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Tran VA, Teucher M, Galazzo L, Sharma B, Pongratz T, Kast SM, Marx D, Bordignon E, Schnegg A, Neese F. Dissecting the Molecular Origin of g-Tensor Heterogeneity and Strain in Nitroxide Radicals in Water: Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Experiment versus Theory. J Phys Chem A 2023; 127:6447-6466. [PMID: 37524058 PMCID: PMC10424240 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.3c02879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Revised: 07/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023]
Abstract
Nitroxides are common EPR sensors of microenvironmental properties such as polarity, numbers of H-bonds, pH, and so forth. Their solvation in an aqueous environment is facilitated by their high propensity to form H-bonds with the surrounding water molecules. Their g- and A-tensor elements are key parameters to extracting the properties of their microenvironment. In particular, the gxx value of nitroxides is rich in information. It is known to be characterized by discrete values representing nitroxide populations previously assigned to have different H-bonds with the surrounding waters. Additionally, there is a large g-strain, that is, a broadening of g-values associated with it, which is generally correlated with environmental and structural micro-heterogeneities. The g-strain is responsible for the frequency dependence of the apparent line width of the EPR spectra, which becomes evident at high field/frequency. Here, we address the molecular origin of the gxx heterogeneity and of the g-strain of a nitroxide moiety (HMI: 2,2,3,4,5,5-hexamethylimidazolidin-1-oxyl, C9H19N2O) in water. To treat the solvation effect on the g-strain, we combined a multi-frequency experimental approach with ab initio molecular dynamics simulations for structural sampling and quantum chemical EPR property calculations at the highest realistically affordable level, including an explicitly micro-solvated HMI ensemble and the embedded cluster reference interaction site model. We could clearly identify the distinct populations of the H-bonded nitroxides responsible for the gxx heterogeneity experimentally observed, and we dissected the role of the solvation shell, H-bond formation, and structural deformation of the nitroxide in the creation of the g-strain associated with each nitroxide subensemble. Two contributions to the g-strain were identified in this study. The first contribution depends on the number of hydrogen bonds formed between the nitroxide and the solvent because this has a large and well-understood effect on the gxx-shift. This contribution can only be resolved at high resonance frequencies, where it leads to distinct peaks in the gxx region. The second contribution arises from configurational fluctuations of the nitroxide that necessarily lead to g-shift heterogeneity. These contributions cannot be resolved experimentally as distinct resonances but add to the line broadening. They can be quantitatively analyzed by studying the apparent line width as a function of microwave frequency. Interestingly, both theory and experiment confirm that this contribution is independent of the number of H-bonds. Perhaps even more surprisingly, the theoretical analysis suggests that the configurational fluctuation broadening is not induced by the solvent but is inherently present even in the gas phase. Moreover, the calculations predict that this broadening decreases upon solvation of the nitroxide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Van Anh Tran
- Max-Planck-Institut
für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Markus Teucher
- Max-Planck-Institut
für Chemische Energiekonversion, Stiftstraße 34-36, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Laura Galazzo
- Department
of Physical Chemistry, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest Ansermet 30, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
- Faculty
of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr-Universität
Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Bikramjit Sharma
- Lehrstuhl
für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität
Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Tim Pongratz
- Fakultät
für Chemie und Chemische Biologie, Technische Universität Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Str. 4a, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
| | - Stefan M. Kast
- Fakultät
für Chemie und Chemische Biologie, Technische Universität Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Str. 4a, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
| | - Dominik Marx
- Lehrstuhl
für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität
Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Enrica Bordignon
- Department
of Physical Chemistry, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest Ansermet 30, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
- Faculty
of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr-Universität
Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Alexander Schnegg
- Max-Planck-Institut
für Chemische Energiekonversion, Stiftstraße 34-36, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Frank Neese
- Max-Planck-Institut
für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
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Franzke YJ, Yu JM. Quasi-Relativistic Calculation of EPR g Tensors with Derivatives of the Decoupling Transformation, Gauge-Including Atomic Orbitals, and Magnetic Balance. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:2246-2266. [PMID: 35354319 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c01175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
We present an exact two-component (X2C) ansatz for the EPR g tensor using gauge-including atomic orbitals (GIAOs) and a magnetically balanced basis set expansion. In contrast to previous X2C and four-component relativistic ansätze for the g tensor, this implementation results in a gauge-origin-invariant formalism. Furthermore, the derivatives of the relativistic decoupling matrix are incorporated to form the complete analytical derivative of the X2C Hamiltonian. To reduce the associated computational costs, we apply the diagonal local approximation to the unitary decoupling transformation (DLU). The quasi-relativistic X2C and DLU-X2C Hamiltonians accurately reproduce the results of the parent four-component relativistic theory when accounting for two-electron picture-change effects with the modified screened nuclear spin-orbit approximation in the respective one-electron integrals and integral derivatives. According to our benchmark studies, the uncontracted Dyall and segmented-contracted Karlsruhe x2c-type basis sets perform well when compared to large even-tempered basis sets. Moreover, (range-separated) hybrid density functional approximations such as LC-ωPBE and ωB97X-D are needed to match the experimental findings. The impact of the GIAOs depends on the distribution of the spin density, and their use may change the Δg shifts by 10-50% as shown for [(C5Me5)2Y(μ-S)2Mo(μ-S)2Y(C5Me5)2]-. Routine calculations of large molecules are possible with widely available and comparably low-cost hardware as demonstrated for [Pt(C6Cl5)4]- with 3003 basis functions and three spin-(1/2) La(II) and Lu(II) compounds, for which we observe good agreement with the experimental findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yannick J Franzke
- Fachbereich Chemie, Philipps-Universität Marburg, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Jason M Yu
- Department of Chemistry, University of California─Irvine, 1102 Natural Sciences II, Irvine, California 92697-2025, United States
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Tran VA, Neese F. Double-hybrid density functional theory for g-tensor calculations using gauge including atomic orbitals. J Chem Phys 2020; 153:054105. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0013799] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- V. A. Tran
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - F. Neese
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
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Masys Š, Rinkevicius Z, Tamulienė J. On the magnetic properties of nanodiamonds: Electronic g-tensor calculations. J Chem Phys 2019; 151:044305. [PMID: 31370534 DOI: 10.1063/1.5111024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The electronic g-tensor calculations are carried out for various paramagnetic defects introduced into hydrogenated diamond nanocrystal C35H36, showing that such a system can be successfully used to model magnetic properties of nanodiamonds (NDs) with paramagnetic centers containing no vacancies. In addition, it is revealed that, depending on the geometric positions in ND, paramagnetic centers of the same type produce noticeable variations of the g-tensor values. A side-by-side comparison of the performance of effective nuclear charge and spin-orbit mean field (SOMF) approaches indicates that the latter is more sensitive to the quality of basis sets, especially concerning diffuse functions, the inclusion of which is found to be nonbeneficial. What is more, the SOMF method also exhibits a much more pronounced gauge-origin dependence. Compared to electronic charge centroid, spin centers (SCs) demonstrate a superior suitability as gauge origins, providing a better agreement with diamagnetic and paramagnetic contributions of g-tensor obtained employing gauge-including atomic orbitals (GIAOs). Therefore, SCs can be recommended for the g-tensor calculations of NDs whenever GIAOs are not available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Š Masys
- Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Z Rinkevicius
- Department of Theoretical Chemistry & Biology, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - J Tamulienė
- Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
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