Noncovalent interactions in supramolecular complexes: a study on corannulene and the double concave buckycatcher.
Stimulated by the recent observation of pi-pi interactions between C60 and corannulene subunits in a molecular tweezer arrangement (J Am Chem Soc 2007, 129, 3842), a density functional theory study was performed to analyze the electronic structure and properties of various noncovalent corannulene complexes. The theoretical approach is first applied to corannulene complexes with a series of benchmark molecules (CH4, NH3, and H2O) using several new-generation density functionals. The performance of nine density functionals, illustrated by computing binding energies of the corannulene complexes, demonstrates that Zhao and Truhlar's MPWB1K and M05-2X functionals provide energies similar to that obtained at the SCS-MP2 level. In contrast, most of the other popular density functionals fail to describe this noncovalent interaction or yield purely repulsive interactions. Further investigations with the M05-2X functional show that the binding energy of C60 with corannulene subunits in the relaxed molecular receptor clip geometry is -20.67 kcal/mol. The results of this calculation further support the experimental interpretation of pure pi-pi interactions between a convex fullerene and the concave surfaces of two corannulene subunits.
Wong
Bryan M
BM
Materials Chemistry Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California 94551, USA. bmwong@sandia.gov
D000641:Ammonia / Q000737:chemistry; D003198:Computer Simulation; D037741:Fullerenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008697:Methane / Q000737:chemistry; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry*; D011789:Quantum Theory; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
D037741:Fullerenes; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; C434863:corannulene; D014867:Water; D000641:Ammonia; D008697:Methane