A Theoretical Study of Tris-(<i>o</i>-benzoquinonediimine)-First-Row Divalent Transition Metal Complexes

Abstract

The ligand o-phenylenediamine (opda) and its oxidized form, o-benzoquinonediimine (bqdi), act as a fascinating candidate coordinating toward transition metal ions leading to the photochemical hydrogen production in absence of photosensitizers. Herein, we report the systematic study of the interaction between the oxidized form bqdi ligand, tris-(o-benzoquinonediimine) with divalent first-row transition metal series using DFT calculations. The lowest energy structures, bond length, binding energies, frontier molecular orbital analysis, natural bond orbitals, and global reactivity descriptor were calculated using B3LYP/6-311G(d,P) level of theory. The time dependent-DFT at the CAM-B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) level of theory was applied to determine the electronic structures and the optical spectra. The theoretical binding trend of the divalent first-row transition metal series is decreasing as follows: Cu >Ti > V > Co > Ni > Fe > Cr > Zn >Mn. Among them, the binding potency of iron (II) by the bqdi ligand was not predominantly sturdy as compared to other first-row divalent transition metal ions. The origin of strong coordination with Fe(II) is attributed to its extra capability to induce covalent coordination of bqdi ligands. The complex exhibited two strong peaks at 370 nm and 452 nm, due to the HOMO-3 to LUMO+1 and HOMO-1 to LUMO transitions, respectively. Natural bond orbital analysis showed that the major interaction happens between the N lone pair electrons of the ligand with an anti-bonding orbital of metal ions, in which Ti showed the highest interaction energy than other metal ions. The present systemic DFT study of bqdi ligands with the first-row transition metals strongly encourages the future establishment of photochemical hydrogen production in absence of photosensitizers.