Accurate adiabatic singlet-triplet gaps in atoms and molecules employing the third-order spin-flip algebraic diagrammatic construction scheme for the polarization propagator

Algebraic Diagrammatic Construction Schemes Employing the Intermediate State Formalism: Theory, Capabilities, and Interpretation

Algebraic diagrammatic construction (ADC) schemes represent a family of ab initio methods for the calculation of excited electronic states and electron-detached and -attached states. All ADC methods have been demonstrated to possess great potential for molecular applications, e.g., for the calculation of absorption or photoelectron spectra or electron attachment processes. ADC originates from Green's function or propagator theory; however, most recent ADC developments heavily rely on the intermediate state representation or effective Liouvillian formalisms, which comprise new ADC methods and computational schemes for high-order properties. The different approaches for the calculation of excitation energies, ionization potentials, and electron affinities are intimately related, and they provide a coherent description of these quantities at equivalent levels of theory and with comparable errors. Most quantum chemical program packages contain ADC methods; however, the most complete ADC suite of methods can be found in the recent release of Q-Chem.

Spin-Conserved and Spin-Flip Optical Excitations from the Bethe-Salpeter Equation Formalism

Like adiabatic time-dependent density-functional theory (TD-DFT), the Bethe–Salpeter equation (BSE) formalism of many-body perturbation theory, in its static approximation, is “blind” to double (and higher) excitations, which are ubiquitous, for example, in conjugated molecules like polyenes. Here, we apply the spin-flip ansatz (which considers the lowest triplet state as the reference configuration instead of the singlet ground state) to the BSE formalism in order to access, in particular, double excitations. The present scheme is based on a spin-unrestricted version of the GW approximation employed to compute the charged excitations and screened Coulomb potential required for the BSE calculations. Dynamical corrections to the static BSE optical excitations are taken into account via an unrestricted generalization of our recently developed (renormalized) perturbative treatment. The performance of the present spin-flip BSE formalism is illustrated by computing excited-state energies of the beryllium atom, the hydrogen molecule at various bond lengths, and cyclobutadiene in its rectangular and square-planar geometries.

Spin-flip methods in quantum chemistry

This Perspective discusses salient features of the spin-flip approach to strong correlation and describes different methods that sprung from this idea. The spin-flip treatment exploits the different physics of low-spin and high-spin states and is based on the observation that correlation is small for same-spin electrons. By using a well-behaved high-spin state as a reference, one can access problematic low-spin states by deploying the same formal tools as in the excited-state treatments (i.e., linear response, propagator, or equation-of-motion theories). The Perspective reviews applications of this strategy within wave function and density functional theory frameworks as well as the extensions for molecular properties and spectroscopy. The utility of spin-flip methods is illustrated by examples. Limitations and proposed future directions are also discussed.

Algebraic diagrammatic construction for the polarisation propagator in combination with effective fragment potentials

The effective fragment potential (EFP) method for the efficient inclusion of solvation effects is combined with the algebraic diagrammatic construction (ADC) scheme for the second- and third-order polarisation propagator.

Singlet-triplet energy gaps and the degree of diradical character in binuclear copper molecular magnets characterized by spin-flip density functional theory

Molecular magnets, defined here as organic polyradicals, can be used as building blocks in the fabrication of novel and structurally diverse magnetic light-weight materials. We present a theoretical investigation of the lowest spin states of several binuclear copper diradicals. In contrast to previous studies, we consider not only the energetics of the low-lying states (which are related to the exchange-coupling parameter within the Heisenberg-Dirac-van-Vleck model), but also the character of the diradical states themselves. We use natural orbitals, their occupations, and the number of effectively unpaired electrons to quantify bonding patterns in these systems. We compare the performance of spin-flip time-dependent density functional theory (SF-TDDFT) using various functionals and effective core potentials against the wave function based approach, equation-of-motion spin-flip coupled-cluster method with single and double substitutions (EOM-SF-CCSD). We find that SF-TDDFT paired with the PBE50 and B5050LYP functionals performs comparably to EOM-SF-CCSD, with respect to both singlet-triplet gaps and states' characters. Visualization of frontier natural orbitals shows that the unpaired electrons are localized on copper centers, in some cases exhibiting slight through-bond interaction via copper d-orbitals and p-orbitals of neighboring ligand atoms. The analysis reveals considerable interactions between the formally unpaired electrons in the antiferromagnetic diradicaloids, meaning that they are poorly described by the Heisenberg-Dirac-van-Vleck model. Thus, for these systems the experimentally derived exchange-coupling parameters are not directly comparable with the singlet-triplet gaps. This explains systematic discrepancies between the computed singlet-triplet energy gaps and the exchange-coupling parameters extracted from experiment.

Spin the light off: rapid internal conversion into a dark doublet state quenches the fluorescence of an RNA spin label

The spin label Çm and the fluorophore Çmf are close isosteric relatives: the secondary amine Çmf can be easily oxidized to a nitroxide group to form Çm. Thus, both compounds can serve as EPR and fluorescence labels, respectively, and their high structural similarity allows direct comparison of EPR and fluorescence data, e.g. in the context of investigations of RNA conformation and dynamics. Detailed UV/vis-spectroscopic studies demonstrate that the fluorescence lifetime and the quantum yield of Çmf are directly affected by intermolecular interactions, which makes it a sensitive probe of its microenvironment. On the other hand, Çm undergoes effective fluorescence quenching in the ps-time domain. The established quenching mechanisms that are usually operational for fluorophore-nitroxide compounds, do not explain the spectroscopic data for Çm. Quantum chemical calculations revealed that the lowest excited doublet state D₁, which has no equivalent in Çmf, is a key state of the ultrafast quenching mechanism. This dark state is localized on the nitroxide group and is populated via rapid internal conversion.