Abstract
Static quantum chemical calculations and Car−Parrinello molecular dynamics (CPMD) simulations were used to investigate the structural characteristics and the stability of pentameric aluminum clusters in both gas phase and aquatic environments. The accuracy of several generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and hybrid exchange-correlation functionals were tested with and without empirical van der Waals corrections to ensure the accuracy of the selected methods. Conformational analysis was performed for experimentally detected (electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, ESI MS) structural isomers of cationic [Al5O6H2Cl4]+, [Al5O7H4Cl4]+, [Al5O8H6Cl4]+, and [Al5O9H8Cl4]+ complexes. Conductor-like screening model (COSMO) was used to investigate the stability of the gas phase optimized structures in aquatic environments. Four of the main pentameric aluminum complexes were then selected for the CPMD investigation. The effect of the long-range empirical vdW corrections (-D) was also tested employing two identic...
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