"Chemists familiar with conventional quantum mechanics will applaud and benefit greatly from this particularly instructive, thorough and clearly written exposition of density functional theory: its basis, concepts, terms, implementation, and performance in diverse applications. Users of DFT for structure, energy, and molecular property computations, as well as reaction mechanism studies, are guided to the optimum choices of the most effective methods. Well done!" Paul von RaguE Schleyer "A conspicuous hole in the computational chemist's library is nicely filled by this book, which provides a wide-ranging and pragmatic view of the subject.[...It] should justifiably become the favorite text on the subject for practioneers who aim to use DFT to solve chemical problems." J. F. Stanton, J. Am. Chem. Soc. "The authors' aim is to guide the chemist through basic theoretical and related technical aspects of DFT at an easy-to-understand theoretical level. They succeed admirably." P. C. H. Mitchell, Appl. Organomet. Chem. "The authors have done an excellent service to the chemical community. [...] A Chemist's Guide to Density Functional Theory is exactly what the title suggests. It should be an invaluable source of insight and knowledge for many chemists using DFT approaches to solve chemical problems." M. Kaupp, Angew. Chem.

A Chemist's Guide to Density Functional Theory

A scheme that reduces the calculations of ground-state properties of systems of interacting particles exactly to the solution of single-particle Hartree-type equations has obvious advantages. It is not surprising, then, that the density functional formalism, which provides a way of doing this, has received much attention in the past two decades. The quality of the energy surfaces calculated using a simple local-density approximation for exchange and correlation exceeds by far the original expectations. In this work, the authors survey the formalism and some of its applications (in particular to atoms and small molecules) and discuss the reasons for the successes and failures of the local-density approximation and some of its modifications.

The density functional formalism, its applications and prospects

The halogen bond occurs when there is evidence of a net attractive interaction between an electrophilic region associated with a halogen atom in a molecular entity and a nucleophilic region in another, or the same, molecular entity. In this fairly extensive review, after a brief history of the interaction, we will provide the reader with a snapshot of where the research on the halogen bond is now, and, perhaps, where it is going. The specific advantages brought up by a design based on the use of the halogen bond will be demonstrated in quite different fields spanning from material sciences to biomolecular recognition and drug design.

The Halogen Bond

The detection methods and generation mechanisms of the intrinsic reactive oxygen species (ROS), i.e., superoxide anion radical (•O2–), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), singlet oxygen (1O2), and hydroxyl radical (•OH) in photocatalysis, were surveyed comprehensively. Consequently, the major photocatalyst used in heterogeneous photocatalytic systems was found to be TiO2. However, besides TiO2 some representative photocatalysts were also involved in the discussion. Among the various issues we focused on the detection methods and generation reactions of ROS in the aqueous suspensions of photocatalysts. On the careful account of the experimental results presented so far, we proposed the following apprehension: adsorbed •OH could be regarded as trapped holes, which are involved in a rapid adsorption–desorption equilibrium at the TiO2–solution interface. Because the equilibrium shifts to the adsorption side, trapped holes must be actually the dominant oxidation species whereas •OH in solution would exert the reactivity...

Generation and Detection of Reactive Oxygen Species in Photocatalysis

: The unpolarized absorption and circular dichroism spectra of the fundamental vibrational transitions of the chiral molecule, 4-methyl-2-oxetanone, are calculated ab initio. Harmonic force fields are obtained using Density Functional Theory (DFT), MP2, and SCF methodologies and a 5S4P2D/3S2P (TZ2P) basis set. DFT calculations use the Local Spin Density Approximation (LSDA), BLYP, and Becke3LYP (B3LYP) density functionals. Mid-IR spectra predicted using LSDA, BLYP, and B3LYP force fields are of significantly different quality, the B3LYP force field yielding spectra in clearly superior, and overall excellent, agreement with experiment. The MP2 force field yields spectra in slightly worse agreement with experiment than the B3LYP force field. The SCF force field yields spectra in poor agreement with experiment.The basis set dependence of B3LYP force fields is also explored: the 6-31G* and TZ2P basis sets give very similar results while the 3-21G basis set yields spectra in substantially worse agreements with experiment. jg

Ab initio calculation of vibrational absorption and circular dichroism spectra using density functional force fields

Cocondensation of carbon disulfide with high-frequency discharged argon at 4 K produced carbon monosulfide and atomic sulfur, which reacted spontaneously upon annealing to form the carbon trisulfide molecule as identified from the multiplets observed in mixed 12C, 13C and 32S, 34S isotopic spectra. On the basis of isotopic substitution and theoretical frequency calculations, infrared absorptions at 1263.3 and 570.1 cm−1 were assigned to predominantly C═S stretching and bending vibrations of CS3 in solid argon. The CS3 molecule, which was calculated to have a singlet ground state with C2v symmetry, dissociated to form the weakly bound SCS−S complex upon visible light irradiation.

Infrared spectrum of carbon trisulfide in solid argon.

FTIR spectra of halobenzene complexes with hydrogen fluoride in solid argon

Laser‐induced emission evidence for alkali metal atom–noble gas molecules

Reactions of laser-ablated U atoms with HF produce HUF as the major product and UH and UF as minor products, which are identified from their argon and neon matrix infrared spectra. Our assignment of HUF is confirmed by the observation of DUF and close agreement with observed and calculated vibrational frequencies and deuterium shifts in the vibrational frequencies. Our previous observation of the UH diatomic molecule from argon matrix experiments with H2, HD, and D2 as reagents is confirmed through its present observation with HF and DF, and with recent higher level quantum chemical calculations. The HF reaction provides a lower concentration of F in the system and thus simplifies the fluorine chemistry relative to similar U atom reactions with F2, and the new matrix identification of UF here is consistent with recent high level calculations on UF. In addition, we find evidence for the higher oxidation state secondary reaction products UHF2, UHF3, and UH2F2.

Lester Andrews

Papers

Infrared spectrum of carbon trisulfide in solid argon.

FTIR spectra of halobenzene complexes with hydrogen fluoride in solid argon

Laser‐induced emission evidence for alkali metal atom–noble gas molecules

Reactions of Laser-Ablated U Atoms with HF: Infrared Spectra and Quantum Chemical Calculations of HUF, UH, and UF in Noble Gas Solids

Absorption spectra and photochemical rearrangements of 1-, 2-, and 3-chlorocycloheptatriene and 7-chloronorbornadiene cations in solid argon