Ab initio investigation of the ground and excited states of TcO+ and RhO+

Abstract

High-level quantum calculations are utilized to analyze nineteen and thirteen lowest energy electronic states of TcO+ and RhO+. Their potential energy curves, equilibrium bond lengths, electronic excitation energies, harmonic vibrational frequencies, and anharmonicities are reported using quadruple-ζ and quintuple-ζ quality correlation consistent basis sets. The core electron correlation effects and equilibrium chemical bonding patterns of several low-energy electronic states are also considered. The ground state of TcO+ (11Ʃ+) (1σ21π41δ4) is triple bonded in nature, results adiabatically from the high energy Tc+(3P) + O(3P) fragments, and relates to the first excited state of TcO (2Σ+) (1σ22σ11π41δ4). The chemical bonding of TcO+(11Ʃ+) is identical to its isoelectronic RuO2+ (X1Ʃ+) ground state. The ground state of RhO+ (3Σ−) features a 1σ21π41δ42π2 electronic configuration. Moving from TcO+ to RhO+ the binding energy decreases by ∼15−20 kcal/mol, the metal-oxygen bond shortens by 0.07 Å, and the harmonic stretching frequency decreases by ∼170 cm−1. Bonding patterns and spectroscopic constants are compared for the neighboring species of RhO+ and TcO+.