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Quantum chemical calculations have been carried out to simulate Y-doped BaCeO(3) derivatives. Hartree-Fock energy functional was used to study octahedral site environments embedded in a Pmcn orthorhombic framework, showing local arrangement characterized by Ce-O-Ce, Ce-O-Y, and Y-O-Y (Z-O-Ξ) configurations and including or not hydrogen close to the moieties encompassing those configurations. The latter are, in fact, representative of - and, in our modeling approach, were treated as - local arrangements that could be found in Y:BaCeO(3)-doped materials. The geometrical optimizations performed on the structural models and a detailed orbital analysis of these systems allowed us to confirm and deepen new interpretations, concerning experimental findings already reported in the literature. In particular, the bimodal distribution characterizing the Y-O first coordination shell, found by EXAFS analysis, could be attributed to a local clustering of Y atoms showing characteristic Y-O-Y arrangements. Moreover, the local charge analysis, characterizing the models containing or not hydrogen atoms, showed that the moving protons are able to dynamically change the properties of their near environment, in any case, leaving unaltered the global protonic conduction features of the material, irrespective of the kind of cation in a given Z-O-Ξ moiety.

The isomerization of cis-but-2-ene to trans-but-2-ene within a 22T H-ZSM-5 zeolite model, also in the presence of two adsorbed Pd atoms, has been studied by DFT calculations. The results obtained allow us to state that the cis/trans but-2-ene isomerization can easily proceed inside unsupported zeolite cavities. In this case, differently than in the gas phase reaction, the trans-but-2-ene is less stable than the cis-but-2-ene, when adsorbed on the zeolite inner surface. Excluding the adsorption-desorption steps, the isomerization process involves two intermediates and three transition states, whose energy content is always very low with respect to that of reagents and intermediate species. The reaction is in principle allowed also in the presence of two Pd atoms embedded inside the zeolite cavity. However, strong H-Pd interactions seem to cause higher activation energies along the formation of the involved intermediates and transition states. To evaluate the confining effects of the zeolite room on the cis/trans isomerization process, the latter has been also analyzed on protonated (Pd2H(+)) and unprotonated (Pd2) bare palladium fragments at different multiplicity states. The but-2-ene adsorption on the considered systems and the mutual influence occurring between the metal atoms and the hydrogen acidic sites at different multiplicity states have also been taken into consideration.

DFT calculations on the helicopter and cartwheel rotations of one CO molecule adsorbed at the bridge site on metal-surface fragments, characterized by two (M(8)) or three (M(14)) metal-atom layers (M = Ni, Pd, Pt) were performed by the B3LYP[LANL2DZ+6-31 g(d,p)] method, to rationalize the adsorption energetics and the steric hindrance characteristics of surface CO molecules. Potential Energy Surfaces were obtained, either fixing the C-O bond-length or allowing it to change. The behavior of the three metals, as obtained from the study of the configurational space characterizing the CO adsorption on the fragments was explained on the basis of the interaction energies involved in the different CO/M systems. The results, obtained by using the M(14) fragments and varying both the C-O and the CO/M distances, point out that the CO adsorption on the Ni fragment is stabilized by surface-configurations in which the O atom is pointing toward a metal center. At variance, C-O bond elongation and stabilization occur on Pd when the O atom is situated between two palladium atoms. The CO adsorption on Pt displays similar characteristics to those observed on the Pd systems, but with the fundamental difference caused by the destabilization of the Pt-O interactions when the O atom is situated exactly between two Pt atoms. The calculations allowed us to estimate the IR spectroscopy frequency and band-broadening of the adsorbed CO stretching by a statistic analysis on a large set of energy / bond-length computed data. Good agreement with the experimental results was obtained for all the metals, in particular concerning the frequencies. Reliable band-broadenings were also obtained for the CO/Ni and CO/Pt systems, while the lower band-broadening value for the CO/Pd system was related to the small extent of the configurational sampling space.

SCSA is an algorithm designed to get information on molecular conformational properties. The most stable conformers are determined by the homemade SCSA code, performing a multistep systematic conformational search, which involves energy and structure quantum chemical optimizations at low-level and high-level. The SCSA method was employed to analyze the conformational space of the in vacuo cyclopeptide renieramide at AM1 and B3LYP/6-31G(d) levels. Calculations at B3LYP level of the GIAO (13)C NMR chemical shifts were also performed on the final conformers. In fact, to validate the conformational search results experimental and calculated (13)C NMR spectra of renieramide were compared. Slight disagreements observed between experimental and calculated spectra could be attributed to solute-solvent interactions, which were not taken into account in the algorithm proposed here.