The molecular structure of decachloroferrocene has been determined by gas electron diffraction supported by quantum chemical calculations. The equilibrium conformation has staggered ligand rings and D(5d) symmetry. The barrier to internal rotation is, however, only 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe molecular structures of tris(dipivaloylmethanato)neodymium(III), Nd(dpm)3, and tris(dipivaloylmethanato)ytterbium(III), Yb(dpm)3, have been determined by gas electron diffraction (GED) and structure optimizations through density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Both molecules were found to have D3 molecular symmetry. The most important structure parameters (r(a) structure) are as follows (GED/DFT): Nd-O = 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe molecular structures of ferrocene in the eclipsed (equilibrium) and staggered (saddle-point) conformations have been determined by full geometry optimizations at the levels of second-order Møller-Plesset (MP2) theory, coupled-cluster singles-and-doubles (CCSD) theory, and CCSD theory with a perturbative triples correction [CCSD(T)] in a TZV2P+f basis set. Existing experimental results are reviewed. The agreement between the CCSD(T) results and experiment is in all cases excellent; the calculated structure parameters and the barrier to internal rotation of the ligand rings differ from the most accurate experimental values by less than two estimated standard deviations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe molecular structures of dimethylamino[(dimethylboryl)methylamino]methylborane, Me2NBMeNMeBMe2 (1) and 1,1-bis(dimethylboryl)-2,2-dimethylhydrazine, (Me2B)2NNMe2 (2) have been determined by gas electron diffraction (GED), density functional theory calculations at the B3PW91/6-311++G** level and ab initio calculations at the MP2/6-311++G** level. 1 adopts an open structure similar to that of the isoelectronic hydrocarbon molecule permethylbutadiene; the central B-N bond distance at 148.0/149.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe molecular structures of the monomeric, pentacoordinated methylchloroniobium(IV) compounds Me3NbCl2 and Me2NbCl3 have been determined by gas electron diffraction (GED) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and, for Me3NbCl2, by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Each of the molecules is found to have a heavy-atom skeleton in the form of a trigonal bipyramid (TBP) with Cl atoms in the axial positions, in accord with their vibrational spectra. The TBP is somewhat distorted in the case of Me2NbCl3 with the two axial Nb--Cl bonds bent away from the equatorial, slightly shorter Nb--Cl bond.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe structure, energetics, and electron density in the inclusion complex of He in adamantane, C10H16, have been studied by density functional theory calculations at the B3LYP6-311++G(2p,2d) level. Topological analysis of the electron density shows that the He atom is connected to the four tertiary tC atoms in the cage by atomic interaction lines with (3,-1) critical points. The calculated dissociation energy of the complex He@adamantane(g)=adamantane(g) + He(g) of DeltaE=-645 kJ mol(-1) nevertheless shows that the He-tC interactions are antibonding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe molecular structures of Zr[(mu-H)(3)BH](4) and U[(mu-H)(3)BH](4) have been investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations and gas electron diffraction (GED). The triply bridged bonding mode of the tetrahydroborate groups in the former is confirmed, but both DFT calculations and GED structure refinements indicate that the BH(4) groups are rotated some 12 degrees away from the orientation in which the three bridging B-H bonds are staggered with respect to the opposing ZrB(3) fragment. As a result the symmetry of the equilibrium conformation is reduced from T(d) to T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThallium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide is a monomer in the gas phase. The molecular symmetry is C(2), the Tl-N bond length is 214.8(12) pm by gas electron diffraction as compared to about 258 pm in the crystalline dimer (Klinkhammer, K.
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