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This work predicts the extraordinary hyperpolarizability of inorganic clusters: two water trimer anions. The first hyperpolarizabilities of (H2O-)(3) are considerable, beta(0)=1.715 x 10(7) a.u. for configuration A and beta(0)=1.129 x 10(7) a.u. for configuration B at MP2/d-aug-cc-pVDZ+x level. The first hyperpolarizabilities of (H2O-)(3) (configuration A) and related systems [(H2O)(3) and (H2O)(3)F-] are compared at the MP2/d-aug-cc-pVDZ+x level. These results are beta(0)=1.715 x 10(7) a.u. for (H2O-)(3), beta(0)=35 a.u. for (H2O)(3) [the neutral core of (H2O-)(3)], and beta(0)=46 a.u. for (H2O)(3)F-). Comparing the beta(0) values of related systems, we find that the dipole-bound excess electron is the key factor in the extraordinary first hyperpolarizability of (H2O-)(3) species. It will provide a future in the development of some materials with the excess electron (e.g., electrides) that exhibit large nonlinear optical response.

The weak metal-metal interactions of Pt(II)-Ag(I)/Cu(I) have been investigated by ab initio method at MP2 level through the model complexes [trans-Pt(PH3)2(CN)2-M(PH3)2+] (M=Ag,Cu). The calculated interaction energy of 12.9 and 11.5 kcal mol(-1) for [trans-Pt(PH3)2(CN)2-Ag(PH3)2+] and [trans-Pt(PH3)2(CN)2-Cu(PH3)2+] respectively, are in the middle of the van der Waals force and the strong hydrogen bond. The estimated equilibrium separations between Pt and M, r(eq)(Pt-M) (3.32 A for M=Ag and 3.23 A for M=Cu), lie within the region expected for weak metal-metal interaction. The electronic dispersive contributions dominate the weak interaction.

The structures and isomerization of Si(2)CN species are explored at density functional theory and ab initio levels. Fourteen minimum isomers are located connected by 23 interconversion transition states. At the coupled-cluster single double (CCSD)(T)/6-311+G(2df)//QCISD/6-311G(d) +zero-point vibrational energies level, the thermodynamically most stable isomer is a four-membered ring form cSiSiCN 1 with Si-C cross bonding. Isomer 1 has very strong C-N multiple bonding characters, formally suggestive of a radical adduct between Si(2) and CN. Such a highly pi-electron localization can effectively stabilize isomer 1 to be the ground state. The second low-lying isomer is a linear form SiCNSi 5 (9.8 kcal/mol above 1) with resonating structure among [Si=C-*N=Si], *[Si=C=N=Si], and [Si=C=N-Si*]* with the former two bearing more weight. The species 1 and 5 have very high kinetic stability stabilized by the barriers of at least 25 kcal/mol. Both isomers should be experimentally or astrophysically observable. In light of the fact that no cyclic nitrogen-containing species have been detected in space, the cyclic species 1 could be a very promising candidate. The calculated results are compared to those of the analogous molecules C(3)N, C(3)P, SiC(2)N, and SiC(2)P. Implications of Si(2)CN in interstellar and N-doped SiC vaporization processes are also discussed.

By the counterpoise-correlated potential energy surface method (interaction energy optimization), the structure of the pi H-bond complex FH cdots, three dots, centered FH . . . C4H4 . . . HF has been obtained at the second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ) level. Intermolecular interaction energy of the complex is calculated to be -7.8 kcal/mol at the coupled-cluster theory with single, double substitutions and perturbatively linked triple excitations CCSD (T)/aug-cc-pVDZ level. The optimized structure is a "wheel with a pair of pedals" shaped (1mid R:1) structure in which both HF molecules almost lie on either vertical line passing through the middle-point of the C[Double Bond]C bond on either side of the horizontal plane of the C4 ring for cyclobutadiene. In the structure, an antiaromatic ring pi-dihydrogen bond is found, in which the proton acceptor is antiaromatic 4 electron and 4 center pi bond and the donors are both acidic H atoms of HF molecules. In accompanying with the pi-dihydrogen bond, two secondary interactions are exposed. The first is a repulsive interaction between an H atom of HF and a near pair of H atoms of C4H4 ring. The second is the double pi-type H bond between two lone pairs on a F atom and a far pair of H atoms.

Ab initio direct dynamics methods have been used to study the title reaction. The electronic structure information including geometries, gradients and force constants (Hessians) is calculated at the QCISD/6-31+G(d) level. With the aid of intrinsic reaction coordinate theory, the minimum energy path (MEP) is obtained at the same level, and the energies along the MEP are further refined by performing the single-point calculations at the PMP4/6-311++G(3df,3pd) level. For this reaction, the theoretical rate constants by using improved canonical variational transition state theory incorporating small-curvature tunneling correction are in excellent agreement with the more recent experimental values. Our calculated results show that for the CH3+HBr reaction, the rate constants have a strong nonlinear Arrhenius behavior, i.e., the CH3+HBr reaction has negative temperature dependence at T 536 K. The current work predicts that the kinetic isotope effect ...

The potential energy surface of the CH2O+CH3 reaction is explored at the MP2/6-311++G(d,p), MP4SDQ/6-311G(d,p), and QCISD(T)/6-311+G(3df,2p) (single point) levels of theory. Theoretical calculations suggest that the major product channel (R1) is the hydrogen abstraction leading to the product P1 CHO+CH4 (R1), while the addition process leading to P2H+CH3CHO (R2) appears to be negligibly small. The calculated enthalpies and dissociation activation energies for CH3CH2O and CH3OCH2 radicals involved in the reaction are in line with the experimental values. Dual-level dynamics calculation is carried out for the direct hydrogen abstraction channel. The energy profile of (R1) is refined with the interpolated single-point energies (ISPE) method at the QCISD(T)//MP2 level. The rate constants, which are evaluated by canonical variational transition-state theory (CVT) including small-curvature tunneling (SCT) correction, are in good agreement with the available experimental data. It is shown that tunneling effect plays a significant role in the rate constant calculation; and as a result, the CVT/SCT rate constants exhibit typical non-Arrhenius behavior over a wide temperature range 300–2000 K. The three parameter expression is k=6.35×10−26 T4.4 exp(−2450/T) cm3 molecule−1 s−1.

Using the aug-cc-pVDZ basis set supplemented with diffuse bond functions (BF), the evolution of the monoelectron dihydrogen bond H⋯e⋯H in the symmetric (n=m=2–5) and asymmetric (n,m:3,1;3,2;4,2;4,3) cluster anions (FH)n{e}(HF)m have been studied. When n=m=3, 4, 5, and n, m: 3, 2 the H⋯e⋯H bond evolves into the FH–e–HF monoelectron bimolecular bond. While in some asymmetric cluster anions (n,m:4,2;4,3) the FH–e–HF bond changes to H–e–HF bond, and some bond rearrangements occur in the larger subunit (HF)4 at the same time. This evolution shows a size effect of the subunits on the structure and the bond for the molecular cluster anions.

The reactions of CH3OCH3+OH (R1) and CF3OCH3+OH (R2) via two hydrogen abstraction channels are investigated theoretically using the dual-level direct dynamics approach. The minimum energy path calculation is carried out at the MP2/6-311G(d,p) level, and energetic information is further refined by the G3 theory. For each reaction hydrogen abstraction is favored for the out-of-plane hydrogen, while the abstraction from the in-plane hydrogen is a minor channel. Hydrogen-bonded complexes are present on the reactants and products sides of the primary channel, indicating that the reactions may proceed via an indirect mechanism. By means of variational transition state theory with interpolated single-point energies method the dynamic results of all channels are obtained, and the small-curvature tunneling is included. The total rate constants calculated from the sum of the individual rate constants are in good agreement with the experimental data and are fitted to be k1=3.33×10−20 T2.91 exp(−409.7/T) and k2=1.23×...

The multiple channel reactions (1) H+CH3Cl→products and (2) H+CH3Br→products have been studied by ab initio direct dynamics method. The potential-energy surface information is calculated at the BH&H-LYP/6-311G(d,p) level of theory. Energies along the minimum energy paths are further improved by single-point energy calculations at the PMP4(SDTQ)/6-311+G(3df,2p) level of theory. For the two reactions, each with two reaction channels, hydrogen atom abstraction and halogen atom abstraction have been identified. The rate constants for each reaction channel are calculated by using improved canonical variational transition state theory incorporating the small-curvature tunneling correction in the temperature range 200–3000 K. The theoretical total rate constants, which are calculated from the sum of the individual rate constants, are in good agreement with the experimental data. For reaction (1), H-abstraction reaction will be preferred in the whole temperature range. For reaction (2), Br-abstraction reaction is...

Using the aug-cc-pVDZ basis set supplemented with bond functions (BF), the existences of the systems (FH)2{e}(HF)2 have been studied. It was found to have equilibrium geometry with all frequencies real at the second-order Moller–Plesset perturbation (MP2/aug-cc-pvdz+BF) level. The calculated vertical electron detachment energy is 1.065 eV for (FH)2{e}(HF)2 at the coupled cluster level of theory with single, double, and noniterative triple excitations (CCSD(T)). The result calculated indicated that the stabilities of the system own to forming the monoelectron dihydrogen bond H⋯e⋯H, which comes not only from the static Coulomb interaction but also from the dispersion interaction between the loosely bound (excess) electron and the neutral molecular (cluster’s) hosts. The characteristics of the monoelectron dihydrogen bond H⋯e⋯H of the system have been revealed. The H⋯e⋯H bond length is 2.359 A for (FH)2{e}(HF)2. Some vibrational modes that display the presence of the bond H⋯e⋯H have been found and a novel se...

A detailed [C2H2NO+] potential-energy surface in singlet, including 48 minimum isomers and 73 transition states, is built up at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) and CCSD(T)/6-311G(2df,p) (single-point) levels in order to explore the mechanisms of the important ion–molecule reactions between CCN+/CNC+ and H2O and between HCO+/HOC+ and HCN/HNC. For the reactions of both CCN+ and CNC+ towards H2O, product HCO++HNC may be the most abundant followed by the much less HCO++HCN and then HCNH++CO. Significant discrepancies on the product distributions are found between our calculated results and two previous experimental findings. On the other hand, for the HCO++HCN/HNC reactions, the barrierless association may lead to the stable adducts OC(H)NCH+/OC(H)CNH+, while the proton-transfer may barrierlessly lead to product HCNH++CO via the hydrogen-bound complexes OC…HNCH+/OC…HCNH+. For the HOC++HCN/HNC reactions, both the barrierless proton-transfer and association-elimination processes can lead to HCNH++CO via the complexes CO…...

Molecular dynamics simulation starting from a lamellar crystal model of a single polyethylene chain is performed to investigate the lamellar reorganization during heating at the molecular level. It is shown that three stages are involved in the process of the reorganization: at temperatures 300 K 500 K the lamella starts to melt and becomes a random coil in the end. Particularly, the thickening process is investigated in our simulations. It is found that the lamellar thickening occurs in discrete steps and is driven mainly by the van der Waal attraction between the chain segments. There are two mechanisms for the lamellar thickening. At lower temperature the thickening occurs by the sliding diffusion of adjacent chain segments, while at higher temperature the recrystallization after the partial melting of thinner stems leads to the thickening.

By means of molecular dynamics simulation, the crystallization process of the copolymer (ethylene-co-propene) with different branch distributions is studied at the molecular level. It is shown that subglobules formed at the branch sites along the copolymer chains and subsequently coalesced into a single globule and then developed to a lamellar structure in the end. This process can be considered as crystal nucleation and growth at the early stage of the copolymer crystallization. In the nucleation the branch acts as a nucleating seed and in the crystal growth the branch is rejected from the crystal region as a defect. The driving force for the relaxation process is the attractive van der Waals interaction between the chain segments. Furthermore, it is found that the branch distribution is an important factor in determining the crystallinity of the copolymer, when the comonomer composition and the molecular weight of the copolymers are fixed, as a blocky type of copolymer will show nearly unhampered crysta...

The potential-energy surface of the interstellar molecule C4N is explored at the B3LYP/6-311G(d) level of theory. Thirteen isomers including the linear, three-membered ring, four-membered ring, A-like, Y-like, and cage-like structures are located as minima connected by 23 interconversion transition states. The structures of the most relevant isomers and transition states are further optimized at the QCISD/6-311G(d) level followed by single-point energy calculations at the MP4SDTQ, CCSD(T), and QCISD(T) levels with the 6-311G(2df) basis set. At the CCSD(T)/6-311G(2df)//QCISD/6-311G(d) level, the lowest-lying isomer is a linear structure CCCCN 1 followed by a CCC three-membered ring structure 4 with exocyclic CCN bonding that lies only 2.8 kcal/mol higher. The third and fourth low-lying isomers possess a CCC three-membered ring structure 5 with exocyclic CNC bonding at 21.4 kcal/mol and a linear structure CCCNC 2 at 23.4 kcal/mol, respectively. All the four isomers 1, 2, 4, and 5 and another high-lying isom...

The dissociation and isomerization stability of the linear cyanogen isomer CCNN, a formally charge-transfer species comprising C2− and N2+, is theoretically investigated by means of ab initio methods, including the Hartree–Fock (HF), the Mo/ller–Plesset perturbation theory from second through fourth order (MP2, MP4SDQ, MP4SDTQ), the configuration interaction with singles and doubles (CISD), the quadratic configuration interaction with singles and doubles (QCISD) as well as with triples [QCISD(T)], and the density functional theory (DFT) including Beck’s three parameter hybrid methods with the Lee–Yang–Parr correlation functional (B3LYP) and with the Perdew–Wang 91 correlation functional (B3PW91) methods. At the QCISD(T)/6-311G(3df)//QCISD(T)/6-311G(d) level with QCISD/6-311G(d) zero-point vibrational energy (ZPVE) correction, the barriers from CCNN to the NNC three-membered ring structure with exocyclic C–C bonding and to the dissociation products C2 and N2 are predicted to be 42.1 and 51.8 kcal/mol, resp...

In the present paper, the possible ion associated species in pure Na(2)SO(4) and mixed Na(2)SO(4)/MgSO(4) aqueous solutions are investigated via the ab initio method at the HF/6-31+G∗ level. The vibrational v(1)-SO(4)(2-) band is analyzed. For the unhydrated species, when the number of metal ions around the SO(4)(2-) ion is less than 3, the dominating effect to the v(1)-SO(4)(2-) band is the polarization of the cations, while the M-O bonding will be dominating as the number is equal to or more than 3. For the hydrated species, the coordinated structures of the Na(+) ion in all ion pairs are not stable due to the strong effect of the SO(4)(2-) ion but relatively stable in the triple ion (TI) clusters since there are fewer vacant hydration sites around the SO(4)(2-). The v(1)-SO(4)(2-) frequencies are close to that of the hydrated SO(4)(2-) ion in the ion pairs and larger in both Na(2)SO(4) and Na(2)SO(4)/MgSO(4) TI clusters. On the basis of our calculated results, the evolvement of Raman spectra in the Na(2)SO(4)/MgSO(4) droplet with the molar ratio of 1:1 is explained.

The three structures of rare gas inserted fluorohydrides HRgF (Rg = He, Ar, and Kr) with all real frequencies are obtained at the QCISD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ level. The static first hyperpolarizabilities (beta(0)) at the QCISD/aug-cc-pVQZ level are 8 a.u. (HF), 384 a.u. (HHeF), 737 a.u. (HArF), and 465 a.u. (HKrF). The beta(0) value remarkably increases by about 50-90 times from 8 a.u. (HF) to 384-737 a.u. (HRgF) due to the inserted rare gas (Rg). The Rg atomic number dependence of beta(0) for HRgF (Rg = He, Ar, and Kr) is found at the first time. The order of beta(0) is unmonotonic to be HHeFHArFHKrF, but not monotonic (HHeFHArFHKrF). Why? The Rg atomic number dependence of beta(0) relates to both the geometric effect (expanded H...F distance by Rg) and the electronic effect of Rg. From HHeF to HArF and from HArF to HKrF, the preponderant effect on beta(0) is variational. From HHeF to HArF, the geometric effect is preponderant and the beta(0) value increases; from HArF to HKrF, the electronic effect of Rg is preponderant and the beta(0) value decreases. Thus, the rare gas atomic number dependence of beta(0) is unmonotonic. Furthermore, as the order of beta(0) is consistent with that of the difference between the ground and excited-state dipole moments (Deltamu), the Deltamu may be one mainly controlling factor of beta(0). The nature of H-Rg bond is also explored that special short H-He bond of 0.811 A is only a half single bond due to its Wiberg bond index of 0.51, while the long H-Ar and H-Kr bonds are almost single bond with the Wiberg bond index of about 0.8.

The hydrogen abstraction reactions of fluoroalkane isomers CF(2)HCFHCF(2)H and CF(3)CFHCFH(2) with the OH radicals have been studied theoretically by a dual-level direct dynamics method. Optimized geometries and frequencies of all the stationary points and extra points along the minimum-energy path are obtained at the BB1K/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory, and then the energy profiles are refined at G3(MP2) level of theory. Using the improved canonical variational transition-state theory (ICVT) with the small-curvature tunneling correction (SCT), the rate constants for each channel are calculated over a wide temperature range of 200-1000 K. Our results show that the tunneling correction plays an important role in the rate constant calculation in the low temperature range. The calculated ICVT/SCT rate constants are consistent with available experimental data. Our calculations indicate the contribution of the abstraction from the -CFH- group of isomeric compounds CF(2)HCFHCF(2)H and CF(3)CFHCFH(2) to the overall reactions is quite different over the whole temperature range due to the effect of different groups at both sides of -CFH- group. Furthermore, to further reveal the thermodynamic properties, the enthalpies of formation of the two reactants CF(2)HCFHCF(2)H, and CF(3)CFHCFH(2), and the product radicals CF(2)HCFCF(2)H, CF(2)HCFHCF(2), CF(3)CFCFH(2), and CF(3)CFHCFH are obtained by using isodesmic reactions.

Dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulation technique is an effective method targeted on mesoscopic simulations in which the interactions between particles are soft. As a result, it inevitably causes bond crossing and interpenetration between particles. Here we develop a practical method based on the two-dimensional DPD model which can extremely reduce the possibility of bond crossing. A rigid core is added to each particle by modifying the form of the conservative force in DPD so that the particles cannot penetrate each other. Then by adjusting the spring constant of the bond, we can impose a simple geometry constraint so that the bond crossing can hardly take place. Furthermore, we take into account an analytic geometry constraint in the polymerization model of DPD by which we can successfully avoid the severe bond crossing problem during bond generation in two dimensions. A parabola fitting between the pressure and the particle number density shows that our modified DPD model with small rigid cores can still be mapped onto the Flory-Huggins model, and the mesoscopic length scale of our simulations does not change. By analyzing the mean-square displacement of the innermost monomer and the center of mass of the chains, we find a t(8/15) power law of the polymer dynamics in our model instead of the Rouse prediction supporting the recent results in literature.

All the 924 classical isomers of fullerene C(56) have been investigated by PM3, and some most stable isomers are refined with HCTH/3-21G and B3LYP6-31G(d) methods. D(2):003 with the least number of adjacent pentagons is predicted to be the most stable isomer at B3LYP/6-31G(d) level, while C(s):022 and C(2):049 possess nearly degenerate energies with relative energies of 0.03 and 3.90 kcal/mol, respectively. However, as to dianionic C(56)(2-) fullerene, C(2v):011 is predicted to be the most stable isomer. Investigations also show that the encapsulation of Ca atom in C(56) fullerene is exothermic and the metallofullerenes Ca@C(56) can be described as Ca(2+)@C(56)(2-). The computed relative stabilities show that the D(2):003 behaves more thermodynamically stable than other isomers in a wide temperature interval, and C(2v):011 should also be an important component. The electronic isomerization of C(56) (C(2v):011) and C(50) (D(5h):002) indicates that this phenomenon might be rather general in fullerenes and causes different properties, thus bringing about new possible applications of fullerenes. The static second-order hyperpolarizabilities of the three most stable isomers are slightly larger than that of C(60).

The 437 classical isomers of fullerene C52 have been studied by PM3, HCTH/3-21G, and B3LYP6-31G(d). C(2):029 with the least number of adjacent pentagons is predicted to be the most stable isomer. The investigations show that both the number of adjacent pentagons and the degree of aromaticity play important roles in the relative stabilities of fullerene isomers. To clarify the relative stabilities of the C52 isomers in a wide range of temperatures, the entropy contributions are taken into account on the basis of the Gibbs energy at the B3LYP6-31G(d) level. C(2):029 prevails in a wide temperature range. In addition, the electronic spectra and second-order hyperpolarizabilities are determined by means of ZINDO and sum-over-states model. The static second-order hyperpolarizability of C(2):029 is 51% larger than that of C60. Furthermore, intensity-dependent refractive index gamma (-omega;omega,omega,-omega) (omega=1.1653 eV) of C(2):029 is 13 times larger than that of C60. The encapsulation of Ca atom in C52 fullerene is exothermic and the metallofullerene Ca-C52 is described as Ca2+-C52(2-).

A new kind of single-electron lithium bonding complexes H(3)C...LiY (Y=H, F, OH, CN, NC, and CCH) was predicted and characterized in the present paper. Their geometries (C(3v)) with all real harmonic vibrational frequencies were obtained at the MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ level. For each H(3)C...LiY complex, single-electron Li bond is formed between the unpaired electron of CH(3) radical and positively charged Li atom of LiY molecule. Due to the formation of the single-electron Li bond, the C-H bonds of the CH(3) radical bend opposite to the LiY molecule and the Li-Y bond elongates. Abnormally, the three H(3)C...LiY (Y=CN, NC, and CCH) complexes exhibit blueshifted Li-Y stretching frequencies along with the elongated Li-Y bonds. Natural bond orbital analyses suggest ca. 0.02 electron transfer from the methyl radical (CH(3)) to the LiY moiety. In the single occupied molecular orbitals of the H(3)C...LiY complexes, it is also seen that the electron could of the CH(3) radical approaches the Li atom. The single-electron Li bond energies are 5.20-6.94 kcal/mol for the H(3)C...LiY complexes at the CCSD(T)aug-cc-pVDZ+BF (bond functions) level with counterpoise procedure. By comparisons with some related systems, it is concluded that the single-electron Li bonds are stronger than single-electron H bonds, and weaker than conventional Li bonds and pi-Li bonds.

The electronic structures and stabilities of cationic MPb12+ clusters (M = B, Al, Ga, In, and Tl) with 50 valence electrons are investigated within density functional theory. It is shown that, at the B3LYP/cc-pVDZ(-PP) and BPW91/cc-pVDZ(-PP) levels of theory, the structures of MPb12+ with icosahedra (I(h)) symmetry are energetically favorable, and their high stabilities may arise from the closed-shell nature of the pi subsystems which are subject to the 2(N(pi + 1)2 rule with N(pi = 1). In addition, the possessing of large nucleus-independent chemical shifts of the five kinds of clusters reflects the common aromatic character of these clusters. From the comparison of our studies on the binding energies and the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy gaps, the cluster AlPb12+ has higher stability than the others and this is consistent with the recent mass-spectrometric discovery of Al-doped Pb(n)+ clusters, in which AlPb12+ is highly abundant. The same methods are used to search for the structures of the neutral MPb12 clusters. The calculations reveal that the most stable geometries of the BPb12 and GaPb12 clusters have I(h) symmetry, the AlPb12 and InPb12 clusters have T(h) symmetry, and the TlPb12 cluster has C5v symmetry. Furthermore, the vertical ionization potentials of the neutral MPb12 clusters are smaller than that of some alkali atoms, indicating that the neutral MPb12 clusters possess superalkali character.

Theoretical studies of the solvated electrons (HCN)n- (n=3, 4) reveal a variety of electron trapping possibilities in the (HCN)n (n=3, 4) clusters. Two isomers for (HCN)3- and four isomers for (HCN)4- are obtained at the MP2aug-cc-pVDZ+dBF (diffusive bond functions) level of theory. In view of vertical electron detachment energies (VDEs) at the CCSD(T) level, the excess electron always "prefers" locating in the center of the system, i.e., the isomer with higher coordination number shows larger VDE value. However, the most stable isomers of the solvated electron state (HCN)3- and (HCN)4- are found to be the linear Cinfinitynu and Dinfinityh structures, respectively, but not the fullyl symmetric structures which have the largest VDE values.

Using the dissipative particle dynamics simulation technique, we have studied the influence of the molecule rigidity on the nanostructures of the A2(B4)2-type miktoarm block copolymers. A typical spherical micellar ordered structure is obtained for a coil-coil miktoarm block copolymer in melt. By introducing a bond angle potential in our model to enhance the molecule rigidity systematically, we find, respectively, a hexagonal cylindrical structure and a parallel ellipsoid in lamellae structure which is discovered for the first time.

By the counterpoise geometry optimization at the level of CCSD(T)aug-cc-pVDZ, the asymmetrical linear structures with all the real frequencies were obtained for the triatomic cations of (ABA)+ type: Ne3+, (He-Ne-He)+, (Ar-Ne-Ar)+, (Ar-He-Ar)+, (He-O-He)+, and (Ar-O-Ar)+. The validity of this optimization method is confirmed by comparing with the method of the potential-energy surface for the calculations of Ne3+ and (He-Ne-He)+. Using the molecular-orbital theory, it is found that the interaction within the triatomic cations is dominated by the contribution from the first two atoms while the contribution from the third atom is small. This result is justified as a direct consequence of forming an asymmetrical linear structure. Specifically, four types of interaction within the triatomic cations are identified: three-electron sigma-type hemibond, three-electron pi-type hemibond, two-electron sigma bond, and the attraction between cation and atoms. For Ne3+, (He-Ne-He)+, and (He-O-He)+ clusters, it is shown that the electron correlation effect supports the asymmetry.

The title unknown reaction is theoretically studied at various levels to probe the interaction mechanism between the ethynyl radical (HC triple bond C) and formaldehyde (H(2)C double bond O). The most feasible pathway is a barrier-free direct H-abstraction process leading to acetylene and formyl radical (C(2)H(2)+HCO) via a weakly bound complex, and then the product can take secondary dissociation to the final product C(2)H(2)+CO+H. The C-addition channel leading to propynal plus H-atom (HCCCHO+H) has the barrier of only 3.6, 2.9, and 2.1 kcal/mol at the CCSD(T)/6-311+G(3df,2p)MP2//6-311G(d,p)+ZPVE, CCSD(T)/6-311+G(3df,2p)//QCISD/6-311G(d,p)+ZPVE, and G3//MP2 levels, respectively [CCSD(T)--coupled cluster with single, double, and triple excitations; ZPVE--zero-point vibrational energy; QCISD--quadratic configuration interaction with single and double excitations; G3//MP2-Gaussian-3 based on Moller-Plesset geometry]. The O addition also leading to propynal plus H atom needs to overcome a higher barrier of 5.3, 8.7, and 3.0 kcalmol at the three corresponding levels. The title no-barrier reaction presents a new efficient route to remove the pollutant H(2)CO, and should be included in the combustion models of hydrocarbons. It may also represent the fastest radical-H(2)CO reaction among the available theoretical data. Moreover, it could play an important role in the interstellar chemistry where the zero- or minute-barrier reactions are generally favored. Discussions are also made on the possible formation of the intriguing propynal in space via the title reaction on ice surface.

Dissipative particle dynamics, a simulation technique appropriate at mesoscopic scales, has been applied to investigate the interfaces in immiscible binary A/B homopolymer blends and in the ternary systems with their block copolymers. For the binary blends, the interfacial tension increases and the interface thickness decreases with increasing Flory-Huggins interaction parameter chi while the homopolymer chain length is fixed. However, when the chi parameter and one of the homopolymer chain length is fixed, increasing another homopolymer chain length will induce only a small increase on interfacial tension and slight decrease on interface thickness. For the ternary blends, adding the A-b-B block copolymer will reduce the interfacial tension. When the mole number of the block copolymer is fixed, longer block chains have higher efficiency on reducing the interfacial tension than the shorter ones. But for the block copolymers with fixed volume fraction, shorter chains will be more efficient than the longer ones on reducing the interfacial tension. Increasing the block copolymer concentration reduces interfacial tension. This effect is more prominent for shorter block copolymer chains.

Lowe-Andersen (LA) temperature controlling method [C. P. Lowe, Europhys. Lett. 47, 145 (1999)] is applied in a series of mesoscopic polymer simulations to test its validity and efficiency. The method is an alternative for dissipative particle dynamics simulation (DPD) technique which is also Galilean invariant. It shows excellent temperature control and gives correct radial distribution function as that from DPD simulation. The efficiency of LA method is compared with other typical DPD integration schemes and is proved to be moderately efficient. Moreover, we apply this approach to diblock copolymer microphase separation simulations. With LA method, we are able to reproduce all the results from the conventional DPD simulations. The calculated structure factors of the microphases are consistent with the experiments. We also study the microphase evolution dynamics with increasing chiN and find that the bath collision frequency Gamma does not affect the order of appearing phases. Although the thermostat does not affect the surface tension, the order-disorder transition (ODT) is somewhat sensitive to the values of Gamma, i.e., the ODT is nonmonotonic with increasing Gamma. The dynamic scaling law is also tested, showing that the relation obeys the Rouse theory with various Gamma.

Despite the importance of the C(3)H radical in both combustion and interstellar space, the reactions of C(3)H toward stable molecules have never been studied. In this paper, we report our detailed mechanistic study on the radical-molecule reaction C(3)H+H(2)O at the Becke's three parameter Lee-Yang-Parr-B3LYP6-311G(d,p) and coupled cluster with single, double, and triple excitations-CCSD(T)6-311G(2d,p) (single-point) levels. It is shown that the C(3)H+H(2)O reaction initially favors formation of the carbene-insertion intermediates HCCCHOH (1a,1b) rather than the direct H- or OH-abstraction process. Subsequently, the isomers (1a,1b) can undergo a direct H- extrusion to form the well-known product propynal HCCCHO (P(5)). Highly competitively, (1a,1b) can take the successive 1,4- and 1,2-H-shift interconversion to isomer H(2)CCCHO(2a,2b) and then to isomer H(2)CCHCO(3a,3b), which can finally take a direct C-C bond cleavage to give product C(2)H(3) and CO (P(1)). The other products are kinetically much less feasible. With the overall entrance barrier 10.6 kcal/mol, the title reaction can be important in postburning processes. Particularly, our calculations suggest that the title reaction may play a role in the formation of the intriguing interstellar molecule, propynal HCCCHO. The calculated results will also be useful for the analogous C(3)H reactions such as with ammonia and alkanes.

By the counterpoise-correlated potential energy surface method (interaction energy optimization), five structures of the C(2)H(4-n)F(n)-HF (n = 0,1,2) dimers with all real frequencies have been obtained at MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level. The influence of F substituent effect on the structure and pi-hydrogen bond of dimer has been discussed. For C(2)H(4-n)F(n)-HF (n = 1,2), the pi-hydrogen bonds are elongated comparing with that for C(2)H(4)-HF. For C(2)H(3)F-HF, g-C(2)H(2)F(2)-HF, cis-C(2)H(2)F(2)-HF, the pi-hydrogen bonds are further deformed. These changes (elongate, shift, and deformation) of pi-hydrogen bond mainly come from deformation of pi-electron cloud of C=C bond. The pi-electron cloud is pushed towards the one C atom, the pi H-bond shift also to the C direction. Since the two lobes of pi-electron cloud have deviated slightly from the molecular vertical plane passing through C=C bond, the pi-hydrogen bond is sloped. Intermolecular interaction energies of the dimers are calculated to be -3.9 for C(2)H(4)-HF, -2.8 for C(2)H(3)F-HF, -2.1 for g-C(2)H(2)F(2)-HF, -1.6 for cis-C(2)H(2)F(2)-HF, -1.3 kcal/mol for trans-C(2)H(2)F(2)-HF, at CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ level.

A dual-level direct dynamics study has been carried out for the two hydrogen abstraction reactions CF(3)CHCl(2)+Cl and CF(3)CHFCl+Cl. The geometries and frequencies of the stationary points are optimized at the BHLYP/6-311G(d,p), B3LYP/6-311G(d,p), and MP2/6-31G(d) levels, respectively, with single-point calculations for energy at the BHLYP/6-311++G(3df,2p), G3(MP2), and QCISD(T)/6-311G(d,p) levels. The enthalpies of formation for the species CF(3)CHCl(2), CF(3)CHFCl, CF(3)CCl(2), and CF(3)CFCl are evaluated at higher levels. With the information of the potential energy surface at BHLYP/6-311++G(3df,2p)//6-311G(d,p) level, we employ canonical variational transition-state theory with small-curvature tunneling correction to calculate the rate constants. The agreement between theoretical and experimental rate constants is good in the measured temperature range 276-382 K. The effect of fluorine substitution on reactivity of the C-H bond is discussed.

The geometrical structure, electronic structure, one-photon absorption (OPA) and two-photon absorption (TPA) properties of the perylene tetracarboxylic derivatives (PTCDs) were studied theoretically by using density functional theory (DFT) and Zerner's intermediate neglect of differential overlap (ZINDO) methods. The results revealed that increasing the number of naphthalene nucleus, extending the conjugated length on long axis, increasing the strength of donor group on lateral side, decreasing the DeltaE(H-L) (energy gap between the highest occupied orbital and the lowest unoccupied orbital) and keeping the conjugation effect and inductive effect along the same molecular axis are the efficient ways to enlarge TPA cross section of PTCDs compounds. The results that PTCDs compounds exhibited extremely large TPA cross section of around 800-1100 nm (near infrared region) shed light into the significance of the PTCDs compounds for applications in TPA labeling materials in vivo.

Polycoordinate planar B compounds BX(n) (X=B, Al, C, N and Si; n=3-8) are optimized at B3LYP/6-311++G (3df,p) theoretical level. For X=B, center B atom can coordinate three to eight atoms, while for X=Al, C, Si, and N, it can only coordinate three to five atoms. The natural bond orbital analysis shows that the center B atom does not violate the octet rule, though the numbers of coordinated atom even reach 8. According to molecular orbital analysis and nucleus independent chemical shift value calculation, it seems that these polycoordinate planar B compounds BX(n) (X=B, Al, C, N, and Si; n=3-8) hold twofold (alpha and pi) aromatic, which play an important role in their stability and keeping all atoms in one plane.

In the present study, an attempt is made to reveal the main mechanism of photodissociation on the lowest-lying Rydberg state (1)B(1) of ketene, referred to as the second singlet excited state S(2), by means of the complete active space self-consistent field and the second-order multiconfigurational perturbation theory methods. The located S(2)S(1)T(1) three-surface intersection plays an important role in the dissociation process. It is shown that the intersection permits an efficient internal conversion from S(2) to S(1) state, but prohibits the intersystem crossing from S(2) to T(1) state because of the small spin-orbital coupling value of 0.136 cm(-1). The main photodissociation process could be described as follows: after one photon absorption to the S(2) state, ketene preferentially relaxes to the minimum S(2)C(2v), and undergoes a transition state S(2)TS with small potential barrier along the C(s)-I (out-of-plane bent) symmetry, and passes through the S(2)S(1)T(1) intersection to reach S(1) surface, then arrives at the transition state S(1)TS along the minimum energy path. As is well known, S(1)--S(0) internal conversion around the Franck-Condon region is expected to be very efficient, and eventually the hot S(0) molecule has accumulated enough energy to yield the CH(2) (a (1)A(1)) and CO (X (1)Sigma(+)) products.

The D3d and D2d isomers of the Li3-O-Li3 molecule are metal-nonmetal-metal sandwichlike structures that contain two Li3 superalkali atoms. Their geometries and the real frequencies are obtained at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ level. They are different from the traditional types of the nonmetal-metal-nonmetal sandwich compounds. The natural bond orbital calculation and the topological property nabla2rho(r) calculation indicate that they are typical ionic compounds. In two isomers, the O2- anion is sandwiched in between two Li3+ cation rings. However, the different orientations of two Li3+ planes give the D3d isomer its own special characteristics. Under the action of the O2- anion in the center, the valence electrons of the D3d isomer are pushed out from two Li3+ triangle rings. This special interaction causes three phenomena. First, the valence electron clouds are distended. Second, the vertical ionization energy of the D3d isomer is considerably low, 4.39 eV, so that it may also be viewed as a superalkali atom. Third, we find that the D3d isomer owns the out-of-plane aromaticity and the largest negative nucleus-independent chemical shift value (-10.8 ppm) exists at 2.5 A above the center of the Li3+ ring, not at the center of the Li3+ ring like the isolated aromatic Li3+ cation.

A detailed theoretical study is performed on the hitherto unknown germanium cyanide radical and its ions. The (2)Pi state GeCN lies 5.0 kcal/mol lower than the (2)Pi state GeNC at the coupled-cluster theory including single and double excitations and perturbative inclusion of triple excitations [CCSD(T)]/6-311++G(3df)//quadratic configuration interaction with single and double excitations (QCISD)/6-311G(d)+zero-point vibrational energy (ZPVE) level. For interconversion between them, two electronic state pathways (2)A(') and (2)A(") are located, with the latter being 0.7 kcal/mol more favorable than the former. On the (2)A(") path, the GeCN--GeNC and GeNC--GeCN conversion barriers are 14.5 and 9.5 kcal/mol, respectively. The detailed singlet and triplet potential-energy surfaces of both the cationic and anionic GeCN species are also investigated. On the ground-state electronic hypersurface, singlet GeNC(+) is 4.6 kcal/mol more stable than singlet GeCN(+), whereas triplet GeNC(-) is 10.0 kcal/mol less stable than triplet GeCN(-). The relative energy difference between the GeCN(0,+/-) and GeNC(0,+/-) can be well correlated with the number of vacant orbitals on the Ge atom. The stability of the neutral and ionic CGeN and cyclic cGeCN is also discussed. The predicted structures, spectroscopies, ionization, and affinity energies as well as the Renner-Teller properties are expected to provide reliable estimates for future characterization of the potential GeCN and GeNC radicals as well as their ionic counterparts both in the laboratory and in the interstellar space.

The gas-phase ion-molecule reactions play very important roles in interstellar and in plasma chemistry. Motivated by recent astrophysical detection of the SiCN/SiNC radicals and laboratory characterization of some SiCN-containing species, we carried out a detailed potential energy survey on the SiCN+/SiNC(+) + H2O reaction at the Becke's three-parameter Lee-Yang-Parr-B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) and coupled cluster with single, double, and triple excitations-CCSD(T)/6-311 + G(2df,p) (single-point) levels as an attempt towards understanding the SiCN+/SiNC+ reaction mechanisms. In contrast to the carbene-featured analogous CCN+/CNC(+) + H2X (X=O,S) reactions, the title reaction SiCN+/SiNC(+) + H2O are not associated with any competitive silylene-insertion characters. Moreover, the -CN---NC interconversion has a low barrier and plays an important role in determining the final product distributions. This is also in marked difference from the CCN+/CNC+ reaction. It is shown that the isomeric sila-cations SiCN+ and SiNC+ can both react with H2O to barrierlessly generate the major product P1 HOSi(+) + HCN and the minor one P3 HOSi(+) + HNC, whereas other low-lying products such as P2 SiNCO(+) + H2, and P(0) H2NSi(+) + CO are kinetically unfeasible. The high efficiency of the SiCN+/SiNC+ reaction towards H2O and the potential importance of SiCN+/SiNC+ ion chemistry in interstellar and SiCN-based microelectric and photoelectric processes strongly appeals for future laboratory investigations on the SiCN+/SiNC+ chemical reactivity.