Automated and efficient quantum chemical determination and energetic ranking of molecular protonation sites.

We present an automated quantum chemical protocol for the determination of preferred protonation sites in organic and organometallic molecules containing up to a few hundred atoms. It is based on the Foster-Boys orbital localization method, whereby we automatically identify lone pairs and π orbitals as possible protonation sites. The method becomes efficient in conjunction with the robust and fast GFN-xTB semiempirical method proposed recently (Grimme et al.

The Fractional Occupation Number Weighted Density as a Versatile Analysis Tool for Molecules with a Complicated Electronic Structure.

The fractional occupation number weighted density (FOD) analysis is explored as a general theoretical diagnostic for complicated electronic structures. Its main feature is to provide robustly and quickly the information on the localization of "hot" (strongly correlated and chemically active) electrons in a molecule. We demonstrate its usage in four different prototypical applications: 1) As a new and fast measure of the biradical character of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 2) for the selection of active orbital spaces in multiconfigurational or complete active space self consistent field (MCSCF/CASSCF) treatments, 3) as a possibility to describe molecular-energy landscapes consistently in regions with varying biradical character, as exemplified by partial double-bond torsions, and 4) as a powerful visualization method for static electron correlation effects in large biomolecules in connection with an efficient semi-empirical tight-binding molecular orbital scheme.

How to Compute Electron Ionization Mass Spectra from First Principles.

The prediction of electron ionization (EI) mass spectra (MS) from first principles has been a major challenge for quantum chemistry (QC). The unimolecular reaction space grows rapidly with increasing molecular size. On the one hand, statistical models like Eyring's quasi-equilibrium theory and Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus theory have provided valuable insight, and some predictions and quantitative results can be obtained from such calculations.

Elucidation of electron ionization induced fragmentations of adenine by semiempirical and density functional molecular dynamics.

The gas phase fragmentation pathways of the nucleobase adenine upon 70 eV electron ionization are investigated by means of a combined stochastic and first-principles based molecular dynamics approach. We employ no preconceived fragmentation channels in our calculations, which simulate standard electron ionization mass spectrometry (EI-MS) conditions. The reactions observed compare well to a wealth of experimental and theoretical data available for this important nucleic acid building block.

First principles calculation of electron ionization mass spectra for selected organic drug molecules.

This study presents a showcase for the novel Quantum Chemistry Electron Ionization Mass Spectrometry (QCEIMS) method on five FDA-approved drugs. The method allows a first-principles electronic structure-based prediction of EI mass spectra in principle for any molecule. The systems in this case study are organic substances of nominal masses between 404 and 853 atomic mass units and cover a wide range of functional groups and organic molecular structure motifs.