Structures and energetics of complexation of metal ions with ammonia, water, and benzene: a computational study

Abstract

Quantum chemical calculations have been performed at CCSD(T)/def2-TZVP level to investigate the strength and nature of interactions of ammonia (NH₃), water (H₂O), and benzene (C₆H₆) with various metal ions and validated with the available experimental results. For all the considered metal ions, a preference for C₆H₆ is observed for dicationic ions whereas the monocationic ions prefer to bind with NH₃. Density Functional Theory–Symmetry Adapted Perturbation Theory (DFT-SAPT) analysis has been employed at PBE0AC/def2-TZVP level on these complexes (closed shell), to understand the various energy terms contributing to binding energy (BE). The DFT-SAPT result shows that for the metal ion complexes with H₂O electrostatic component is the major contributor to the BE whereas, for C₆H₆ complexes polarization component is dominant, except in the case of alkali metal ion complexes. However, in case of NH₃ complexes, electrostatic component is dominant for s-block metal ions, whereas, for the d and p-block metal ion complexes both electrostatic and polarization components are important. The geometry (M⁺–N and M⁺–O distance for NH3 and H₂O complexes respectively, and cation–π distance for C₆H₆ complexes) for the alkali and alkaline earth metal ion complexes increases down the group. Natural population analysis performed on NH₃, H₂O, and C₆H₆ complexes shows that the charge transfer to metal ions is higher in case of C₆H₆ complexes.