Can density functional theory 'Cope' with highly fluxional shapeshifting molecules?

Title
Can density functional theory 'Cope' with highly fluxional shapeshifting molecules?
Publication Date
2021-01-01
Author(s)
Karton, Amir
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Place of publication
Netherlands
DOI
10.1016/j.chemphys.2020.111013
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/47588
Abstract

Shape-shifting molecules such as bullvalene undergo rapid structural reorganizations via degenerate Cope rearrangements. Here, we obtain accurate CCSD(T)/CBS barrier heights and reaction energies for a wide range of Cope rearrangements in substituted bullvalenes (C10H9R, R = NH3, OH, CH3, H, F, Cl, SH, and CN). We use this benchmark dataset to evaluate the performance of DFT and ab initio methods for the kinetics and thermodynamics of these reactions. The reaction barrier heights pose a significant challenge for DFT methods - the best methods attain root-mean-square deviations of 4.9 (BMK), 4.5 (PBE0), 4.2 (PW6B95), and 3.8 (B1B95) kJ mol−1. Overall, only three DFT functionals (BMK, PW6B95, and MN12-SX) are able to surpass (or attain near) chemical accuracy for both barrier heights and reaction energies. In contrast, the double-hybrid DFT procedures ωB97X-2(LP), ωB97X-2(TQZ), PWPB95-D3, PBEQI-DH, and DSD-PBEB95-D3 give good-to-excellent performance.

Link
Citation
Chemical Physics, v.540, p. 1-9
ISSN
1873-4421
0301-0104
Start page
1
End page
9

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