title: Density functional theory study of the interaction of vinyl radical, ethyne, and ethene with benzene, aimed to define an affordable computational level to investigate stability trends in large van der Waals complexes.
abstract: Our purpose is to identify a computational level sufficiently dependable and affordable to assess trends in the interaction of a variety of radical or closed shell unsaturated hydro-carbons A adsorbed on soot platelet models B. These systems, of environmental interest, would unavoidably have rather large sizes, thus prompting to explore in this paper the performances of relatively low-level computational methods and compare them with higher-level reference results. To this end, the interaction of three complexes between non-polar species, vinyl radical, ethyne, or ethene (A) with benzene (B) is studied, since these species, involved themselves in growth processes of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and soot particles, are small enough to allow high-level reference calculations of the interaction energy ΔEAB. Counterpoise-corrected interaction energies ΔEAB are used at all stages. (1) Density Functional Theory (DFT) unconstrained optimizations of the A-B complexes are carried out, using the B3LYP-D, ωB97X-D, and M06-2X functionals, with six basis sets: 6-31G(d), 6-311 (2d,p), and 6-311++G(3df,3pd); aug-cc-pVDZ and aug-cc-pVTZ; N07T. (2) Then, unconstrained optimizations by Møller-Plesset second order Perturbation Theory (MP2), with each basis set, allow subsequent single point Coupled Cluster Singles Doubles and perturbative estimate of the Triples energy computations with the same basis sets [CCSD(T)//MP2]. (3) Based on an additivity assumption of (i) the estimated MP2 energy at the complete basis set limit [EMP2/CBS] and (ii) the higher-order correlation energy effects in passing from MP2 to CCSD(T) at the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set, ΔECC-MP, a CCSD(T)/CBS estimate is obtained and taken as a computational energy reference. At DFT, variations in ΔEAB with basis set are not large for the title molecules, and the three functionals perform rather satisfactorily even with rather small basis sets [6-31G(d) and N07T], exhibiting deviation from the computational reference of less than 1 kcal mol(-1). The zero-point vibrational energy corrected estimates Δ(EAB+ZPE), obtained with the three functionals and the 6-31G(d) and N07T basis sets, are compared with experimental D0 measures, when available. In particular, this comparison is finally extended to the naphthalene and coronene dimers and to three π-π associations of different PAHs (R, made by 10, 16, or 24 C atoms) and P (80 C atoms).
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Torino, Corso Massimo D'Azeglio 48, I-10125 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maranzana
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Torino, Corso Massimo D'Azeglio 48, I-10125 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giordana
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Torino, Corso Massimo D'Azeglio 48, I-10125 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonius
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Indarto
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Torino, Corso Massimo D'Azeglio 48, I-10125 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Glauco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tonachini
authors.affiliation: Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, I-56126, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Barone
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, dei Materiali e della Produzione Industriale, Università di Napoli "Federico II," Via Cintia, 80126 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Causà
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università di Napoli "Federico II," Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, Via Cintia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pavone