Theoretical study of the V((4)F) + NO((2)I (r)) -> VO((4)I (-)) pound + N((4)SA degrees) reaction compared with the Sc((2)D) and Ti((3)F) cases

Abstract

To understand the title reaction, the MRCI, CCSD, CCSD(T), and DFT calculations have been done. A large domain of the ground-state potential energy surface has been explored including the activation energy barrier to form the triatomic complex, two stable intermediate complexes, V[NO] and NVO, the transition state connecting these two conformers, and the detachment of the nitrogen atom. We compared this reaction with the similar ones involving the Sc and Ti atoms. The activation barrier to form the VNO complex made from the ionic-covalent coupling decreases to approach the experimental data when the electron correlation effect is better included as in the Sc and Ti systems. The transition state connecting the two conformers was calculated to be higher than in the Sc and Ti cases probably due to larger number of nonbonding valence electrons and is probably too high with respect to the reactant energy level to allow the interconversion between the two conformers in the VNO. The direct concerted substitution (abstraction) reaction is improbable because this process will have to overcome a too high potential barrier. We have also found the transition state connecting two conformers of ScNO.