A computational characterization of N2@C60

H2O·HF@C70: Encapsulation Energetics and Thermodynamics

This report deals with the quantum-chemical evaluation of the energetics and thermodynamics of the simultaneous encapsulation of HF and H2O by the IPR (isolated pentagon rule) C70 fullerene cage, yielding H2O·HF@C70 species which were synthesized and characterized recently, thus further expanding the family of fullerene endohedrals with non-metallic encapsulates. The structures were optimized at the DFT (density functional theory) M06-2X/6-31++G** level. The encapsulation energetics were further refined by the advanced B2PLYPD/6-31++G** and B2PLYPD/6-311++G** methods. After enhancement of the B2PLYPD/6-311++G** encapsulation energy for the BSSE and steric corrections, the encapsulation energy gain was obtained, as 26 kcal/mol. The equilibrium encapsulation thermodynamics were described using the M06-2X/6-31++G** partition functions. The results correspond to our previous evaluations for the water dimer encapsulation by C84 cages.

Ground and excited electronic structures of metal encapsulated nanocages: the cases of endohedral M@C20H20 (M = K, Rb, Ca, Sr) and M@C36H36 (M = Na, K, Rb)

High-level electronic structure calculations were performed to analyze ground and excited states of neutral and cationic endohedral M@C₂₀H₂₀ (M = K, Rb, Ca, Sr) and M@C₃₆H₃₆ (M = Na, K, Rb). In their ground states, one or two electrons occupy a diffuse atomic s-type orbital, thus 1s¹ and 1s² superatomic electronic configurations are assigned for M = Na, K, Rb and M = Ca, Sr cases, respectively. These species populate 1p-, 1d-, 1f-superatomic orbitals in electronically excited states. The specific superatomic Aufbau model introduced for M@C₂₀H₂₀ (M = K, Rb) is 1s, 1p, 1d, 2s, 1f, 2p, 2d, 1g, 2f. On the other hand, excited electronic spectra of M@C₂₀H₂₀ (M = Ca, Sr) are rich in multireference characters. Excited states of bigger M@C₃₆H₃₆ molecules were investigated up to the 1d level and the transitions were found to require slightly higher energies compared to M@C₂₀H₂₀. These superatoms possess lower ionization potentials, hence can also be categorized as superalkalis.

Small Molecules in C60 and C70: Which Complexes Could Be Stabilized?

The recent syntheses of complexes involving some small molecules in opened fullerenes and those of hydrogen molecule(s) in C60 and C70 are accompanied in the literature by numerous computations for endohedral fullerene complexes which cope with the problem of the stability of these complexes. In this contribution, stabilization energies of endohedral complexes of C60 and C70 with H2, N2, CO, HCN, H2O, H2S, NH3, CH4, CO2, C2H2, H2CO, and CH3OH guests have been estimated using symmetry-adapted perturbation theory, which, contrary to the standard DFT and some other approaches, correctly describes the dispersion contribution of the host-guest interactions. On the basis of these calculations, the endohedral complexes with all these guests were found stable in the larger fullerene, while the C60 cage was found too small to host the latter four molecules. Except for H2 and H2CO, a stabilization effect for most guests in the C60 cage is about 30 kJ/mol. For H2 and H2O guests, a typical supramolecular effect is observed; namely, the stabilization in the smaller cage is equal to or larger than that in the larger C70 host. Except for the water molecule where the induction interaction plays a non-negligible role, in all complexes the main stabilization effect comes from the dispersion interaction. The information on the stability of hypothetical endohedral fullerene complexes and physical factors contributing to it can be of importance in designing future experiments contributing to their applications.