Pseudopotential study of monohydrides and monoxides of main group elements K through Br

Prediction of pKa s of Late Transition-Metal Hydrides via a QM/QM Approach

Three implicit solvation models, the conductor-like polarizable continuum model (C-PCM), the conductor-like screening model (COSMO), and universal implicit solvent model (SMD), combined with a hybrid two layer QM/QM approach (ONIOM), were utilized to calculate the pK_a values, using a direct thermodynamic scheme, of a set of Group 10 transition metal (TM) hydrides in acetonitrile. To obtain the optimal combination of quantum methods for ONIOM calculations with implicit solvation models, the influence of factors, such as the choice of density functional and basis set, the atomic radii used to build a cavity in the solvent, and the size of the model system in an ONIOM scheme, was examined. Additionally, the impact of Grimme's empirical dispersion correction and exact exchange was also investigated. The results were calibrated by experimental data. This investigation provides insight about effective models for the prediction of thermodynamic properties of TM-containing complexes with bulky ligands. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

High-order electron-correlation methods with scalar relativistic and spin-orbit corrections

An assortment of computer-generated, parallel-executable programs of ab initio electron-correlation methods has been fitted with the ability to use relativistic reference wave functions. This has been done on the basis of scalar relativistic and spin-orbit effective potentials and by allowing the computer-generated programs to handle complex-valued, spinless orbitals determined by these potentials. The electron-correlation methods that benefit from this extension are high-order coupled-cluster methods (up to quadruple excitation operators) for closed- and open-shell species, coupled-cluster methods for excited and ionized states (up to quadruples), second-order perturbation corrections to coupled-cluster methods (up to triples), high-order perturbation corrections to configuration-interaction singles, and active-space (multireference) coupled-cluster methods for the ground, excited, and ionized states (up to active-space quadruples). A subset of these methods is used jointly such that the dynamical correlation energies and scalar relativistic effects are computed by a lower-order electron-correlation method with more extensive basis sets and all-electron relativistic treatment, whereas the nondynamical correlation energies and spin-orbit effects are treated by a higher-order electron-correlation method with smaller basis sets and relativistic effective potentials. The authors demonstrate the utility and efficiency of this composite scheme in chemical simulation wherein the consideration of spin-orbit effects is essential: ionization energies of rare gases, spectroscopic constants of protonated rare gases, and photoelectron spectra of hydrogen halides.