Ab initio approach to molecular crystals: A periodic Hartree–Fock study of crystalline urea

Unveiling a New 2D Semiconductor: Biphenylene-Based InN

The two-dimensional (2D) materials class earned a boost in 2021 with biphenylene synthesis, which is structurally formed by the fusion of four-, six-, and eight-membered carbon rings, usually named 4-6-8-biphenylene network (BPN). This research proposes a detailed study of electronic, structural, dynamic, and mechanical properties to demonstrate the potential of the novel biphenylene-like indium nitride (BPN-InN) via density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations. The BPN-InN has a direct band gap energy transition of 2.02 eV, making it promising for optoelectronic applications. This structure exhibits maximum and minimum Young modulus of 22.716 and 22.063 N/m, Poisson ratio of 0.018 and -0.008, and Shear modulus of 11.448 and 10.860 N/m, respectively. To understand the BPN-InN behavior when subjected to mechanical deformations, biaxial and uniaxial strains in armchair and zigzag directions from -8 to 8% were applied, achieving a band gap energy modulation of 1.36 eV over tensile deformations. Our findings are expected to motivate both theorists and experimentalists to study and obtain these new 2D inorganic materials that exhibit promising semiconductor properties.

Cluster-in-Molecule Local Correlation Method for Dispersion Interactions in Large Systems and Periodic Systems

ConspectusThe noncovalent interactions, including dispersion interactions, control the structures and stabilities of complex chemical systems, including host-guest complexes and the adsorption process of molecules on the solid surfaces. The density functional theory (DFT) with empirical dispersion correction is now the working horse in many areas of applications. Post-Hartree-Fock (post-HF) methods have been well recognized to provide more accurate descriptions in a systematic way. However, traditional post-HF methods are mainly limited to small- or medium-sized systems, and their applications to periodic condensed phase systems are still very limited due to their expensive computational costs.To extend post-HF calculations to large molecules, the cluster-in-molecule (CIM) local correlation approach has been established, allowing highly accurate electron correlation calculations that are routinely available for very large systems. In the CIM approach, the electron correlation energy of a large molecule could be obtained from electron correlation calculations on a series of clusters, each of which contains a subset of occupied and virtual localized molecular orbitals. The CIM method could be massively and efficiently parallelized on general computer clusters. The CIM method has been implemented at various electron correlation levels, including second-order Mo̷ller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2), coupled cluster singles and doubles (CCSD), CCSD with perturbative triples correction [CCSD(T)], etc. The CIM-MP2 energy gradient algorithm was developed and applied to the geometry optimizations of large systems. The CIM method has also been extended to condensed-phase systems under periodic boundary conditions (PBC-CIM). For periodic systems, the correlation energy per unit cell could be evaluated with correlation energy contributions from a series of clusters that are built with localized Wannier functions.CIM-based electron correlation calculations have been employed to investigate a number of chemical problems in which the dispersion interaction is important. CIM-based post-HF methods including CIM domain-based local pair natural orbital (DLPNO) CCSD(T) are applied to compute the relative or binding energies of biological systems or supramolecular complexes, the reaction barrier in a relatively complex chemical reaction. The CIM-MP2 method is used to obtain the optimized geometry of large systems. CIM-based post-HF calculations have also been used to compute the cohesive energies of molecular crystals and adsorption energies of molecules on the solid surfaces. The CIM and its PBC variant are expected to become a powerful theoretical tool for accurate calculations of the energies and structures for a broad range of large systems and condensed-phase systems with significant dispersion interactions.

Modeling of BN-Doped Carbon Nanotube as High-Performance Thermoelectric Materials

Ternary BNC nanotubes were modeled and characterized through a periodic density functional theory approach with the aim of investigating the influence on the structural, electronic, mechanical, and transport properties of the quantity and pattern of doping. The main energy band gap is easily tunable as a function of the BN percentage, the mechanical stability is generally preserved, and an interesting piezoelectric character emerges in the BNC structures. Moreover, C@(BN)1-xCx double-wall presents promising values of the thermoelectric coefficients due to the combined lowering of the thermal conductivity and increase of charge carriers. Computed results are in qualitative agreement with the little experimental evidence and therefore can provide insights on an atomic scale of the real samples and direct the synthesis towards increasingly performing hybrid nanomaterials.

Computational modelling of ammonia addition on partially reduced graphene oxide flakes

Density functional theory is employed to model the chemisorption of ammonia on epoxy-containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and understand the reaction mechanism of ammonia addition on partially reduced graphene oxide flakes. Coronene (C₂₄H₁₂) and ovalene (C₃₂H₁₄) based four-epoxy group containing molecules are used to mimic the RGO surface properties. The reaction mechanism changing effect of a second ammonia molecule as well as explicit water molecules is considered. The proposed reaction mechanism consists of two steps: the migration of one epoxy group out of the modelled four-epoxy group formation to a thermodynamically less stable one and the nucleophilic addition of the ammonia molecule. The second step involves forming an amine group and reducing an epoxy group to a hydroxyl one. Interestingly, the forming amine group bonds to the carbon atom with the smallest bond order among the available ones and not necessarily to the carbon atom of the opening epoxy ring. Incorporating a second ammonia molecule has a negligible effect on the overall reaction mechanism, while in the presence of one water molecule, the reaction goes through a different pathway involving a trimolecular state during the nucleophilic addition. Including more than one water molecule or applying an implicit solvent model does not cause further changes in the reaction.

Material-Specific Optimization of Gaussian Basis Sets against Plane Wave Data

Since in periodic systems, a given element may be present in different spatial arrangements displaying vastly different physical and chemical properties, an elemental basis set that is independent of physical properties of materials may lead to significant simulation inaccuracies. To avoid such a lack of material specificity within a given basis set, we present a material-specific Gaussian basis optimization scheme for solids, which simultaneously minimizes the total energy of the system and optimizes the band energies when compared to the reference plane wave calculation while taking care of the overlap matrix condition number. To assess this basis set optimization scheme, we compare the quality of the Gaussian basis sets generated for diamond, graphite, and silicon via our method against the existing basis sets. The optimization scheme of this work has also been tested on the existing Gaussian basis sets for periodic systems such as MoS₂ and NiO, yielding improved results.

Crystal Structure Prediction of the Novel Cr2SiN4 Compound via Global Optimization, Data Mining, and the PCAE Method

A number of studies have indicated that the implementation of Si in CrN can significantly improve its performance as a protective coating. As has been shown, the Cr-Si-N coating is comprised of two phases, where nanocrystalline CrN is embedded in a Si3N4 amorphous matrix. However, these earlier experimental studies reported only Cr-Si-N in thin films. Here, we present the first investigation of possible bulk Cr-Si-N phases of composition Cr2SiN4. To identify the possible modifications, we performed global explorations of the energy landscape combined with data mining and the Primitive Cell approach for Atom Exchange (PCAE) method. After ab initio structural refinement, several promising low energy structure candidates were confirmed on both the GGA-PBE and the LDA-PZ levels of calculation. Global optimization yielded six energetically favorable structures and five modifications possible to be observed in extreme conditions. Data mining based searches produced nine candidates selected as the most relevant ones, with one of them representing the global minimum in the Cr2SiN4. Additionally, employing the Primitive Cell approach for Atom Exchange (PCAE) method, we found three more promising candidates in this system, two of which are monoclinic structures, which is in good agreement with results from the closely related Si3N4 system, where some novel monoclinic phases have been predicted in the past.

Ab Initio Modeling of MultiWall: A General Algorithm First Applied to Carbon Nanotubes

A general, versatile and automated computational algorithm to design any type of multiwall nanotubes of any chiralities is presented for the first time. It can be applied to rolling up surfaces obtained from cubic, hexagonal, and orthorhombic lattices. Full exploitation of the helical symmetry permits a drastic reduction of the computational cost and therefore opens to the study of realistic systems. As a test case, the structural, electronic, mechanical, and transport properties of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) are calculated using a density functional theory approach, and results are compared with those of the corresponding layered (graphene-like) precursors. The interaction between layers has a general minimum for the inter-wall distance of ≈3.4 Å, in good agreement with experimental and computed optimal distances in graphene sheets. The metallic armchair and semiconductor zigzag MWCNT are almost isoenergetic and their stability increases as the number of walls increases. The vibrational fingerprint provides a reliable tool to identify the chirality and the thickness of the nanostructures. Finally, some promising thermoelectric features of the semiconductor MWCNT are reproduced and discussed.

Similarities and Differences between Crystal and Enzyme Environmental Effects on the Electron Density of Drug Molecules

The crystal interaction density is generally assumed to be a suitable measure of the polarization of a low-molecular weight ligand inside an enzyme, but this approximation has seldomly been tested and has never been quantified before. In this study, we compare the crystal interaction density and the interaction electrostatic potential for a model compound of loxistatin acid (E64c) with those inside cathepsin B, in solution, and in vacuum. We apply QM/MM calculations and experimental quantum crystallography to show that the crystal interaction density is indeed very similar to the enzyme interaction density. Less than 0.1 e are shifted between these two environments in total. However, this difference has non-negligible consequences for derived properties.

Calculating and Characterizing the Charge Distributions in Solids

Accurate estimation of the partial atomic charges on metal centers is useful for understanding electronic and catalytic properties of materials. However, different methods of calculating these charges may give quite different results; this issue has been more widely studied for molecules than for solids. Here we study the charges on the metal centers of a test set of 18 solids containing transition metals by using density functional theory with several density functionals (PBE, PBE+U, TPSS, revTPSS, HLE17, revM06-L, B3LYP, B3LYP*, and other exchange-modified B3LYP functionals) and four charge models (Bader, Hirshfeld, CM5, and DDEC6). The test set contains 12 systems with nonmagnetic metal centers (eight metal oxides (MO₂), two metal sulfides (MS₂), and two metal selenides (MSe₂)) and six ferromagnetic transition metal complexes. Our study shows that, among the four types of charges, Bader charges are the highest and Hirshfeld charges are the lowest for all the systems, regardless of the functional being used. The CM5 charges are bigger than DDEC6 charges for MX₂ with M = Ti or Mo and X = S or Se, but for the other 14 cases they are lower. We found that the most of the systems are sensitive to the Hubbard U parameters in PBE+U and to the percentage X of Hartree-Fock exchange in exchange-modified B3LYP; as we increase U or X, the charges on the metal atoms in MX₂ increase steadily. Testing different density functionals shows charges calculated with higher Hubbard U parameters in PBE+U are comparable to B3LYP (with 20% Hartree-Fock exchange). Among four meta-GGA functionals studied, the charges with HLE17 have the closest agreement with B3LYP. The variation of charges with choice of charge model is greater than the variation with choice of density functional.

The CRYSTAL code, 1976-2020 and beyond, a long story

CRYSTAL is a periodic ab initio code that uses a Gaussian-type basis set to express crystalline orbitals (i.e., Bloch functions). The use of atom-centered basis functions allows treating 3D (crystals), 2D (slabs), 1D (polymers), and 0D (molecules) systems on the same grounds. In turn, all-electron calculations are inherently permitted along with pseudopotential strategies. A variety of density functionals are implemented, including global and range-separated hybrids of various natures and, as an extreme case, Hartree-Fock (HF). The cost for HF or hybrids is only about 3-5 times higher than when using the local density approximation or the generalized gradient approximation. Symmetry is fully exploited at all steps of the calculation. Many tools are available to modify the structure as given in input and simplify the construction of complicated objects, such as slabs, nanotubes, molecules, and clusters. Many tensorial properties can be evaluated by using a single input keyword: elastic, piezoelectric, photoelastic, dielectric, first and second hyperpolarizabilities, etc. The calculation of infrared and Raman spectra is available, and the intensities are computed analytically. Automated tools are available for the generation of the relevant configurations of solid solutions and/or disordered systems. Three versions of the code exist: serial, parallel, and massive-parallel. In the second one, the most relevant matrices are duplicated on each core, whereas in the third one, the Fock matrix is distributed for diagonalization. All the relevant vectors are dynamically allocated and deallocated after use, making the code very agile. CRYSTAL can be used efficiently on high performance computing machines up to thousands of cores.

Theoretical insights into inorganic-organic intercalation products of the layered perovskite HLaNb2O7: perspectives for hybrid proton conductors

The modification of metal oxide surfaces with organic moieties has been widely studied as a method of preparing organic-inorganic hybrid materials for various applications. Among the inorganic oxides, ion-exchangeable layered perovskites are particularly interesting, because of their appealing electronic and reactive properties. In particular, their protonated interlayer surface can be easily functionalized with organic groups allowing the production of stable hybrid materials. As a further step in the design of new inorganic-organic hybrid proton conductors, a combined experimental and theoretical study of two intercalated compounds (propanol and imidazole) in HLaNb2O7 is presented here. A generally very good agreement with the available experimental data is found in reproducing both structural features and 13C-NMR chemical shifts, and marked differences between the two considered intercalated compounds are evidenced, with possible important outcomes for proton conduction. Notably, the free imidazole molecules are easily protonated by the acidic protons present in the interlayer spacing, thus inhibiting an efficient charge transport mechanism. In order to overcome this problem, a model system has been considered, where the imidazoles are bound to the end of a butyl chain, the whole being intercalated between two perovskite layers. The obtained theoretical data suggest that, in such a system, proton transfer between two adjacent imidazoles is a barrierless process. These results could then open new perspectives for such hybrid proton conductors.

Multipole electron densities and atomic displacement parameters in urea from accurate powder X-ray diffraction

Electron density determination based on structure factors obtained through powder X-ray diffraction has so far been limited to high-symmetry inorganic solids. This limit is challenged by determining high-quality structure factors for crystalline urea using a bespoke vacuum diffractometer with imaging plates. This allows the collection of data of sufficient quality to model the electron density of a molecular system using the multipole method. The structure factors, refined parameters as well as chemical bonding features are compared with results from the high-quality synchrotron single-crystal study by Birkedal et al. [Acta Cryst. (2004), A60, 371-381] demonstrating that powder X-ray diffraction potentially provides a viable alternative for electron density determination in simple molecular crystals where high-quality single crystals are not available.

Benzoquinone-Bridged Heterocyclic Zwitterions as Building Blocks for Molecular Semiconductors and Metals

In pursuit of closed-shell building blocks for single-component organic semiconductors and metals, we have prepared benzoquino-bis-1,2,3-thiaselenazole QS, a heterocyclic selenium-based zwitterion with a small gap (λ_max = 729 nm) between its highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals. In the solid state, QS exists in two crystalline phases and one nanocrystalline phase. The structures of the crystalline phases (space groups R3 c and P2₁/ c) have been determined by high-resolution powder X-ray diffraction methods at ambient and elevated pressures (0-15 GPa), and their crystal packing patterns have been compared with that of the related all-sulfur zwitterion benzoquino-bis-1,2,3-dithiazole QT (space group Cmc2₁). Structural differences between the S- and Se-based materials are interpreted in terms of local intermolecular S/Se···N'/O' secondary bonding interactions, the strength of which varies with the nature of the chalcogen (S vs Se). While the perfectly two-dimensional "brick-wall" packing pattern associated with the Cmc2₁ phase of QT is not found for QS, all three phases of QS are nonetheless small band gap semiconductors, with σ_RT ranging from 10^-5 S cm^-1 for the P2₁/ c phase to 10^-3 S cm^-1 for the R3 c phase. The bandwidths of the valence and conduction bands increase with applied pressure, leading to an increase in conductivity and a decrease in thermal activation energy E_act. For the R3 c phase, band gap closure to yield an organic molecular metal with a σ_RT of ∼10² S cm^-1 occurs at 6 GPa. Band gaps estimated from density functional theory band structure calculations on the ambient- and high-pressure crystal structures of QT and QS correlate well with those obtained experimentally.

Development of a joint refinement model for the spin-resolved one-electron reduced density matrix using different data sets

The paper describes a joint refinement model of the spin-resolved one-electron reduced density matrix using simultaneously magnetic structure factors and magnetic directional Compton profiles. The model is guided by two strategies: (i) variation of basis functions and (ii) variation of the spin population matrix. The implementation for a finite system is based on an expansion of the natural orbitals on basis sets. To show the potential benefits brought by the joint refinement model, the paper also presents the refinement results using magnetic structure factors only. The joint refinement model provides very satisfactory results reproducing the pseudo-data. In particular, magnetic Compton profiles have a strong effect not only on the off-diagonal elements of the spin-resolved one-electron reduced density matrix but also on its diagonal elements.

High-Pressure Synthesis and Characterization of the Ammonium Yttrium Borate (NH4)YB8O14

The first high-pressure yttrium borate (NH₄)YB₈O₁₄ was synthesized at 12.8 GPa/1300 °C using a Walker-type multianvil module. The compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pnma (no. 62) with the lattice parameters a = 17.6375(9), b = 10.7160(5), and c = 4.2191(2) Å. (NH₄)YB₈O₁₄ constitutes a novel structure type but exhibits similarities to the crystal structure of β-BaB₄O₇. X-ray single-crystal and powder diffraction, EDX, vibrational spectroscopy as well as quantum chemical calculations were used to characterize (NH₄)YB₈O₁₄.

Evidence of Ultrafast Charge Transfer Driven by Coherent Lattice Vibrations

We report evidence that intermolecular vibrations coherently drive charge transfer between the sites of a material on ultrafast time scales. Following a nonresonant stimulated Raman pump pulse that excites the organic material quinhydrone, we observe the initial appearance of oscillations due to intermolecular lattice vibrations and then the delayed appearance of a higher-frequency oscillation that we assign to a totally symmetric intramolecular vibration. We use the coherent dynamics of the transient reflectivity signal to propose that coherence transfer drives excitation of this intramolecular vibration. Furthermore, we conclude that the dynamical frequency shift of the intramolecular vibration reports the formation of a quasi-stable charge-separated state on ultrafast time scales. We calculate model dynamics using the extended Hubbard Hamiltonian to explain coherence transfer due to vibrationally driven charge transfer. These results demonstrate that the coherent excitation of low-frequency vibrations can drive charge transfer in the solid state and control material properties.

Structures, electronic properties and charge carrier mobility of graphdiyne-like BN nanoribbons

The structures, stabilities, electronic properties and charge carrier mobility of graphdiyne-like BN nanoribbons are investigated using the SCF-CO method.

Consistent Gaussian basis sets of triple-zeta valence with polarization quality for solid-state calculations

Consistent basis sets of triple-zeta valence with polarization quality for main group elements and transition metals from row one to three have been derived for periodic quantum-chemical solid-state calculations with the crystalline-orbital program CRYSTAL. They are based on the def2-TZVP basis sets developed for molecules by the Ahlrichs group. Orbital exponents and contraction coefficients have been modified and reoptimized, to provide robust and stable self-consistant field (SCF) convergence for a wide range of different compounds. We compare results on crystal structures, cohesive energies, and solid-state reaction enthalpies with the modified basis sets, denoted as pob-TZVP, with selected standard basis sets available from the CRYSTAL basis set database. The average deviation of calculated lattice parameters obtained with a selected density functional, the hybrid method PW1PW, from experimental reference is smaller with pob-TZVP than with standard basis sets, in particular for metallic systems. The effects of basis set expansion by diffuse and polarization functions were investigated for selected systems.

Is it possible to derive quantitative information on polarization of electron density from the multipolar model?

The accuracy of electrostatic properties estimated from the Hansen-Coppens multipolar model was verified. Tests were carried out to determine whether the multipolar model is accurate enough to study changes of electrostatic properties under the influence of a crystal field. Perturbed and unperturbed electron densities of individual molecules of amino acids and dipeptides were obtained from cluster and perturbation theory calculations. This enabled the changes in electrostatic properties values caused by polarization of the electron density to be characterized. Multipolar models were then fitted to the subsequent theoretical electron densities. The study revealed that electrostatic properties obtained from the multipolar models are significantly different from those obtained directly from the theoretical densities. The electrostatic properties of isolated molecules are reproduced better by multipolar models than the electrostatic properties of molecules in a crystal. Changes of electrostatic properties caused by perturbation of electron density due to the crystal environment are barely described by the multipolar model. As a consequence, the electrostatic properties obtained from multipolar models fitted to the perturbed theoretical densities derived either from cluster or periodic calculations do not differ much from those estimated from multipolar models fitted to densities of isolated molecules. The main reason for this seems to be related to an inadequate description of electron-density polarization in the vicinity of the nuclei by the multipolar model.

Rationalization of the behavior of M2(CH3CS2)4I (M = Ni, Pt) chains at room temperature from periodic density functional theory and ab initio cluster calculations

The electrical conductivities and plausible charge-ordering states in the room temperature (r.t.) phase for MMX chains [Ni(2)(dta)(4)I](∞) and [Pt(2)(dta)(4)I](∞) (dta = CH(3)CS(2)(-)) have been analyzed with periodic density functional theory (DFT) and correlated ab initio calculations combined with the effective Hamiltonian theory. Periodic DFT calculations show a more delocalized nature of the ground state in [Pt(2)(dta)(4)I](∞) compared to [Ni(2)(dta)(4)I](∞), which features a rather large energy gap between the occupied and empty bands, and charge polarized dimer units. A larger electrical conductivity for the Pt chain can be expected, especially because the Fermi level lies within a band with contributions from Pt and I orbitals. Electronic structure parameters extracted from ab initio cluster calculations show that the large difference between the observed conductivities at 300 K for Ni and Pt compounds, of 3 orders of magnitude, cannot be explained from the parameters extracted from an embedded M(2)(dta)(4)I(2) dimer fragment alone. When tetramer fragments are considered, we observe that the interdimer transfer integral (t) between neighboring M(2) units connected by an iodine atom at correlated level is comparable in both chains. On the other hand, the energy to transfer an electron from a dimer to the neighboring one (Coulomb repulsion U) is three times larger in the Ni compound with respect to the Pt chain, in line with the poor conductivity of the former. The electronic structure of the M(4)(dta)(8)I(3) fragment points to an alternate charge-polarization state for Ni and an average valence state for Pt when the r.t. X-ray structure is considered.

A DENSITY FUNCTIONAL THEORY INVESTIGATION ON THE TAUTOMERS AND CRYSTAL OF 2-DIAZO-4,6-DINITROPHENOL

Density functional method was applied to the study of the highly efficient primary explosive 2-diazo-4,6-dinitrophenol (DDNP) in both gaseous tautomers and its bulk state. Two stable tautomers were located. It was found that the structure (I) with open diazo, i.e. with linear CNN, is more stable than that with diazo ring tautomer (II) of DDNP. The structure I is in good agreement with the structure in the bulk. The lattice energy is -89.01 kJ/mol, and this value drops to -83.29 kJ/mol when a 50% correction of the basis set superposition error was adopted. The frontier bands are quite flat. The carbon atoms in DDNP make up the upper valence bands. While the lower conduction bands mainly consist of carbon and diazo N atoms. The bond populations of C–N bonds (both C–Nitro and C–Diazo) are much less than those of the other bonds and the detonation may be initiated through the breakdown of C–N bonds.

Automated Repulsive Parametrization for the DFTB Method

The density-functional-based tight-binding method is an efficient scheme for quantum mechanical atomistic simulations. While the most relevant part of the chemical energies is calculated within a DFT-like scheme, a fitted correction function-the repulsive energy-is used to achieve results as close to ab initio counterparts as possible. We have developed an automatic parametrization scheme to ease the process of the repulsive energy fitting, offering a more systematic and much faster alternative to the traditional fitting process. The quality of the resulting repulsives can be tuned by selecting and weighting the fit systems and the important physical properties (energy, force, Hessian) of them. Besides driving DFT calculators in the fitting process automatically, the flexibility of our scheme also allows the usage of external data (e.g., molecular dynamics trajectories or experimental data) as a reference. Results with several elements show that our procedure is able to produce parameter sets comparable to handmade ones, yet requiring far less human effort and time.

Real-space indicators for chemical bonding. Experimental and theoretical electron density studies of four deltahedral boranes

In an approach combining high-resolution X-ray diffraction at low temperatures with density functional theory calculations, two closo-borates, B(12)H(12)(2-) (1) and B(10)H(10)(2-) (2), and two arachno-boranes, B(10)H(12)L(2) [L = amine (3) or acetonitrile (4)], were analyzed by means of the atoms-in-molecules (AIM) theory and electron localizability indicator (ELI-D). The two-electron three-center (2e3c) bonds of the borane cages are investigated with the focus on real-space indicators for chemical bonding and electron delocalization. In compound 2, only two of the three expected bond critical points (bcp's) are found. However, a weakly populated ELI-D basin is found for this pair of adjacent B atoms and the delocalization index and the Source contributions are on the same order of magnitude as those for the other pairs. The opposite situation is found in the arachno-boranes, where no ELI-D basins are found for two types of B-B pairs, which, in turn, exhibit a bcp. However, again the delocalization index is on the same order of magnitude for this bonding interaction. The results show that an unambiguous real-space criterion for chemical bonding is not given yet for this class of compounds. The arachno-boranes carry a special B-B bond, which is the edge of the crown-shaped molecule. This bond is very long and extremely curved inward the B-B-B ring. Nevertheless, the corresponding bond ellipticity is quite small and the ELI-D value at the attractor position of the disynaptic valence basin is remarkably larger than those for all other B-B valence basins. Furthermore, the value of the ED is large in relation to the B-B bond length, so that only this bond type does not follow a linear relationship of the ED value at the bcp versus B-B bond distances, which is found for all other B-B bcp's. The results indicate that both 2e2c and 2e3c bonding play a distinct role in borane chemistry.

Affinity of hydroxyapatite (001) and (010) surfaces to formic and alendronic acids: a quantum-mechanical and infrared study

The affinity of the (001) and of the water reacted (010)WR hydroxyapatite surfaces towards formic and alendronic acids is studied with density functional theory (PBE functional) using periodic boundary conditions based on Gaussian basis set. Structures, energetic of the adsorption and vibrational features of the adsorbates are computed in order to understand at the atomic level both the cariogenic processes (for the formic acid) and the features of anti-osteoporosis drugs (for the alendronic acid). For both molecules the interaction energy is very high on an absolute scale, and for all examined cases, it is higher on the (010)WR HA surface than on the (001) one. For the latter, a number of cases by which the acidic proton of the adsorbate is transferred to the HA surface are also characterized. For the formic acid case, experimental infrared spectra are also measured and the position and nature of the C=O stretching bands have been found to be in excellent agreement with the quantum mechanical simulations. For alendronic acid IR experiments are still not available and the present predicted infrared spectra will be useful as a guide to interpret future experimental studies.