nuclear quadrupole coupling constants (NQCCs) with relativistic Dirac-Coulomb coupled cluster calculations of the electric field gradient (EFG). The data obtained at the highest level of calculation, DC-CCSD-T, from 14 linear molecules containing the copper atom give rise to an indicated NQM of -198(10) mbarn. Such result slightly deviates from the previously accepted standard value given by the muonic method, -220(15) mbarn, although the error bars are superimposed.

Does a Molecule-Specific Density Functional Give an Accurate Electron Density? The Challenging Case of the CuCl Electric Field Gradient

In the framework of determining system-specific long-range corrected density functionals, the question is addressed whether such functionals, tuned to satisfy the condition -ε(HOMO) = IP or other energetic criteria, provide accurate electron densities. A nonempirical physically motivated two-dimensional tuning of range-separated hybrid functionals is proposed and applied to the particularly challenging case of a molecular property that depends directly on the ground-state density: the copper electric field gradient (EFG) in CuCl. From a continuous range of functional parametrizations that closely satisfy -ε(HOMO) = IP and the correct asymptotic behavior of the potential, the one that best fulfills the straight-line behavior of E(N), the energy as a function of a fractional electron number N, was found to provide the most accurate electron density as evidenced by calculated EFGs. The functional also performs well for related Cu systems.