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Lingchun Song

Publications and source records attributed to Lingchun Song.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

A valence bond study of the dioxygen molecule.

The dioxygen molecule has been the subject of valence bond (VB) studies since 1930s, as it was considered as the first "failure" of VB theory. The object of this article is to provide an unambiguous VB interpretation for the nature of chemical bonding of the molecule by means of modern VB computational methods, VBSCF, BOVB, and VBCI. It is shown that though the VBSCF method can not provide quantitative accuracy for the strongly electronegative and electron-delocalized molecule because of the lack of dynamic correlation, it still gives a correct qualitative analysis for wave function of the molecule and provides intuitive insights into chemical bonding. An accurate quantitative description for the molecule requires higher levels of VB methods that incorporate dynamic correlation. The potential energy curves of the molecule are computed at the various VB levels. It is shown that there exists a small hump in the PECs of VBSCF for the ground state, as found in previous studies. However, higher levels of VB methods dissolve the hump. The BOVB and VBCI methods reproduce the dissociation energies and other physical properties of the ground state and the two lowest excited states in very good agreement with experiment and with sophisticated MO based methods, such as the MRCI method.

Algorithms↗

Identity SN2 reactions X- + CH3X --> XCH3 + X- (X=F, Cl, Br, and I) in vacuum and in aqueous solution: a valence bond study.

The recently developed (L. Song, W. Wu, Q. Zhang, S. Shaik, J. Phys. Chem. A 2004, 108, 6017) valence bond method coupled with a polarized continuum model (VBPCM) has been applied to the identity SN2 reaction of halides in the gas phase and in aqueous solution. The barriers computed at the level of the breathing orbital VB method (P. C. Hiberty, J. P. Flament, E. Noizet, Chem. Phys. Lett. 1992, 189, 259), BOVB and VBPCM//BOVB, are comparable to CCSD(T) and CCSD(T)//PCM results and to experimentally derived barriers in solution (W. J. Albery, M. M. Kreevoy, Adv. Phys. Org. Chem. 1978, 16, 85). The reactivity parameters needed to apply the valence bond state correlation diagram (VBSCD) method (S. Shaik, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1984, 106, 1227), were also determined by VB calculations. It has been shown that the reactivity parameters along with their semiempirical derivations provide a satisfactory qualitative and quantitative account of the barriers.

Computer Simulation↗

Barriers of hydrogen abstraction vs halogen exchange: an experimental manifestation of charge-shift bonding.

This paper shows that the differences between the barriers of the halogen exchange reactions, in the H + XH systems, and the hydrogen abstraction reactions, in the X + HX systems (X = F, Cl, Br), measure the covalent-ionic resonance energies of the corresponding X-H bonds. These processes are investigated using CCSD(T) calculations as well as the breathing-orbital valence bond (BOVB) method. Thus, the VB analysis shows that (i) at the level of covalent structures the barriers are the same for the two series and (ii) the higher barriers for halogen exchange processes originate solely from the less efficient mixing of the ionic structures into the respective covalent structures. The barrier differences, in the HXH vs XHX series, which decrease as X is varied from F to I, can be estimated as one-quarter of the covalent-ionic resonance energy of the H-X bond. The largest difference (22 kcal/mol) is calculated for X = F in accord with the finding that the H-F bond possesses the largest covalent-ionic resonance energy, 87 kcal/mol, which constitutes the major part of the bonding energy. The H-F bond belongs to the class of "charge-shift" bonds (Shaik, S.; Danovich, D.; Silvi, B.; Lauvergnat, D. L.; Hiberty, P. C. Chem. Eur. J. 2005, 21, 6358), which are all typified by dominant covalent-ionic resonance energies. Since the barrier difference between the two series is an experimental measure of the resonance energy quantity, in the particular case of X = F, the unusually high barrier for the fluorine exchange reaction emerges as an experimental manifestation of charge-shift bonding.

Journal Article↗

XMVB: a program for ab initio nonorthogonal valence bond computations.

An ab initio nonorthogonal valence bond program, called XMVB, is described in this article. The XMVB package uses Heitler-London-Slater-Pauling (HLSP) functions as state functions, and calculations can be performed with either all independent state functions for a molecule or preferably a few selected important state functions. Both our proposed paired-permanent-determinant approach and conventional Slater determinant expansion algorithm are implemented for the evaluation of the Hamiltonian and overlap matrix elements among VB functions. XMVB contains the capabilities of valence bond self-consistent field (VBSCF), breathing orbital valence bond (BOVB), and valence bond configuration interaction (VBCI) computations. The VB orbitals, used to construct VB functions, can be defined flexibly in the calculations depending on particular applications and focused problems, and they may be strictly localized, delocalized, or bonded-distorted (semidelocalized). The parallel version of XMVB based on MPI (Message Passing Interface) is also available.

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Steric strain versus hyperconjugative stabilization in ethane congeners.

Rotation barriers in the group IVB ethane congeners H(3)X-YH(3) (X, Y = C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb) have been systematically studied and deciphered using the ab initio valence bond theory in terms of the steric strain and hyperconjugation effect. Our results show that in all cases the rotation barriers are dominated by the steric repulsion whereas the hyperconjugative interaction between the X-H bond orbitals and the vicinal Y-H antibond orbitals (and vice versa) plays a secondary role, although indeed the hyperconjugation effect favors staggered structures. By the independent estimations of the hyperconjugative and steric interactions in the process of rotations, we found that the structural effect which mainly refers to the central X-Y bond relaxation makes a small contribution to the rotational barriers. Therefore, we conclude that both the rigid and fully relaxed rotations in the group IVB ethane congeners H(3)X-YH(3) observe the same mechanism which is governed by the conventional steric repulsion.

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Valence bond calculations of hydrogen transfer reactions: a general predictive pattern derived from theory.

Hydrogen abstraction reactions of the type X(*) + H-H' --> X-H + H'(*) (X = F, Cl, Br, I) are studied by ab initio valence bond methods and the VB state correlation diagram (VBSCD) model. The reaction barriers and VB parameters of the VBSCD are computed by using the breathing orbital valence bond and valence bond configuration interaction methods. The combination of the VBSCD model and semiempirical VB theory leads to analytical expressions for the barriers and other VB quantities that match the ab initio VB calculations fairly well. The barriers are influenced by the endo- or exothermicity of the reaction, but the fundamental factor of the barrier is the average singlet-triplet gap of the bonds that are broken or formed in the reactions. Some further approximations lead to a simple formula that expresses the barrier for nonidentity and identity hydrogen abstraction reactions as a function of the bond strengths of reactants and products. The semiempirical expressions are shown to be useful not only for the model reactions that are studied in this work, but also for other nonidentity and identity hydrogen abstraction reactions that have been studied in previous articles.

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The ground and excited states of polyenyl radicals C2n-1H2n + 1 (n = 2-13): a valence bond study.

The semiempirical valence bond (VB) method, VBDFT(s), is applied to the ground states and the covalent excited states of polyenyl radicals C2n - 1H2n + 1 (n = 2-13). The method uses a single scalable parameter with a value that carries over from the study of the covalent excited states of polyenes (W. Wu, D. Danovich, A. Shurki, S. Shaik, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2000, 104, 8744). Whenever comparison is possible, the VB excitation energies are found to be in good accord with sophisticated molecular orbital (MO)-based methods like CASPT2. The symmetry-adapted Rumer structures are used to discuss the state-symmetry and VB constitution of the ground and excited states, and the expansion to VB determinants is used to gain insight on spin density patterns. The theory helps to understand in a coherent and lucid manner the properties of polyenyl radicals, such as the makeup of the various states, their geometries and energies, and the distribution of the unpaired electrons (the neutral solitons).

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Charge transfer in the electron donor-acceptor complex BH3NH3.

As a simple yet strongly binding electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complex, BH(3)NH(3) serves as a good example to study the electron pair donor-acceptor complexes. We employed both the ab initio valence bond (VB) and block-localized wave function (BLW) methods to explore the electron transfer from NH(3) to BH(3). Conventionally, EDA complexes have been described by two diabatic states: one neutral state and one ionic charge-transferred state. Ab initio VB self-consistent field (VBSCF) computations generate the energy profiles of the two diabatic states together with the adiabatic (ground) state. Our calculations evidently demonstrated that the electron transfer between NH(3) and BH(3) falls in the abnormal regime where the reorganization energy is less than the exoergicity of the reaction. The nature of the NH(3)-BH(3) interaction is probed by an energy decomposition scheme based on the BLW method. We found that the variation of the charge-transfer energy with the donor-acceptor distance is insensitive to the computation levels and basis sets, but the estimation of the amount of electron transferred heavily depends on the population analysis procedures. The recent resurgence of interest in the nature of the rotation barrier in ethane prompted us to analyze the conformational change of BH(3)NH(3), which is an isoelectronic system with ethane. We found that the preference of the staggered structure over the eclipsed structure of BH(3)NH(3) is dominated by the Pauli exchange repulsion.

Journal Article↗

A practical valence bond method: a configuration interaction method approach with perturbation theoretic facility.

The previously developed valence bond configuration interaction (VBCI) method (Wu, W.; Song, L.; Cao, Z.; Zhang, Q.; Shaik, S., J. Phys. Chem. A, 2002, 105, 2721) that borrows the general CI philosophy of the MO theory, is further extended in this article, and its methodological features are improved, resulting in three accurate and cost-effective procedures: (a) the effect of quadruplet excitation is incorporated using the Davidson correction, such that the new procedure reduces size consistency problems, with due improvement in the quality of the computational results. (b) A cost-effective procedure, named VBCI(D, S), is introduced. It includes doubly excited structures for active electrons and singly excited structures for inactive pairs. The computational results of VBCI(D, S) match those of VBCISD with much less computational effort than VBCISD. (c) Finally, a second-order perturbation theory is utilized as a means of configuration selection, and lead to considerable reduction of the computational cost, with little or no loss in accuracy. Applications of the new procedures to bond energies and barriers of chemical reactions are presented and discussed.

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An accurate barrier for the hydrogen exchange reaction from valence bond theory: is this theory coming of age?

One of the landmark achievements of quantum chemistry, specifically of MO-based methods that include electron correlation, was the precise calculation of the barrier for the hydrogen-exchange reaction (B. Liu, J. Chem. Phys. 1973, 58, 1925; P. Siegbahn, B. Liu, J. Chem. Phys. 1978, 68, 2457). This paper reports an accurate calculation of this barrier by two recently developed VB methods that use only the eight classical VB structures. To our knowledge, the present work is the first accurate ab initio VB barrier that matches an experimental value. Along with the accurate barrier, the VB method provides accurate bond energies and diabatic quantities that enable the barrier height to be analyzed by the VB state correlation diagram approach, VBSCD (S. Shaik, A. Shurki, Angew. Chem. 1999, 111, 616; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1999, 38, 586). This is a proof of principal that VB theory with appropriate account of dynamic electron correlation can achieve quantitative accuracy of reaction barriers, and still retain a compact and interpretable wave function. A sample of S(N)2 barriers and dihalogen bonding energies, which are close to CCSD(T) and G2(+) values, show that the H(3) problem is not an isolated case, and while it is premature to conclude that VB theory has come of age, the occurrence of this event is clearly within sight.

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