On the elusive anti-bayerite structure

Sequential deprotonation of the Cr3+ hexahydrate in an alkaline environment up to the stage of a charge-neutral active hydroxide was studied via density functional theory. The deprotonation could be characterized as autocatalytic since upon completion of every H-abstraction stage, Cr was found to mediate O-H dissociation in the next stage by pre-conditioning the ligand O atom that contributes the highest 2s density into Cr-4s based molecular orbitals; the latter amounts to a greater Cr-O distance due to increased charge density along the Cr-O axis. A direct effect of such Cr-4s/O-2s mixing is the reduction of electronegativity of the ligand-O atom and a corresponding high Voronoi deformation density (VDD) of the attached ligand-H atoms. Based on bonding energy decomposition, a facial to meridional isomer ratio of between 2:1 and 3:1 was derived as the most probable stereochemical mix of the active hydroxide; the latter forms, by mutual donation and acceptance, six hydrogen bonds with second hydration shell molecules.

Relationship of QTAIM and NOCV Descriptors with Tolman’s Electronic Parameter

The σ-donor properties of various P-donor ligands have been studied at the PBEPBE level of theory, which has proved to be accurate in computing the symmetric carbonyl stretching frequencies in nickel(0)-tricarbonyl complexes containing P-donor ligands. The delocalization index from the QTAIM methodology and the energy component associated with the NOCV deformation density representing the donor interaction give the best correlation with Tolman’s electronic parameters, whereas the electron density at the bond critical point and the Wiberg bond index are connected with the donor strength of the ligands to a lesser extent.

How amino and nitro substituents direct electrophilic aromatic substitution in benzene: an explanation with Kohn–Sham molecular orbital theory and Voronoi deformation density analysis

Molecular orbitals of aniline explain electrophilic substitution, whereas for nitrobenzene charge rearrangements are needed.

Importance of multiple diffraction avoidance for charge density observation

It might not be well recognized, most reflections are contaminated by multiple diffractions (MD). Therefore high redundancy data could not coincide with high accuracy data when MDs are not avoided. We collected both data set of MD-avoided and no MD-avoided ones and investigated its effectiveness in electron density measurement. For data collection, four-circle diffractometer at KEK-PF BL14A (Tsukuba, Japan) was used. In MD-avoided measurement, each reflection is collected at angle setting of least of MD contamination which calculated by psi-scan simulation software MDC [1]. In no MD-avoided measurement, usual bisect setting were used. In no MD-avoided measurement, intensities of forbidden reflections of YMn2O5 are more than 10 times largely observed than for MD-avoided one, and resulting residual density map is also highly contaminated reflecting the tendency of Fo>>Fc which is typical for reflections of weak intensity. Figure 1 shows this situation. Figure 2 is the deformation density of YTiO3 for MD-avoided data. Where model density of without Ti-3d1 valence electrons is subtracted from experimentally observed electron density. In the figure, quenching of angular momentum of Ti-3d1 electron is clearly observed. Although Rint could not be an ideal indicator of data accuracy since it cannot perceive Fo>>Fc, Rint(F) of MD-avoided measurement for YTiO3 is significantly reduced to ~0.5%. For no MD-avoided one, Rint(F) is ~1.2%. Since accuracy of MD-avoidance technique is confirmed, the next step is to exploit informations of only a few numbers of valence electrons among F(000) electrons. To accomplish this, wave function based refinement such as XAO [2] should be applied and studied.

Electron density of molecular crystals at high pressure from synchrotron data

Accurate electron density mapping is quite a common practice for crystals cooled at low temperature and accurately measured. This is not true for species under external perturbation, due to complicated experimental conditions. Studying molecular crystals in excited states is a challenge, Coppens(2009), and a purely experimental electron density mapping is not possible at present. So far, the same limitation affected molecular crystals at high pressure, with only few attempts to use theoretical multipoles to fit experimental data, Fabbiani (2011). Here we report on the first unconstrained multipolar model, refined for syn-l,6;8,13 biscarbonyl[14]annulene (BCA) at P=7.7 GPa. BCA was the subject of a low temperature data collection by Destro (1995). The molecule (close to C2v symmetry) has a fair aromaticity, but it progressively localizes double and single bonds as a function of pressure. At 7.7 GPa the geometrical distortion is quite evident and mirrored by the electron density. The experiment, carried out at Diamond Light Source, was possible combining: a) high energy (40 Kev) to overcome the resolution problems caused by diamond anvil cells and reduce absorption and extinction; b) microfocused beam (30 micron) to minimize spurious X-ray diffusion; c) two crystals in the DAC, to increase data coverage; d) sufficient pressure to quench atomic motion. The final agreement is obviously worse than what typically obtained at ambient pressure. However, the model is satisfactory because: a) the deformation density is sensible and in agreement with the calculated one; b) the distribution of residuals is normal and no significant error is evident. The study proves that aromatic molecules are more reactive when squeezed, in keeping with the recent theoretical study by Hoffmann et al. on benzene. The Figure shows the static deformation density of BCA in 3D, obtained from a multipolar model refined against the experimental structure factors.