Electronic Structure of Cubane-Like Vanadium–Nitrogen Cationic Clusters [V<sub>4</sub>N<sub>4</sub>]<sup>+</sup> and [V<sub>6</sub>N<sub>6</sub>]<sup>+</sup>

oleh: Piao He, Jian-Guo Zhang, John E. McGrady

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2019-04-01

Deskripsi

Density Functional Theory and Complete Active Space Self-Consistent Field (CASSCF) methodologies are used to explore the electronic structure of the cationic V&#8211;N clusters, [V<sub>4</sub>N<sub>4</sub>]<sup>+</sup> and [V<sub>6</sub>N<sub>6</sub>]<sup>+</sup>, that have been identified in recent mass spectrometric experiments. Our calculations indicate that both clusters are based on cubane-like fragments of the rock-salt lattice. In the smaller [V<sub>4</sub>N<sub>4</sub>]<sup>+</sup> cluster, the V&#8211;V bonding is delocalized over the tetrahedron, with net bond orders of 1/3 per V&#8211;V bond. In [V<sub>6</sub>N<sub>6</sub>]<sup>+</sup>, in contrast, the V&#8211;V bonding is strongly localized in the central V<sub>2</sub>N<sub>2</sub> unit, which has a short V=V double bond. CASSCF calculations reveal that both localized and delocalized V&#8211;V bonds are highly multi-configurational.