The Most Stable Structure of SiC3 Studied by Multireference Perturbation Theory with General Multiconfiguration Self-Consistent Field Reference Functions

A theoretical study of the cyclization processes of energized CCCSi and CCCP

Calculations at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ//B3LYP/6-31+G(d) level of theory have shown that cyclization of both the ground state triplet and the corresponding singlet state of CCCSi may rearrange to give cyclic isomers which upon ring opening may reform linear C(3)Si isomers in which the carbon atoms are scrambled. The cyclization processes are energetically favorable with barriers to the transition states from 13 to 16 kcal mol(-1). This should be contrasted with the analogous process of triplet CCCC to triplet rhombic C(4), which requires an excess energy of 25.8 kcal mol(-1). A similar cyclization of doublet CCCP requires 50.4 kcal mol(-1) of excess energy; this should be contrasted with the same process for CCCN, which requires 54.7 kcal mol(-1) to effect cyclization.

Anharmonic vibrational levels of the two cyclic isomers of SiC3

Using coupled-cluster approach full six-dimensional analytic potential energy surfaces for two cyclic SiC(3) isomers [C-C transannular bond (I) and Si-C transannular bond (II)] have been generated and used to calculate anharmonic vibrational wave functions. Several strong low-lying anharmonic resonances have been found. In both isomers already some of the fundamental transitions cannot be described within the harmonic approximation. Adiabatic electron affinities and ionization energies have been calculated as well. The Franck-Condon factors for the photodetachment processes c-SiC(3) (-)(I)-->c-SiC(3)(I) and c-SiC(3) (-)(II)-->c-SiC(3)(II) are reported.

A systematic multireference perturbation-theory study of the low-lying states of SiC3

The three known lowest-energy isomers of SiC(3), two cyclic singlets (2s and 3s) and a linear triplet (1t), have been reinvestigated using multireference second-order perturbation theory (MRPT2). The dependence of the relative energies of the isomers upon the quality of the basis sets and the sizes of the reference active spaces is explored. When using a complete-active-space self-consistent-field reference wave function with 12 electrons in 11 orbitals [CASSCF (12, 11)] together with basis sets that increase in size up to the correlation-consistent polarized core-valence quadruple zeta basis set (cc-pCVQZ), the MRPT2 method consistently predicts the linear triplet to be the most stable isomer. A new parallel direct determinant MRPT2 code has been used to systematically explore reference spaces that vary in size from CASSCF (8,8) to full optimized reaction space [FORS or CASSCF (16,16)] with the cc-pCVQZ basis. It is found that the relative energies of the isomers change substantially as the active space is increased. At the best level of theory, MRPT2 with a full valence FORS reference, the 2s isomer is predicted to be more stable than 3s and 1t by 4.7 and 2.2 kcal/mol, respectively.

Accurate calculation of core-electron binding energies: Multireference perturbation treatment

Multireference perturbation theory (MRPT) with multiconfigurational self-consistent field (MCSCF) reference functions is applied to the calculations of core-electron binding energies (CEBEs) of atoms and molecules. Orbital relaxations in a core-ionized state and electron correlation are both taken into account in a conventional MCSCF-MRPT procedure. In the MCSCF calculation, the target core ionized state is directly optimized as an excited state and this treatment can completely prevent a variational collapse. Multireference Moller-Plesset perturbation theory and multiconfigurational self-consistent field reference quasidegenerated perturbation theory were used to treat electron correlation. The present method quite accurately reproduced the 1s CEBEs of CH4, NH3, H2O, and FH; the average deviation from the experimental data is 0.11 eV using Ahlrichs' VTZ basis set. The C 1s and O 1s CEBEs of formic acid and acetic acid were calculated and the results are consistent with the bonding characters of the atoms in these molecules. The present procedure can also be applied to CEBEs of higher angular momentum orbitals by including spin-orbit coupling. The calculated CEBEs of Ar 2p, HCl 2p, Kr 3d, and HBr 3d are in reasonable agreement with the available experimental values. In the calculation of the 3d CEBEs, a relativistic correction significantly improves the agreements. The effect of polarization functions is also discussed.