Relativistic All-electron Density Functional Calculations Research Articles

A new magic titanium-doped gold cluster and orientation dependent cluster-cluster interaction

The stability and structures of titanium-doped gold clusters Au(n)Ti (n=2-16) are studied by the relativistic all-electron density-functional calculations. The most stable structures for Au(n)Ti clusters with n=2-7 are found to be planar. A structural transition of Au(n)Ti clusters from two-dimensional to three-dimensional geometry occurs at n=8, while the Au(n)Ti (n=12-16) prefer a gold cage structure with Ti atom locating at the center. Binding energy and second-order energy differences indicate that the Au(14)Ti has a significantly higher stability than its neighbors. A high ionization potential, low electron affinity, and large energy gap being the typical characters of a magic cluster are found for the Au(14)Ti. For cluster-cluster interaction between magic transition-metal-doped gold clusters, calculations were performed for cluster dimers, in which the clusters have an icosahedral or nonicosahedral structure. It is concluded that both electronic shell effect and relative orientation of clusters are responsible for the cluster-cluster interaction.

Possible method to determine the two-dimensional to three-dimensional crossover of gold clusters by examining their vibrational modes

The structural and vibrational properties of AuN (N⩽16) have been studied by the relativistic all-electron density-functional calculations, in which a particular attention is paid to characterize the two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) crossover by their vibrational modes. There exist distinctly different vibrational spectra for the 2D and 3D AuN, which could be used as a fingerprint signal to identify their structures. More interestingly, it is found that each isomer of AuN has its characteristic radial breathing mode, whose frequency shows a remarkable jump at the 2D-3D transition point, thus offering a realizable and powerful experimental tool to determine the 2D-3D crossover size of AuN.

Scalar relativistic all-electron density functional calculations on periodic systems

Scalar relativistic effects are included in periodic boundary conditions calculations with Gaussian orbitals. This approach is based on the third-order Douglas-Kroll-Hess approximation, allowing the treatment of all electrons on an equal footing. With this methodology, we are able to perform relativistic all-electron density functional calculations using the traditional local spin-density and generalized gradient approximations (GGA), as well as meta-GGA and hybrid density functionals. We present benchmark results for the bulk metals Pd, Ag, Pt, and Au, and the large band gap semiconductors AgF and AgCl.

η5-Pentamethylcyclopentadienyliridium(III) and -rhodium(III) Labeling of Amino Acids with Aromatic Side Chains – The Importance of Relativistic Effects for the Stability of Cp*Irııı Sandwich Complexes

η5-Pentamethylcyclopentadienyliridium(III) and -rhodium(III) sandwich complexes of the type [(η5-Cp*)M(η6-aa)](CF3SO3)2 (M = Ir, Rh; 3–14) containing L-tyrosine, L-tryptophan and L-phenylalanine derivatives (aa) can be prepared by treatment of [(η5-Cp*)ML3] (CF3SO3)2 [L = thf, (CH3)2CO, CH3CN] with the appropriate bioligand in thf for N-protected compounds and in CF3COOH for α-amino acids with unprotected amino groups. Coordination to the Cp*MIII fragments stabilizes the ketonic form of the tyrosine aromatic side chains, leading to a marked enhancement in the acidity of the p-hydroxy function. The crystal structure of [Cp*Ir(ActyrOMe)] (CF3SO3)2 (3b, ActyrOMe = N-acetyltyrosine methyl ester) confirms a marked distortion towards an η5-oxohexadienyl coordination mode as may be gauged from the tilting of the p-OH plane C13/C14/C15 by no less than θ = 12.9° from that of the remaining ring atoms. Facial isomers are present in an effective 1:1 ratio for all tryptophan derivatives. Whereas the Cp*IrIII sandwich complexes of aromatic α-amino acids are stable in polar solvents, rapid decay is observed for analogous Cp*RhIII complexes of N-unprotected derivatives in polar solvents. Comparative nonrelativistic and relativistic all-electron density functional calculations on the cationic sandwich complexes [Cp*M(η6-C6H5Me)]n+ (n = 2, M = Ir, Rh; n = 1, M = Ru) confirm that all three metals bind more tightly to Cp* than to toluene as gauged by the respective force constants (k1 > k2). A much larger relativistic enhancement of k2 for M = Ir (279 vs 207 Nm−1) could be responsible for the greater stability of Cp*IrIII complexes in solution.