title: RgBF2(+) complexes (Rg = Ar, Kr, and Xe): the cations with large stabilities.
abstract: Rare gas containing cations with general formula [Rg, B, 2F](+) have been investigated theoretically by second-order Mo̸ller-Plesset perturbation, coupled cluster, and complete active space self-consistent field levels of theory with correlation-consistent basis sets. Totally two types of minima, i.e., boron centered C(2) (v) symmetried RgBF(2) (+) (Rg = Ar, Kr, and Xe) which can be viewed as loss of F(-) from FRgBF(2) and linear FRgBF(+) (Rg = Kr and Xe) are obtained at the CCSD(T)∕aug-cc-pVTZ∕SDD and CASSCF(10,8)∕aug-cc-pVTZ∕SDD levels, respectively. It is shown that the RgBF(2) (+) are global minima followed by FRgBF(+) at 170.9 and 142.2 kcal∕mol on the singlet potential-energy surfaces of [Rg, B, 2F](+) (Rg = Kr and Xe) at the CASPT2(10,8) ∕aug-cc-pVTZ∕SDD∕∕CASSCF(10,8)∕aug-cc-pVTZ∕SDD, respectively. The interconversion barrier heights between RgBF(2) (+) and FRgBF(+) (Rg = Kr and Xe) are at least 39 kcal∕mol. In addition, no dissociation transition state associated with RgBF(2) (+) and FRgBF(+) can be found. This suggests that RgBF(2) (+) (Rg = Ar, Kr, and Xe) can exist as both thermodynamically and kinetically stable species, while linear FRgBF(+) (Rg = Kr and Xe) can exist as metastable species compared with the lowest dissociation limit energies just like isoelectronic linear FRgBO and FRgBN(-). From natural bond orbital and atoms-in-molecules calculations, it is found that the positive charge is mainly located on Rg and boron atoms for both types of minima, the Rg-B bonds of ArBF(2) (+), KrBF(2) (+), and XeBF(2) (+) are mostly electrostatic, thus can be viewed as ion-induced dipole interaction; while that of linear FKrBF(+) and FXeBF(+) are covalent in nature. The previous experimental observation of ArBF(2) (+) by Pepi et al. [J. Phys. Chem. B. 110, 4492 (2006)] should correspond to C(2) (v) minimum. The presently predicted spectroscopies of KrBF(2) (+), XeBF(2) (+), FKrBF(+), and FXeBF(+) should be helpful for their experimental identification in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Shantou University, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.forename: Guang-Hui
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xiao-Chun
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhi-Ru
authors.initials: ZR
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wen-Guang
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Liu