On the lowest electronic states of the C2F radical

Abstract

The adiabatic energy surfaces of the lowest three electronic states [2(2A′ and 2A′)] and 2Σ+[2A′] of the C2F radical were investigated by the Hartree-Fock multiconfiguration self-consistent field (HF—MCSCF) ab initio method using a large set of atomic natural orbitals (ANO) and an extended configuration space, and the results were shown to be in agreement with the predictions of valence theory for this radical. The electronic ground state was found to have a bent equilibrium structure, hence contradicting the Walsh rule which predicts for the isoelectronic molecules a 2 linear state. The three states were found to be nearly degenerate and the potential energy surfaces of the two lowest electronic states exhibit an avoided crossing at an energy ∼2000 cm−1 above the ground-state minimum, lower than the highest vibrational fundamental. The strong adiabatic interaction which is responsible for the ordering of the electronic states and their equilibrium geometry involves not only the bending coordinate as normally found for Renner-Teller pairs of states, but also the C—C stretching coordinate, due to the near degeneracy of the 2Σ+ and the 2 lowest electronic states at linear geometries. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.