Post-Hartree–Fock study on Ar–HCO+ and He–HCO+ complexes: A critical examination of experimental data

Abstract

The second order Mo/ller–Plesset (MP2) to the fourth order many-body perturbation theory including single, double, triple, and quadruple substitutions (MP4(SDTQ)), coupled cluster with single and double excitations (CCSD), CCSD with perturbative triple excitations [CCSD(T)], quadratic configuration interaction with single and double substitutions (QCISD), and QCISD including noniterative triples contributions [QCISD(T)] ab initio correlated levels of theory have been employed in studies on molecular geometry and stability of the Ar–HCO+ and He–HCO+ complexes. Triple-zeta split-valence (6-311G) and correlation consistent (cc-pVTZ) basis sets augmented with diffuse and polarization functions were used. At applied levels of theory the predicted interaction energies (corrected for the basis set superposition error and zero-point vibrational energy) for Ar–HCO+ range from −3.21 kcal/mol (QCISD/6-311G(2df,2pd) to −4.21 kcal/mol (MP4(SDTQ)/aug-cc-pVTZ), and for He–HCO+ vary from −0.12 kcal/mol (−42 cm−1, MP2/cc-pVTZ) to −0.37 kcal/mol (−130 cm−1, CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ//CCSD/aug-cc-pVTZ). The optimized Ar–H distance (2.1392 Å at QCISD/cc-pVTZ and 2.1222 Å at MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ) agrees very well with the experimentally determined (2.13 Å) value, whereas when step-by-step higher level methods and basis sets are applied, the predicted He–H distance (1.9156 Å at QCISD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ dramatically retreats from the experimental value of 2.00 Å.