Hydrogen bridging in the compounds X2H (X=Al,Si,P,S).

X2H hydrides (X=Al, Si, P, and S) have been investigated using coupled cluster theory with single, double, and triple excitations, the latter incorporated as a perturbative correction [CCSD(T)]. These were performed utilizing a series of correlation-consistent basis sets augmented with diffuse functions (aug-cc-pVXZ, X=D, T, and Q). Al2H and Si2H are determined to have H-bridged C2v structures in their ground states: the Al2H ground state is of 2B1 symmetry with an Al-H-Al angle of 87.6 degrees, and the Si2H ground state is of 2A1 symmetry with a Si-H-Si angle of 79.8 degrees. However, P2H and S2H have nonbridged, bent Cs structures: the P2H ground state is of 2A' symmetry with a P-P-H angle of 97.0 degrees, and the S2H ground state is of 2A' symmetry with a S-S-H angle of 93.2 degrees. Ground state geometries, vibrational frequencies, and electron affinities have been computed at all levels of theory. Our CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVQZ adiabatic electron affinity of 2.34 eV for the Si2H radical is in excellent agreement with the photoelectron spectroscopy experiments of Xu et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 108, 7645 (1998)], where the electron affinity was determined to be 2.31+/-0.01 eV.