Properties of closed-shell superheavy element hydrides and halides using coupled-cluster method and density functional theory with spin-orbit coupling

Spectroscopic/Bond Property Relationship in Group 11 Dihydrides via Relativistic Four-Component Methods

Group 11 dihydrides MH2- (M = Cu, Ag, Au, Rg) have been much less studied than the corresponding MH compounds, despite having potentially several interesting applications in chemical research. In this work, their main spectroscopic constants (bond lengths, dissociation energies, and force constants) have been evaluated by means of highly accurate relativistic four-component coupled cluster (4c-CCSD(T)) calculations in combination with large basis sets. Periodic trends have been quantitatively explained by the charge-displacement/natural orbitals for chemical valence (CD-NOCV) analysis based on the four-component relativistic Dirac-Kohn-Sham method, which allows a consistent picture of the nature of the M-H bond to be obtained on going down the periodic table in terms of Dewar-Chatt-Duncanson bonding components. A strong ligand-to-metal donation drives the M-H bond and it is responsible for the heterolytic (HM···H-) dissociation energies to increase monotonically from Cu to Rg, with RgH2- showing the strongest and most covalent M-H bond. The "V"-shaped trend observed for the bond lengths, dissociation energies, and stretching frequencies can be explained in terms of relativistic effects and, in particular, of the relativistically enhanced sd hybridization occurring at the metal, which affects the metal-ligand distances in heavy transition-metal complexes. The sd hybridization is very small for Cu and Ag, whereas it becomes increasingly important for Au and Rg, being responsible for the increasing covalent character of the bond, the sizable contraction of the Au-H and Rg-H bonds, and the observed trend. This work rationalizes the spectroscopic/bond property relationship in group 11 dihydrides within highly accurate relativistic quantum chemistry methods, paving the way for their applications in chemical bond investigations involving heavy and superheavy elements.

Equation-of-motion coupled-cluster theory for double electron attachment with spin-orbit coupling

We report implementation of the equation-of-motion coupled-cluster (EOM-CC) method for double electron-attachment (DEA) with spin-orbit coupling (SOC) at the CC singles and doubles (CCSD) level using a closed-shell reference in this work. The DEA operator employed in this work contains two-particle and three-particle one-hole excitations, and SOC is included in post-Hartree-Fock treatment. Time-reversal symmetry and spatial symmetry are exploited to reduce computational cost. The EOM-DEA-CCSD method with SOC allows us to investigate SOC effects of systems with two-unpaired electrons. According to our results on atoms, double ionization potentials (DIPs), excitation energies (EEs), and SO splittings of low-lying states are calculated reliably using the EOM-DEA-CCSD method with SOC. Its accuracy is usually higher than that of EOM-CCSD for EEs or DIPs if the same target can be reached from single excitations by choosing a proper closed-shell reference. However, performance of the EOM-DEA-CCSD method with SOC on molecules is not as good as that for atoms. Bond lengths for the ground and the several lowest excited states of GaH, InH, and TlH are underestimated pronouncedly, although reasonable EEs are obtained, and splittings of the ³Σ^- state from the π² configuration are calculated to be too small with EOM-DEA-CCSD.

Splittings of d8 configurations of late-transition metals with EOM-DIP-CCSD and FSCCSD methods

Multireference methods are usually required for transition metal systems due to the partially filled d electrons. In this work, the single-reference equation-of-motion coupled-cluster method at the singles and doubles level for double ionization potentials (EOM-DIP-CCSD) is employed to calculate energies of states from the d⁸ configuration of late-transition metal atoms starting from a closed-shell reference. Its results are compared with those from the multireference Fock-space coupled-cluster method at the CCSD level (FSCCSD) for DIP from the same closed-shell reference. Both scalar-relativistic effects and spin-orbit coupling are considered in these calculations. Compared with all-electron FSCCSD results with four-component Dirac-Coulomb Hamiltonian, FSCCSD with relativistic effective core potentials can provide reasonable results, except for atoms with unstable reference. Excitation energies for states in the (n - 1)d⁸ns² configuration are overestimated pronouncedly with these two methods, and this overestimation is more severe than those in the (n - 1)d⁹ns¹ configuration. Error of EOM-CCSD on these excitation energies is generally larger than that of FSCCSD. On the other hand, relative energies of most of the states in the d⁸ configuration with respect to the lowest state in the same configuration are predicted reliably with EOM-DIP-CCSD, except for the ³P₀ state of Hg²⁺ and states in Ir⁺. FSCCSD can provide reasonable relative energies for the several lowest states, while its error tends to be larger for higher states.

Analytical energy gradients for ionized states using equation-of-motion coupled-cluster theory with spin-orbit coupling

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) may have a significant effect on the structure and harmonic frequencies of particularly heavy p-block element compounds. However, reports on analytical energy gradients with SOC are scarce, especially for excited states. In this work, we implemented analytical energy gradients for ionized states using the equation-of-motion coupled-cluster (CC) theory at the CC singles and doubles level (EOM-IP-CCSD) with SOC. Effects of SOC on structure and harmonic frequencies as well as properties for both the ground and some excited states of open-shell compounds with one unpaired electron can be investigated efficiently with the present implementation. A closed-shell reference is required in the calculations, and SOC is included in post-Hartree-Fock treatment. Relativistic effective core potentials are employed in dealing with both scalar relativistic effects and SOC, and we treat perturbations that are even under time reversal in this work. Both time-reversal symmetry and double point group symmetry for D_2h ^* and its subgroups are exploited in the implementation. The method is applicable to states which can be reached by removing one electron from a closed-shell reference state. The results of some open-shell cations indicate the importance of SOC on structures and harmonic frequencies of heavy element compounds.