On the Structural Dichotomy of Cationic, Anionic, and Neutral FeS(2)

Cation binding of Li(I), Na(I) and Zn(II) to cobalt and iron sulphide clusters - electronic structure study

The binding of alkaline (Li⁺ and Na⁺) and zinc (Zn²⁺) cations to mononuclear disulphides MS₂ and to persulphides, containing an S-S bond, M(S₂), to binuclear disulphides M₂S₂ and persulphides M₂(S₂) and to cubic tetranuclear sulphides M₄S₄ where M = Fe, Co, is examined by density functional theory with the B3LYP functional, and dispersion corrections were applied. For the small-sized clusters (up to two transition metal centres), the energy gaps between different configurations were verified by CCSD(T) calculations. Persulphides M(S₂) are more stable than disulphides MS₂ as bare clusters, upon carbonyl and chloride ligand coordination and upon cation binding (Li⁺, Na⁺, Zn²⁺). The one-electron reduction of alkali cations and two-electron reduction of Zn²⁺ reverses order of stability and the planar disulphides (MS₂-reduced cation) become more stable; the energy gap disulphide to persulphide increases. In all reduced clusters, zinc ions form bonds with sulphur and with the transition metal centre (Co or Fe). Lithium cations also form bonds to cobalt or iron, but only in the M₂S₂ clusters, upon reduction. Energy barriers were calculated for the disulphide to persulphide reaction in the Zn-Co-S₂ system in the isolated clusters (gas-phase), in water, acetonitrile and 1-Cl-hexane solution. Most significant decrease in the energy barriers were obtained with less-polar solvents, acetonitrile, and particularly, 1-Cl-hexane. In M₄S₄ clusters, the cations do not reach optimal coordination to the sulphur centres. The global minima of M₂S₂ clusters are antiferromagnetic; in the reduced Zn-M₂S₂ clusters, magnetic moment is induced at zinc centres as a result of charge transfer between Zn and Co or Zn and Fe.

Thermal stability of iron-sulfur clusters

The thermal decomposition of free cationic iron-sulfur clusters Fe_xS_y⁺ (x = 0-7, y = 0-9) is investigated by collisional post-heating in the temperature range between 300 and 1000 K. With increasing temperature the preferential formation of stoichiometric Fe_xS_y⁺ (y = x) or near stoichiometric Fe_xS_y⁺ (y = x ± 1) clusters is observed. In particular, Fe₄S₄⁺ represents the most abundant product up to 600 K, Fe₃S₃⁺ and Fe₃S₂⁺ are preferably formed between 600 K and 800 K, and Fe₂S₂⁺ clearly dominates the cluster distribution above 800 K. These temperature dependent fragment distributions suggest a sequential fragmentation mechanism, which involves the loss of sulfur and iron atoms as well as FeS units, and indicate the particular stability of Fe₂S₂⁺. The potential fragmentation pathways are discussed based on first principles calculations and a mechanism involving the isomerization of the cluster prior to fragmentation is proposed. The fragmentation behavior of the iron-sulfur clusters is in marked contrast to the previously reported thermal dissociation of analogous iron-oxide clusters, which resulted in the release of O₂ molecules only, without loss of metal atoms and without any tendency to form particular prominent and stable Fe_xO_y⁺ clusters at high temperatures.

Tuning the oxidative power of free iron-sulfur clusters

The gas-phase reactions between a series of di-iron sulfur clusters Fe₂S_x⁺ (x = 1-3) and the small alkenes C₂H₄, C₃H₆, and C₄H₈ have been investigated by means of Fourier-transform ion-cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. For all studied alkenes, the reaction efficiency is found to increase in the order Fe₂S⁺ < Fe₂S₂⁺ < Fe₂S₃⁺. In particular, Fe₂S⁺ and Fe₂S₂⁺ only form simple association products, whereas the sulfur-rich Fe₂S₃⁺ is able to dehydrogenate propene and 2-butene via desulfurization of the cluster and formation of H₂S. This indicates an increased propensity to induce oxidation reactions, i.e. oxidative power, of Fe₂S₃⁺ that is attributed to an increased formal oxidation state of the iron atoms. Furthermore, the ability of Fe₂S₃⁺ to activate and dissociate the C-H bonds of the alkenes is observed to increase with increasing size of the alkene and thus correlates with the alkene ionization energy.

Cationic Noncovalent Interactions: Energetics and Periodic Trends

In this review, noncovalent interactions of ions with neutral molecules are discussed. After defining the scope of the article, which excludes anionic and most protonated systems, methods associated with measuring thermodynamic information for such systems are briefly recounted. An extensive set of tables detailing available thermodynamic information for the noncovalent interactions of metal cations with a host of ligands is provided. Ligands include small molecules (H2, NH3, CO, CS, H2O, CH3CN, and others), organic ligands (O- and N-donors, crown ethers and related molecules, MALDI matrix molecules), π-ligands (alkenes, alkynes, benzene, and substituted benzenes), miscellaneous inorganic ligands, and biological systems (amino acids, peptides, sugars, nucleobases, nucleosides, and nucleotides). Hydration of metalated biological systems is also included along with selected proton-based systems: 18-crown-6 polyether with protonated peptides and base-pairing energies of nucleobases. In all cases, the literature thermochemistry is evaluated and, in many cases, reanchored or adjusted to 0 K bond dissociation energies. Trends in these values are discussed and related to a variety of simple molecular concepts.

Assignment of the photoelectron spectra of FeS3(-) by density functional theory, CASPT2, and RCCSD(T) calculations

The geometric structures of FeS(3) and FeS(3)(-) with spin multiplicities ranging from singlet to octet were optimized at the B3LYP level, allowing two low-lying conformations for these clusters to be identified. The planar D(3h) conformation contains three S(2-) atomic ligands (S(3)Fe(0/-)), whereas the C(2v) structure contains, in addition to an atomic S(2-) ligand, also a S(2)(2-) ligand that is side-on-bound to the iron cation: an η(2)-S(2)FeS conformation. Subsequently, energy differences between the various states of these conformations were estimated by carrying out geometry optimizations at the multireference CASPT2 level. Several competing structures for the ground state of the anionic cluster were recognized at this level. Relative stabilities were also estimated by performing single-point RCSSD(T) calculations on the B3LYP geometries. The ground state of the neutral complex was unambiguously found to be (5)B(2). The ground state of the anion is considerably less certain. The 1(4)B(2), 2(4)B(2), (4)B(1), and (6)A(1) states were all found as low-lying η(2)-S(2)FeS(-) states. Also, (4)B(2) of S(3)Fe(-) has a comparable CASPT2 energy. In contrast, B3LYP and RCCSD(T) mutually agree that the S(3)Fe(-) state is at a much higher energy. Energetically, the bands of the photoelectron spectra of FeS(3)(-) are reproduced at the CASPT2 level as ionizations from either the (4)B(2) or (6)A(1) state of η(2)-S(2)FeS. However, the Franck-Condon factors obtained from a harmonic vibrational analysis at the B3LYP level show that only the (4)B(2)-to-(5)B(2) ionization, which preserves the η(2)-S(2)Fe-S conformation, provides the best vibrational progression match with the X band of the experimental photoelectron spectra.

Electronic structures and chemical bonding in diatomic ScX to ZnX (X = S, Se, Te)

Bond distances, vibrational frequencies, electron affinities, ionization potentials, dissociation energies, and dipole moments of the title molecules in neutral, positively, and negatively charged ions were studied using density functional method. Ground electronic state was assigned for each molecule. The bonding patterns were analyzed and compared with both the available data and across the series. It was found that, besides ionic component, covalent bonds are formed between the metal s, d orbitals, and the p orbital of S, Se, and Te. For neutral and cationic molecules, the covalent character increases from ScX to CrX and from FeX to CuX with an exception of decrease at MnX and ZnX, while for anionic molecules, the trend is not obvious. For both neutral and charged molecules, the sulfides have the shortest bond distance and largest vibrational frequency, while tellurides have the largest bond distance and smallest vibrational frequency. For neutral and anionic molecules, the dissociation energy of sulfides is the largest, that of tellurides is the smallest, while this only remains true for cationic molecules from ScX(+) to FeX(+).

Gas-phase ion chemistry in organometallic systems

This review essentially deals with positive ion/molecule reactions occurring in gas-phase organometallic systems, and encompasses a period of time of approximately 7 years, going from 1997 to early 2004. Following the example of the excellent review by Eller & Schwarz (1991; Chem Rev 91:1121-1177), in the first part, results of reaction of naked ions are presented by grouping them according to the neutral substrate, while in the second part, ligated ions are grouped according to the different ligands. Whenever possible, comparison among similar studies is attempted, and general trends of reactivities are evidenced.

Carbon Disulfide Reactions with Atomic Transition-Metal and Main-Group Cations: Gas-Phase Room-Temperature Kinetics and Periodicities in Reactivity

The reactions of 46 atomic-metal cations with CS2 have been investigated at room temperature using an inductively-coupled plasma/selected-ion flow tube (ICP/SIFT) tandem mass spectrometer. Rate coefficients and products were measured for the reactions of fourth-period atomic ions from K+ to Se+, of fifth-period atomic ions from Rb+ to Te+ (excluding Tc+), and of sixth-period atomic ions from Cs+ to Bi+. Primary reaction channels were observed leading to S-atom transfer, CS2 addition and, with Hg+, electron transfer. S-atom transfer appears to be thermodynamically controlled and occurs exclusively, and with unit efficiency, in the reactions with most early transition-metal cations (Sc+, Ti+, Y+, Zr+, Nb+, La+, Hf+, Ta+, and W+) and with several main-group cations (As+, Sb+) and less efficiently with Se+, Re+ and Os+. Other ions, including most late transition and main-group metal cations, react with CS2 with measurable rates mostly through CS2 addition or not at all (K+, Rb+, Cs+). Traces of excited states (< 10%) were seen from an inspection of the observed product ions to be involved in the reactions with Mo+, Te+, Ba+ and Au+ and possibly Pt+ and Ir+. The primary products YS+, ZrS+, NbS+, HfS+, TaS+, WS+, ReS+ and OsS+ react further by S-atom transfer to form MS2(+), and TaS2(+) reacts further to form TaS3(+). CS2 addition occurs with the cations MCS2(+), MS+, MS2(+), CS2(+), and TaS3(+) to form M+(CS2)(n) (n < or = 4), MS+(CS2)(n) (n < or = 4), MS2(+)(CS2)(n) (n < or = 3), (CS2)2(+) and TaS3(+)(CS2). Up to four CS2 molecules add sequentially to bare metal cations and monosulfide cations, and three to disulfide cations. Equilibrium constant measurements are reported that provide some insight into the standard free energy change for CS2 ligation. Periodic variations in deltaG degrees are as expected from the variation in electrostatic attraction, which follows the trend in atomic-ion size and the trend in repulsion between the orbitals of the atomic cations and the occupied orbitals of CS2.

Electronic States of Fe2S-/0/+

The relative energies of a multitude of low-lying electronic states of Fe2S-/0/+ are determined by complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) calculations. The numerous states obtained are assigned to spin ladders. For selected states, dynamic correlation has been included by multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) and the structures of some high-spin states have been optimized by CASSCF/MRCI. Comparison is made with structures obtained by density-functional theoretical calculations. The ground states of Fe2S-/0/+ are 10B2, 1A1 and 8A2, respectively, and the total splittings of the lowest-energy spin ladders are about 0.18, 0.07 and 0.13 eV, respectively. The spin ladders of Fe2S qualitatively reflect the picture of Heisenberg spin coupling. While both Fe2S- and Fe2S+ show an Fe-Fe distance of about 270 pm, that of Fe2S is about 100 pm longer. The calculated adiabatic electron affinity of Fe2S is 1.2 eV and the ionization energy 6.6 eV. An interpretation of the observed photoelectron spectrum of Fe2S- is given.

Noncovalent metal-ligand bond energies as studied by threshold collision-induced dissociation

This review focuses on noncovalent metal ion-ligand complexes and measurements of the bond energies of such species. The method utilized in this work is threshold collision-induced dissociation (CID), as achieved using a guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometer. Accurate determination of bond energies requires attention to many details of the experiments and data analysis. These details are discussed thoroughly and compared to other methods. A comprehensive listing of metal-ligand bond dissociation energies determined by threshold CID is provided. This list includes a variety of metals (alkalis, magnesium, aluminum, and first and second row transition metals), many different types of ligands, and variations in the number of ligands. The trends in these values are discussed, and we elucidate the importance of ion-dipole and ion-induced dipole interactions, chelation, different conformers and tautomers, steric interactions, solvation phenomena, and electronic effects such as hybridization and promotion.