Density Functional Theory Calculations of Cyclopentadienyl Thallium
mono-ligand Complexes:Theoretical and Microwave Study of Van der Waals Interactions



 

ABSTRACT

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to optimize the geometry of cyclopentadienyl thallium (Cp-Tl).  DFT calculations were also used to calculate the Van der Waals structures  and  interaction energies of cyclopentadienyl thallium benzene  (Cp-Tl-C5H5), cyclopentadienyl thallium acetylene (Cp-Tl-C2H2), and cyclopentadienyl ethylene (Cp-Tl-C2H4) complexes.  All calculations were done using the following combination of non-local exchange and correlation functionals: B3LYP, BPW91, MPW1PW91.  The optimized geometry of Cp-Tl was compared to the experimental microwave structure of Cp-Tl.  The calculated Cp-Tl structure shows that modified Perdew-Wang exchange and correlation functionals, MPW1PW91, gives better values of  the thallium-carbon bonding distance. Both Cp-Tl  thallium-carbon(Cp)  and thallium-Cp(centroid) bond lengths are 0.066 A longer than the experimental value.  The results obtained using Becke's exchange functional seemed to give longer thallium-carbon bonding distance even if a larger basis set was used.  Becke's exchange functionals over estimates the thallium-carbon(Cp) bond length by as much as 0.165 A  using the smaller basis set.   The relativistic effect due to thallium was considered in the calculation to obtain more accurate Cp-Tl thallium-carbon bond length.   The Cp-Tl bond length using ADF with ZORA relativistic potentials calculations gives good results.
The Van der Waals structure of Cp-Tl-C5H5, Cp-Tl-C2H2, and Cp-Tl-C2H4 were calculated using  MPW1PW91/cc-vPTZ/SDD and PW91/ADF/ZORA level of calculations. Microwave study to confirm the existence of the above weakly bound complexes are planned in the near future.
 
 
 

INTRODUCTION

        Cyclopentadienyl thallium complex (Cp-Tl) is an example of a 'half-sandwich' complex that is stable at room temperature.  The open coordination geometry of the heavy metal  makes this complex a challenging and ideal molecular system for studying  the effect of metal-ligand weak bonding interactions using density funtional theory (DFT) and microwave spectroscopy.  As the metal become 'heavier', the DFT calculations of metal-ligand bond lengths maybe less accurate because the relativistic effect and spin orbit become increasingly important factors in the calculation.  It has been reported that the heavier elements in third row transition metal often shows the metal-atom bond length to be about 0.1 A longer than the experimental value (1).   Therefore, in order to obtain more accurate Cp-Tl structure and energy, the relativistic effective potential must be considered in DFT calculations.  The DFT method has been successfully used to calculate the structures, reaction dynamics, bonding energy, vibration frequencies, and Van der Waals interaction energies of many first and second rows transition metal complexes (2,3).  However, there are small numbers of experimental and theoretical studies on a third row transition metal complexes, especially of weakly bound complexes.  Hopefully, the continuous development of better exchange-correlation functionals, relativistic effective potentials, and larger basis sets for the third row transition  metals  make it possible to carry out accurate DFT calculations on  heavy organomettallic complexes.
        The gas phase structure and Van der Waals interactions between Cp-Tl and common organic ligands are not well understood. Up to date, there are no theoretical and experimental studies available for these weakly bound complex systems.    Because the Van der Waals interactions are weak bonding interactions,  these Cp-Tl-ligand complexes may have interesting physical and chemical properties. For instance, it is known that many weakly bound complexes exhibit large amplitude internal motion and vibrational predissociation which are not commonly found in a stable metal-ligand complex (4).  The interesting question, which is central to our understanding of chemical reation, is  how does Cp-Tl  influence the eletronic structures, geometry,and energy of a ligand.  Our recent experimental and DFT studies of rhenium complexes, (C2H2)(CH3)ReO2, demonstrated that the third row transition metals can have significant effect on the electronic structure, bond length, and bond angles of ligand.  In the case of rhenium, the rhenium metal forces partial sp2 hybrid on acetylene electronic structure (19). To help us gain insight into the thallium-ligand interactions, we are using the DFT  to study the geometry of the cyclopentadienyl thallium (Cp-Tl) and to calculate the structure and binding energies of the following proposed systems:  cyclopentadienyl thallium benzene  (Cp-Tl-C5H5), cyclopentadienyl thallium acetylene (Cp-Tl-C2H2), and cyclopentadienyl ethylene (Cp-Tl-C2H4) complexes.  The existence of these weakly bound complexes will be verified using the microwave spectroscopy.  The result of DFT calculation on Cp-Tl will be compared to the experimentally determined gas phase structure of Cp-Tl which has been obtained earlier in our laboratory using Fourier transformed microwave spectroscopy (5).
 
 

                                                            Cp-Tl                                     Cp-Tl-Acetylene


STRUCTURAL BACKGROUND

     Cyclopentadienyl thallium  (Cp-Tl) structure has been measured here in our laboratory using a Fourier transformed microwave spectrometer (5).   Deuterated samples of CpTl were prepared to obtain spectra for deuterium-substituted isotopomers. Analysis of the spectra allowed the determination of the following structural parameters: the bond lengths between Tl-C(Cp) = 2.413(3) A,  C-C =1.421(10) A,  C-H =1.082(9) A, and the angle C-H = 0.9(2) degree.  There are no theoretical and experimental studies available for these weakly bound complex systems.  The Van der Waals structures between Cp-Tl and C2H2, C2H4, and C5H5 will be determined from various computational methods: Gaussian 98 DFT and ADF ((Amsterdam density functional) calculations.  The results form gaussian 98 DFT will be compared with ADF.   All results will be compared to the experimentally determined Cp-Tl structure.
 

RELEVANT PRINCIPLES

        The relativistic effect and spin orbit interaction due to thallium must be considered in the calculations if one to obtain the more accurate predictions of structures and energies of these complexes.   The heavier elements in third row transition metal often shows the metal-atom bond length to be about 0.1 A longer than the experimental value (1).   The shape consistent relativistic effective potential (REPs) for thallium was obtained from Christiansen and Wildman (18).  The REPs potential has been shown to work very well in the simple system such as Tl-H. The REPs potential will be used with Gaussian 98 DFT calculations. The ZORA relativistic  potentials will be considered in the ADF calculations.
 

COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL METHODS

        All density functional calculations were performed on TINTIN IBM computer cluster using the GAUSSIAN 98 program at the University of Arizona CGF (computing graphic facilities) (6).  The Molekel visualization solftware was used to aid in visualize the electrostatic potential surfaces and molecular orbitals of Cp-Tl and Cp-Tl-ligand complexes.  All computations were done on the hartree computer located in CGF.  The Cp-Tl structure was first optimized using different exchange correlation funcionals, effective core potentials, and basis sets to calibrate the Cp-Tl system.  The following non-local Becke's three-parameter and modified Perdew Wang's exchange functionals, and Lee, Yang, Parr, Perdew, and Wang's correlation functionals were used: B3LYP, BPW91, B3PW91, MPW1PW91 (7,8,9,10).  Many different basis sets were chosen for carbon and hydrogen atoms including are Pople's 6-311G, and the 6-311G  with diffusion polarization functions p, d, and f  (11 ),  Dunning's correlation consistent triple zeta basis set cc-pVTZ (12 ), and Aldrich basis sets SVP(13),TZV(14).  There are two basis sets availble in Gaussian 98  for thallium metal which are the Los Almos double zeta basis set, LANL2DZ, and Stuttgart/Dresden SDD basis set (15,16).
        The effective core potentials (ECP) for thallium used in calculation were of SDD and LANL2DZ types and are available in Gaussian 98.  The shape consistent relativistic effective potential (REPs) for thallium was obtained from Christiansen and Wildman (18). For computational compatibility on Gaussian 98, the spin-orbit was deleted and assumed to be very small.  The REPs replaces 68 thallium electrons leaving 5d, 6s, and 6p electrons in the valence subshells.  The thallium basis set was  adjusted to make the  thallium basis set equivalent to the carbon basis set by free up the outer components of thallium s, p, and d obitals. The calculation involving thallium relativistic effect was done at MPW1PW91/cc-pVTZ/REPs level. The calculated Cp-Tl structure and bond lengths were compared to the gas phase Cp-Tl experimental values. It turned out that the calculation at MPW1PW91/cc-pVTZ/SDD level provided the best calibration for the system using standard Gaussian98 basis sets and ECP.   DFT calculations of the  proposed weakly bound structures cyclopentadienyl thallium benzene  (Cp-Tl-C5H5), cyclopentadienyl thallium acetylene (Cp-Tl-C2H2), and cyclopentadienyl ethylene (Cp-Tl-C2H4) complexes were done using MPW1PW91/cc-pVTZ/SDD level of calculation as well as MPW1PW91/cc-pVTZ/REPs.  The frequency analysis was performed for all the complexes to verify that there are no negative frequencies and that indeed the structures were at the minimum of potential  energy surface. Basis set superposition error (BSSE) was not calculated.
        The structure of Cp-Tl is also optimized using Amsterdam density functional calculations (ADF). The advantage of the ADF calculations is that we can include the relativistic potential of each atom in the calculations.  The DFT methods used in ADF calculations will be BLYP and PW91.  B3LYP and B3PW91 methods. Becke's three parameters are not available in ADF.  The same basis sets used in Gaussian 98 DFT calculations will be used in ADF.
        The calculation of bond interaction energies can be estimated substracting  the total energies of the optimized products  and reactants, similar to the determination of enthalpy of reactions. Such calculation should give good estimates of weak bonding energies without any knowlege of dissociation bond energies.

                                MX(n) + X ----> MX(n+1)                            1)

                                dE = E(product) - E(reactants)                        2)
 

Experimental verification of the weakly bound complexes will be performed using a Flygare-Balle-type pulsed beam Fourier transformed microwave spectrometer (18). The structure of Cp-Tl was determined in our lab using this same instrument.  The Van der Waals complexes can be formed by racting Cp-Tl  with ligands under the appropriate experimental condition.   A high density of complexes can form by adjusting the temperature, gas pressure, and pulsed rate......
 

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

        DFT calculations using Gaussian 98  over estimates the thallium-carbon bonding distance by as much as 0.165 A using the smaller basis set.  This best calculated value without the relativistic potential is about 0.066 A longer than the experimental value.  The calculation using REPs gives the thallium-carbon bond length equal to......  The ADF calculations....
 

ELECTRONIC POTENTIAL

 Figure3:Electrostatic potential energy surface Cp-Tl-NH3

 Figure4:Electrostatic potential energy surface Cp-Tl
 

COMPUTATIONAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

        The optimized structure of Cp-Tl was compared to the experimental gas phase Cp-Tl structure (Table I).  The thallium- carbon bond length using Beck's non-local exchange functionals gave  longer Cp-Tl bond length comparing to the modified Perdew Wang exchange functionals. However, both method did not produce the Cp-Tl bond lengths that agree will with the experimental value.  The best DFT method of calculation without relativistic effective potential turned out to be MPW1PW91/cc-pVTZ/SDD and the calculated the Cp-Tl  thallium-carbon bond length to be 2.755 A. Figure 1:  Optimized structure cyclopentadienyl thallium.  This best calculated value is about 0.34 A longer than the experimental value.   Although MPW1PW91/cc-pVTZ/SDD method didnot produce very accurate thallium-carbon bond length value,  it was used to optimize the geometry of the Cp-Tl-Acetylene complex to see if the method can converge.  The calculation of CP-Tl-C2H2 did converge. The optimized Cp-Tl-C2H2 is shown in Figure 2:  Optimized structure cyclopentadienyl thallium acetylene.  The thallium-carbon(Cp) is increased to 2.764 A with the acetylene present.  The thallium-carbon(C2H2) is 4.642 A, about 40% longer than the thallium-carbon(Cp).  The small increase in thallium-carbon(Cp) bond length implies that there are weak interactions between thallium and acetylene pi orbitals.   The acetylene appeared to be very weakly bound to thallium.  The binding energy is estimated using equation1 and 2 to be about...........
Figure 3 shows G98 optimized Van der Waal structure of cyclopentadienyl thallium benzene.
        The optimazation of Cp-Tl using ADF with Zora relativistic gives improved results. Both MPW1PW91 and B3PW91 with Tl5d double zeta basis set gives the Tl-Cp(centroid) bond length = 2.430 A, which is only 0.017 A longer than the experimental value. ADF/Zora optimized structure of cyclopentadienyl thallium
ADF/Zora optimized structure of cyclopentadienyl thallium benzene
 
 

Table I. Gaussian 98 DFT Calculation of Tl-C(Cp) and Tl-Cp(centroid) bond lengths for Cp-Tl
 
  DFT Method 
 Tl-C(Cp) bond length (A)
Tl-Cp(centroid) bond length
HF energy
B3LYP/6-311G/LANL2DZ
 2.850 
2.578
-245.1652
BPW91/6-311G/LANL2DZ 
2.838 
2.562
-245.4024
B3PW91/6-311G/LANL2DZ
2.808
2.533
-245.1155
B3PW91/6-311G9(d)/LANL2DZ 
2.785
2.510
-245.1616
 B3PW91/6-311G9(3df, 3pd)/LANL2DZ 
 2.770 
2.495
-245.1890
 B3PW91/6-311G(d)/SDD
 2.774 
2.498
  -195.5033
    B3PW91/cc-pVTZ/SDD
 2.760 
2.484
  -195.5318
MPW1PW91/SVP/SDD 
 2.771 
2.494
  -195.3515
MPW1PW91/TZV/SDD 
 2.768 
2.490
 -195.4894
MPW1PW91/6-311G(3df, 3pd)/SDD 
 2.760 
2.485
 -195.5477
 MPW1PW91/cc-pVTZ/SDD 
 2.755 
2.479
 -195.5518
MPW1PW91/cc-pVTZ/REPs
Relativistic potential (REPs)
2.762
2.487
-245.2058
Experimental value
2.689
2.413
-

Notation:  Method/ C, H basis set/ Tl basis set and core potential



 

Table II. ADF Calculations of  Tl-C(Cp) and Tl-Cp(centroid) bond lengths for Cp-Tl
 
ADF with ZORA relativistic 
Tl-C(Cp) bond length (A)
Tl-Cp(centroid) (A)
Total bond energies (eV)
BLYP/double zeta/C.1s, Tl.5p
2.834
2.5
-58.9318
PW91/double zeta/C.1s, 
Tl.4f
2.716-2.835
2.431
-62.6472
MPW1PW91/double zeta/C.1s, Tl.4f
2.716-2.835
2.431
-62.472
MPW1PW91/double zeta/C.1s,  Tl.5p
2.755-2.806
2.430
-62.6605
BPW91/double zeta/C.1,Tl.5p
2.755-2.806
2.430
-62.6605
MPW1PW91/triple zeta/C.1s,  Tl.5p
2.737-2.772
2.425
-64.5463
 Experimental value
2.689
2.413
-

 
 

Table III.  Gaussian 98 DFT MPW1PW91/cc-pVTZ/SDD: Optimized Van der Waals geometry of Cp-Tl-ligand complexes
 
Gaussian 98 DFT 
Tl-C(ligand) bond length (A)
Tl-X(ligand centroid) (A)
Total energy (HF)
Cp-Tl-C2H2
4.642
4.603
-272.8846
Cp-Tl-C2H4
calculating
calculating
calculating
Cp-Tl-C5H5
3.970
3.713
-427.8209
Cp-Tl-NH3
calculating
calculating
calculating

 

Table IV ADF MPW1PW91 optimized Van der Waals geometry of Cp-Tl-ligand complexes
 
ADF with ZORA relativistic
Tl-C ligand bond length (A)
Tl-X(ligand centroid) (A)
Total energy (eV)
Cp-Tl-C2H2
calculating
calculating
calculating
Cp-Tl-C2H4
calculating
calculating
calculating
Cp-Tl-C5H5
3.781
3.491-3.537
-140.5698
Cp-Tl-NH3
calculating
calculating
calculating

 
 

Table V Optimized Van der Waal geometry using MP2 methods
 
MP2/cc-pVTZ
Tl-C ligand bond length (A)
Tl-X(ligand centroid) (A)
Total energy (HF)
Cp-Tl-C2H2
calculating
calculating
calculating
Cp-Tl-C2H4
calculating
calculating
calculating
Cp-Tl-C5H5
3.7
3.472-3.515
-424.9781
Cp-Tl-NH3
calculating
calculating
calculating

 

CONCLUSIONS

        It is clear that the Becke's exchange function over estimated the Cp-Tl bond lengths as much as 6% larger than the experimental value. These results supported the arguement by Zhang et al. and Wesoloski et al that the Becke's exchange functional can not accurately evaluate the weak bonding interaction because of its erroneous asymptotic behavior at low density (19,20).  The results from MPW1PW91 did better job of calculation. The Cp-Tl bond lengths using MPW1PW91 without the relativistic potential is off by about 0.066 A.  This is  a good value since many Gaussian 98 DFT calculations of heavy metal complexes without relativistic potential often over estimated the bond length by about 0.1 A.   The  REPs relativistic potential, however, did not work well with these systems.
        The ADF calculation using Zora relativistic gave the Tl-Cp(centroid) bond length closest to the experimental value.

NEXT STEP

        The next important step is to verify the existence of these weakly bound complex structures experimentally.  The structural investigation of these complexes using a microwave spectroscopy should give new insights and spectroscopic informations about the physical properties and dynamics of internal rotations associated with these systems.  The study should give us some new insight about the chemical reactivity of Cp-Tl.
 
 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dr. Stephen G. Kukolich for his guidance

Dr.  Michael Barfield for his help with Gausssian technicalities

Dr. Phil Christiansian for his help with REPs relativistic effective potential

Dr. Dennis Lichtenberger for introducing various computational methods

Dr. Matt Lynn for his help with ADF

TA: Mauricio Cafiero for his help with Gaussian technicalities
 


Chakree Tanjaroon
Email: ctanjaro@u.arizona.edu