Isoelectronic analogs of phosphorus nitride: remarkably stable multiply charged cations

Abstract

The structures and stabilities of PN and its 27 isoelectronic analogues, CS, SiO, BCl, AlF, BeAr, MgNe, Sn{sup +}, PO{sup +}, CCl{sup +}, SiF{sup +}, BAr{sup +}, AlNe{sup +}, SO{sup 2+}, NCl{sup 2+}, PF{sup 2+}, CAr{sup 2+}, SiNe{sup 2+}, OCl{sup 3+}, SF{sup 3+}, NAr{sup 3+}, PNe{sup 3+}, FCl{sup 4+}, OAr{sup 4+}, SNe{sup 4+}, FAr{sup 5+}, ClNe{sup 5+}, and ArNe{sup 6+}, have been examined by ab initio molecular orbital theory. The CASSCF/6-311G(MC)(d) level was used to determine the ground-state potential energy curves and spectroscopic constants for the 28 diatomic systems. Equilibrium structures were also obtained with the 6-311G(MC)(d) basis set at the MP3 and ST4CCD levels, and dissociation energies were determined at the MP4/6-311 + G(MC)(2df) and MP4/6-311 + G(MC)(3d2f) levels. For the neutral and monocation analogues of PN, the calculated equilibrium geometries (at MP3/6-311G(MC)(d)) and dissociation energies (at MP4/6-311 + G(MC)(3d2f)) are in very good agreement with available experimental values. All the dication analogues of PN, namely, SO{sup 2+}, NCl{sup 2+}, PF{sup 2+}, CAr{sup 2+}, and SiNe{sup 2+}, are predicted to be experimentally observable species. Of these, the SO{sup 2+}, NCl{sup 2+}, and CAr{sup 2+} dications are calculated to be kinetically stable species, with large barriers associated with the exothermicmore » charge-separation reactions, while the PF{sup 2+} and SiNe{sup 2+} dications are predicted not only to be kinetically stable but also to be thermodynamically stable species.« less