On the electronic structure and spectrum of CuF2 and CuCl2

Abstract

The ground and low-lying states of CuF2 and CuCl2 have been studied using the single and doubles configuration interaction (SDCI) and coupled pair functional (CPF) methods in a large Gaussian basis set including up to g-type functions. The results include a determination of the bond distances for all the ligand field states (the three states with one hole in the 3d shell) and charge transfer (CT) states, and force constants for the ligand field states. Overall the SDCI (with or without the Davidson correction for higher excitations) and CPF results are in good agreement. The CPF results, which we believe to be the most accurate, can be summarized as follows. The computed value for the asymmetric stretching frequency in the 2Σ+g ground state of CuF2 is 740 cm−1, compared to the experimental value of 765 cm−1. The d–d transition energies for CuF2 are 2500 and 10 800 cm−1. The two lowest charge transfer states are at 31 200 and 33 900 cm−1, respectively. CuCl2 has been found to have a ground state which is an almost equal mixture of 2Σ+g and 2Πg when an estimate of the spin–orbit interaction is included. Three d–d transitions are found: 1600 cm−1 ( J=1/2), 7500 cm−1 (J=3/2), and 9700 cm−1 (J=5/2). The lowest charge transfer states have been computed to lie at 16 700 and 19 600 cm−1. Two bands have been found in the gas-phase spectrum of CuCl2 at 9000 and 19 000 cm−1, in good agreement with the present results. The computed f value for the CT band is 0.017, to be compared to the experimental value of 0.014.