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Are the ground states of the later actinocenes multiconfigurational?: all-electron spin-orbit coupled CASPT2 calculations on An(eta(8)-C8H8)(2) (An = Th, U, Pu, Cm)

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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>30/07/2009
<mark>Journal</mark>Journal of Physical Chemistry A
Issue number30
Volume113
Number of pages9
Pages (from-to)8737-8745
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Spin-orbit free and spin-orbit coupled CASPT2 wave functions and energies are presented for the ground and low-lying excited states of four actinide element sandwich molecules; thorocene (ThCOT2), uranocene (UCOT2), plutonocene (PuCOT2), and curocene (CmCOT2). Spin-orbit coupling is found to make little difference to the equilibrium geometry of uranocene and plutonocene but has a significant effect on the energy spectrum of all the systems considered here other than thorocene. In all cases, however, the spin-orbit free ground states make the dominant contribution to their spin-orbit coupled counterparts. Following work presented in J. Phys. Chem. A 2009, 113, 2896, the variation in the multiconfigurational character of the ground-state wave functions as the 5f series is crossed is quantified via the occupation of the a(u)/b(1u) (e(2u)) metal-ring bonding and antibonding natural orbitals. The ground state of plutonocene is found to be nondegenerate with vertical bar M-J vertical bar = 0, in agreement with its temperature-independent paramagnetism.