Experimental Ionization Potentials Research Articles

Theoretical Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Quadruple-Bonded Dimolybdenum(II,II) and Ditungsten(II,II) Paddlewheel Complexes: Performance of Common Density Functional Theory Methods.

We have revisited the gas-phase photoelectron spectra of quadruple-bonded dimolybdenum(II,II) and ditungsten(II,II) paddlewheel complexes with modern density functional theory methods and obtained valuable calibration of four well-known exchange-correlation functionals, namely, BP86, OLYP, B3LYP*, and B3LYP. All four functionals were found to perform comparably, with discrepancies between calculated and experimental ionization potentials ranging from <0.1 to ∼0.5 eV, with the lowest errors observed for the classic pure functional BP86. All four functionals were found to reproduce differences in ionization potentials (IPs) between analogous Mo2 and W2 complexes, as well as large, experimentally observed ligand field effects on the IPs, with near-quantitative accuracy. The calculations help us interpret a number of differences between analogous Mo2 and W2 complexes through the lens of relativistic effects. Thus, relativity results in not only significantly lower IPs for the W2 complexes but also smaller HOMO-LUMO gaps and different triplet states relative to their Mo2 counterparts.

Semiempirical molecular-orbital calculations of dissociation energies of small molecules containing light elements

A semiempirical molecular-orbital approach has been developed to calculate the dissociation energies of 57 second-row neutral and charged diatomic molecules. One-electron energies and wave functions were used. The 2s and 2p electrons have separate energies and separate values of Z 2S and Z 2P . Calculations were made with a CNDO/INDO FORTRAN programme modified to a level of approximation that is more similar to extended Hückel calculations than to either CNDO or INDO. The correlation between calculated and experimental dissociation energies was favourable with a relative standard deviation of 15%. Additionally, dipole moments for the molecules were calculated concurrently with the same parameters. The correlation between calculated and experimental dipole moments was favourable for seventeen molecules with a relative standard deviation of 19%. The correlation between calculated and experimental ionisation potentials for fourteen molecules was also favourable with a relative standard deviation of 11%. Also, a repulsion work function was formulated and used in this work between pairs of atoms. For 90% of the molecules studied, the maximum calculated dissociation energy occurred within ±0.1 Å of the experimental bond distance. The semiempirical methods used in the present work could be used for future studies of larger molecules, including organic molecules.

A Density Functional Theory for the Average Electron Energy.

A formally exact density functional theory (DFT) determination of the average electron energy is presented. Our theory, which is based on a different accounting of energy functional terms, partially solves one well-known downside of conventional Kohn-Sham (KS) DFT: that electronic energies have but tenuous connections to physical quantities. Calculated average electron energies are close to experimental ionization potentials (IPs) in one-electron systems, demonstrating a surprisingly small effect of self-interaction and other exchange-correlation errors in established DFT methods. Remarkable agreement with ab initio quantum mechanical calculations of multielectron systems is demonstrated using several flavors of DFT, and we argue for the use of the average electron energy as a design criterion for density functional approximations.

Boroxine benzaldehyde complex for pharmaceutical applications probed by electron interactions.

2,4,6-Tris(4-formylphenyl)boroxine (TFPB) is a substituted boroxine containing a benzaldehyde molecule bonded to each boron atom. Boroxine cages are an emerging class of functional nanostructures used in host-guest chemistry, and benzaldehyde is a potential radiosensitizer. Reactions initiated by low-energy electrons with such complexes may dictate and bring new fundamental knowledge for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. The electron ionization properties of TFPB are investigated using a gas-phase electron-molecule crossed beam apparatus coupled with a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer in an orthogonal geometry. Ionization and threshold energies are experimentally determined by mass spectra acquisition as a function of the electron energy. The abundance of the molecular precursor cation in the mass spectrum at 70 eV is significantly lower than that of the most abundant fragment C7 H5 O+ . Twenty-nine cationic fragments with relative intensities >2% are detected and identified. The appearance energies of six fragment cations are reported, and the experimental first ionization potential is found at eV. Moreover, eight double cations are identified. The present results are supported by quantum chemical calculations based on bound state techniques, electron ionization models and thermodynamic thresholds. According to these results, the TPFB properties may combine the potential radiosensitizer effect of benzaldehyde with the stability of the boroxine ring.

Generalized Kohn-Sham equations with accurate total energy and single-particle eigenvalue spectrum.

We propose a new generalized Kohn-Sham or constrained hybrid method, where the exchange potential is the (equally weighted) average of the nonlocal Fock-exchange term and the self-interaction-corrected exchange potential, as obtained from our constrained minimization method of semi-local approximations. The new method gives an accurate single-particle eigenvalue spectrum with an average deviation between (the negative of) the valence orbital eigenvalues and the experimental ionization potentials of about 0.5eV, while the deviation of core orbitals is within 2eV. The improvement in the eigenvalue spectrum is achieved with a minimal increase in the total energy.

A database of electron-impact ionization cross sections of molecules composed of H, C, N, O, and F

Electron-impact ionization cross sections are essential parameters required in various plasma models. To provide self-consistent ionization cross sections in plasma modeling, an open database with tabular fitting parameters and an online web system are established in this work. There are 88 species composed of H, C, N, O, and F in this database. The Binary-Encounter-Bethe (BEB) model, the Deutsch-Märk (DM) model, and the combined model which consolidates the BEB and DM models are considered to obtain the atomic and molecular ionization cross sections. The input parameters of the above models for all the species are calculated according to the quantum chemical computation with the hybrid density functional theory method with the Austin–Petersson–Frisch functional including dispersion. The same methods and basis set ensure consistent ionization cross sections in the database. The average relative error between the calculated and experimental ionization potential is 1.84%. The average root-mean-square error of the fitted ionization cross sections is 1.81% with respect to the exact values predicted by the combined model. The online database can be accessed from the website http://plasma.mathboylinlin.com/db/cs/ion/.

Electron Driven Reactions in Tetrafluoroethane: Positive and Negative Ion Formation

In the search for alternatives to chlorine-containing gases, tetrafluoroethane, CF3CH2F (R134a), a widely used refrigerant gas, has been recognized as a promising substitute for dichlorodifluoromethane, CCl2F2 (R12). When R12 is replaced by R134a, the global warming potential drops from 8100 to 1430, the ozone depletion potential changes from 1 to 0, and the atmospheric lifetime decreases from 100 to 14 years. Electron interactions in the gas phase play a fundamental role in the atmospheric sciences. Here, we present a detailed study on electron-driven fragmentation pathways of CF3CH2F, in which we have investigated processes induced by both electron ionization and electron attachment. The measurements allow us to report the ion efficiency curves for ion formation in the energy range of 0 up to 25 eV. For positive ion formation, R134a dissociates into a wide assortment of ions, in which CF3+ is observed as the most abundant out of seven ions with a relative intensity above 2%. The results are supported by quantum chemical calculations based on bound state techniques, electron-impact ionization models, and electron-molecule scattering simulations, showing a good agreement. Moreover, the experimental first ionization potential was found at 13.10 ± 0.17 eV and the second at around 14.25 eV. For negative ion formation, C2F3- was detected as the only anion formed, above 8.3 eV. This study demonstrates the role of electrons in the dissociation of R134a, which is relevant for an improvement of the refrigeration processes as well as in atmospheric chemistry and plasma sciences.

Exploring the twisted molecular configurations for tuning their optical and nonlinear optical response properties: A quantum chemical approach

Unlike the previous several investigations on planar donor-π-acceptor chromophores, the present investigation highlights the importance of twisted molecular configurations to effectively tune the optical and nonlinear optical (NLO) response properties. A variety of substitutions are made to design several twisted molecular compounds (1–7). These compounds are designed using pyrenyl and naphthalimide moieties, which are twisted with each other in their molecular configurations. The calculated versus experimental highest intensity absorption energy peaks (3.482 V. 3.444 eV) and experimental ionization potentials (6.07 V. 5.93 eV) of parent compound 1 reproduced reasonably well at M06/6-311G∗∗ methodology. The twisted chromophores show significantly larger amplitudes of third-order NLO polarizabilities (<γ>), which are found to be as large as 778.31 × 10−36 esu for compound 7 at the M06/6-311G∗∗ methodology. The <γ> amplitudes were also compared with planar donor-π-acceptor prototype para-nitroaniline (p-NA) molecule to provide the semi-quantitative assessment. For instance, the <γ> amplitudes of all compounds are about ∼7–∼39 times bigger from the amplitude of p-NA at the same computational level. The origin of larger amplitudes has been traced though three-level model using the TD-DFT results. The larger oscillator strengths, lower transitions energies and larger change between the electronic dipole moment between the ground and the excited states. We believe the present study will not only put these compounds under the spotlight of material science but also provide structure-property relationships in designed compounds.

Noncovalent interactions in crowded olefinic radical cations

Aim. To study the effect of electronic (α- and β-hyperconjugations) and steric (noncovalent interactions) factors on the structures of olefinic radical cations.Results and discussion. The effect of intramolecular dispersion interactions on the structures of crowded alkenes in the neutral and ionized forms has been studied at the density functional theory (DFT) level with and without dispersion corrections included, as well as at the MP2 theory level with medium size basis sets. The results obtained are compared to the available experimental data. An excellent agreement has been found between the experimental and MP2/DFT-computed geometries of sesquihomoadamantene, adamantylidene adamantane, bis-2,2,5,5-tetramethylcyclopentylidene, bis-D3-homocub-4-ylidene, and bis-CS-homocub-8-ylidene in the neutral and ionized forms. The experimental ionization potentials are better reproduced with the DFT-methods.Experimental part. The structure and composition of compounds were proved by the methods of 1H and 13C NMR-spectroscopy, and GC-MS-analysis. Elemental analysis was performed for the compounds obtained.Conclusions. The twisting of the olefinic moieties in the sesquihomoadamantene and adamantylidene adamantane radical cations is determined by the balance between the σ-π-hyperconjugation and residual one-electron π-bonding and is close to that of the prototypical ethylene radical cation (29°). The twisting reaches 55° for the bis-2,2,5,5-tetramethylcyclopentylidene radical cation due to substantial steric repulsions between methyl groups. At the same time, the ionized states of bis-D3-homocub-4-ylidene and bis-CS-homocub-8-ylidene retain their planarity due to β-CC-hyperconjugation and intramolecular dispersion attractions. Received: 26.12.2019Revised: 17.01.2020Accepted: 27.02.2020

Investigation into reactions of methyl methacrylate and ethyl acrylate with chlorine atom

Reactions between chlorine and unsaturated esters in gas phase are examined in a slow-flow reaction tube inside the laboratory-built photoionization mass spectrometer at the energy range of 8–11 eV. 248 nm laser radiation is used to initiate the reaction. Products are distinguished, C5H8O2Cl for addition, and C5H7O2, C5H7O2Cl and C5H9O2Cl for abstraction. The direct or indirect products are detected, indicating secondary reactions. And experimental ionization potentials are procured for direct adducts of methyl methacrylate to be 8.30 eV and for that of ethyl acrylate to be 9.95 eV which are well consistent with theoretical ionization potentials of likely isomers. Theoretical reaction channels are also accounted for, optimized under M06-2X/6-31 + G(d,p) level and ionization potentials of products are calculated under M06-2X/6-31 + G(d,p) level also. Differences between experimental and theoretical details are discussed.

Long-range-corrected Rung 3.5 density functional approximations.

Rung 3.5 functionals are a new class of approximations for density functional theory. They provide a flexible intermediate between exact (Hartree-Fock, HF) exchange and semilocal approximations for exchange. Existing Rung 3.5 functionals inherit semilocal functionals' limitations in atomic cores and density tails. Here we address those limitations using range-separated admixture of HF exchange. We present three new functionals. LRC-ωΠLDA combines long-range HF exchange with short-range Rung 3.5 ΠLDA exchange. SLC-ΠLDA combines short- and long-range HF exchange with middle-range ΠLDA exchange. LRC-ωΠLDA-AC incorporates a combination of HF, semilocal, and Rung 3.5 exchange in the short range, based on an adiabatic connection. We test these in a new Rung 3.5 implementation including up to analytic fourth derivatives. LRC-ωΠLDA and SLC-ΠLDA improve atomization energies and reaction barriers by a factor of 8 compared to the full-range ΠLDA. LRC-ωΠLDA-AC brings further improvement approaching the accuracy of standard long-range corrected schemes LC-ωPBE and SLC-PBE. The new functionals yield highest occupied orbital energies closer to experimental ionization potentials and describe correctly the weak charge-transfer complex of ethylene and dichlorine and the hole-spin distribution created by an Al defect in quartz. This study provides a framework for more flexible range-separated Rung 3.5 approximations.

State-of-the-Art Computations of Vertical Ionization Potentials with the Extended Koopmans' Theorem Integrated with the CCSD(T) Method.

The accurate computation of ionization potentials (IPs), within 0.10 eV, is one of the most challenging problems in modern computational chemistry. The extended Koopmans' theorem (EKT) provides a systematic direct approach to compute IPs from any level of theory. In this study, the EKT approach is integrated with the coupled-cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] method for the first time. For efficiency, the density-fitting (DF) approximation is employed for electron repulsion integrals. Further, the EKT-CCSD(T) method is applied to a set of 23 molecules, denoted as IP23, for comparison with the experimental ionization potentials. For the IP23 set, the EKT-CCSD(T) method, along with the aug-cc-pV5Z basis set, provides a mean absolute error of 0.05 eV. Hence, our results demonstrate that direct computations of IPs at high-accuracy levels can be achieved with the EKT-CCSD(T) method. We believe that the present study may open new avenues in IP computations.

DFT results against experimental data for electronic properties of C60 and C70 fullerene derivatives

Some electronic properties of different C60 and C70 derivatives were evaluated using 20 density functionals (the B3LYP, BHANDH, PBE0, HSE06, CAM-B3LYP, ωB97X-D, BMK, PBEPBE, M06-L, M06, M06-2X, M06-HF, PW91PW91, BLYP, B97D, HCT407, τ-HCTH, τ-HCTHhyb, TPSS, and LSDA), and some of the results were compared with the available experimental data. Unlike in Hartree-Fock (HF) method, the orbital relaxation is not the origin of the violation of DFT from the Koopmans' theorem. For most of functionals, the HOMO-LUMO gap (Eg) is more sensitive to the functional compared to the optical gap. The functionals with a large %HF exchange significantly overestimate the Eg, and are not suggested for electronic calculations. All non-hybrid functionals underestimate the value of |HOMO| in comparison to the experimental ionization potential (IPe). In the hybrid functionals, the HOMO level becomes more stable by increasing %HF exchange and even in some functionals with a large %HF, |HOMO| overestimates the IPe.

Coupled-cluster method for open-shell heavy-element systems with spin-orbit coupling.

The coupled-cluster approach with spin-orbit coupling (SOC) included in post-self-consistent field treatment (SOC-CC) using relativistic effective core potentials is extended to spatially non-degenerate open-shell systems in this work. The unrestricted Hartree-Fock determinant corresponding to the scalar relativistic Hamiltonian is employed as the reference and the open-shell SOC-CC approach is implemented at the CC singles and doubles (CCSD) level as well as at the CCSD level augmented by a perturbative treatment of triple excitations (CCSD(T)). Due to the breaking of time-reversal symmetry and spatial symmetry, this open-shell SOC-CC approach is rather expensive compared with the closed-shell SOC-CC approach. The open-shell SOC-CC approach is applied to some open-shell atoms and diatomic molecules with s1, p3, σ1, or π2 configuration. Our results indicate that rather accurate results can be achieved with the open-shell SOC-CCSD(T) approach for these systems. Dissociation energies for some closed-shell molecules containing heavy IIIA or VIIA atoms are also calculated using the closed-shell SOC-CC approach, where energies of the IIIA or VIIA atoms are obtained from those of the closed-shell ions and experimental ionization potentials or electron affinities. SOC-CCSD(T) approach affords reliable dissociation energies for these molecules. Furthermore, scalar-relativistic CCSD(T) approach with the same strategy can also provide reasonable dissociation energies for the 5th row IIIA or VIIA molecules, while the error becomes pronounced for the 6th row elements.

Electronic properties of ionic surfaces: A systematic theoretical investigation of alkali halides.

Bulk and surface electronic band structure properties of alkali halides are investigated by using density-functional theory (DFT) in generalized gradient approximation, the GW many-body quasi-particle theory and a quantitative ionic model that combines the atomic ionization potentials and electron affinities with all other parameters determined from first-principles DFT calculations. It is confirmed that the GW approach can predict the band gaps of all alkali halides in good agreement with the experiment with a mean absolute error of about 0.3 eV compared to the available experimental data. The ionic model can well reproduce the trends in the experimental band gaps and ionization potentials, and in some cases can even lead to a quantitative agreement with experiment, but it has severe limitations for the systems containing small ions like Li+ for which a reliable estimation of the polarization contribution is difficult to attain. The latter finding can provide clues for the development of new theoretical approaches to ionic systems by combining the ionic model with more sophisticated consideration of the ionic polarization.

Using Wannier functions to improve solid band gap predictions in density functional theory.

Enforcing a straight-line condition of the total energy upon removal/addition of fractional electrons on eigen states has been successfully applied to atoms and molecules for calculating ionization potentials and electron affinities, but fails for solids due to the extended nature of the eigen orbitals. Here we have extended the straight-line condition to the removal/addition of fractional electrons on Wannier functions constructed within the occupied/unoccupied subspaces. It removes the self-interaction energies of those Wannier functions, and yields accurate band gaps for solids compared to experiments. It does not have any adjustable parameters and the computational cost is at the DFT level. This method can also work for molecules, providing eigen energies in good agreement with experimental ionization potentials and electron affinities. Our approach can be viewed as an alternative approach of the standard LDA+U procedure.

K- and L-edge X-ray absorption spectrum calculations of closed-shell carbon, silicon, germanium, and sulfur compounds using damped four-component density functional response theory.

X-ray absorption spectra of carbon, silicon, germanium, and sulfur compounds have been investigated by means of damped four-component density functional response theory. It is demonstrated that a reliable description of relativistic effects is obtained at both K- and L-edges. Notably, an excellent agreement with experimental results is obtained for L2,3-spectra-with spin-orbit effects well accounted for-also in cases when the experimental intensity ratio deviates from the statistical one of 2 : 1. The theoretical results are consistent with calculations using standard response theory as well as recently reported real-time propagation methods in time-dependent density functional theory, and the virtues of different approaches are discussed. As compared to silane and silicon tetrachloride, an anomalous error in the absolute energy is reported for the L2,3-spectrum of silicon tetrafluoride, amounting to an additional spectral shift of ∼1 eV. This anomaly is also observed for other exchange-correlation functionals, but it is seen neither at other silicon edges nor at the carbon K-edge of fluorine derivatives of ethene. Considering the series of molecules SiH4-XFX with X = 1, 2, 3, 4, a gradual divergence from interpolated experimental ionization potentials is observed at the level of Kohn-Sham density functional theory (DFT), and to a smaller extent with the use of Hartree-Fock. This anomalous error is thus attributed partly to difficulties in correctly emulating the electronic structure effects imposed by the very electronegative fluorines, and partly due to inconsistencies in the spurious electron self-repulsion in DFT. Substitution with one, or possibly two, fluorine atoms is estimated to yield small enough errors to allow for reliable interpretations and predictions of L2,3-spectra of more complex and extended silicon-based systems.

Toward an Understanding of Diamond sp(2)-Defects with Unsaturated Diamondoid Oligomer Models.

Nanometer-sized doubly bonded diamondoid dimers and trimers, which may be viewed as models of diamond with surface sp(2)-defects, were prepared from corresponding ketones via a McMurry coupling and were characterized by spectroscopic and crystallographic methods. The neutral hydrocarbons and their radical cations were studied utilizing density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio (MP2) methods, which reproduce the experimental geometries and ionization potentials well. The van der Waals complexes of the oligomers with their radical cations that are models for the self-assembly of diamondoids, form highly delocalized and symmetric electron-deficient structures. This implies a rather high degree of σ-delocalization within the hydrocarbons, not too dissimilar to delocalized π-systems. As a consequence, sp(2)-defects are thus also expected to be nonlocal, thereby leading to the observed high surface charge mobilities of diamond-like materials. In order to be able to use the diamondoid oligomers for subsequent surface attachment and modification, their C-H-bond functionalizations were studied, and these provided halogen and hydroxy derivatives with conservation of unsaturation.

Explicitly correlated wave functions for atoms and singly charged ions from Li through Sr: Variational and Diffusion Monte Carlo results

Total energies calculated from explicitly correlated wave functions for the ground state of the atoms Li to Sr and their singly charged anions and cations are obtained. Accurate all electron, non-relativistic Variational and Diffusion Monte Carlo energies are reported. The quality of the results, when comparing with exact estimations and experimental electron affinities and ionization potential is similar for all of the atoms studied. The parameterization of the explicitly correlated wave functions for all of the atomic systems studied is provided.

Effects of self-consistency and plasmon-pole models onGWcalculations for closed-shell molecules

We present theoretical calculations of quasiparticle energies in closed-shell molecules using the GW method. We compare three different approaches: a full-frequency $G_0W_0$ (FF-$G_0W_0$) method with density functional theory (DFT-PBE) used as a starting mean field; a full-frequency $GW_0$ (FF-$GW_0$) method where the interacting Green's function is approximated by replacing the DFT energies with self-consistent quasiparticle energies or Hartree-Fock energies; and a $G_0W_0$ method with a Hybertsen-Louie generalized plasmon-pole model (HL GPP-$G_0W_0$). While the latter two methods lead to good agreement with experimental ionization potentials and electron affinities for methane, ozone, and beryllium oxide molecules, FF-$G_0W_0$ results can differ by more than one electron volt from experiment. We trace this failure of the FF-$G_0W_0$ method to the occurrence of incorrect self-energy poles describing shake-up processes in the vicinity of the quasiparticle energies.