Currently the theories to explain and predict the classification of the electronic reorganization due to the torquoselectivity of a ring-opening reaction cannot accommodate the directional character of the reaction pathway; the torquoselectivity is a type of stereoselectivity and therefore is dependent on the pathway. Therefore, in this investigation we introduced new measures from quantum theory of atoms in molecules and the stress tensor to clearly distinguish and quantify the transition states of the inward (TSIC) and outward (TSOC) conrotations of competitive ring-opening reactions of 3-(trifluoromethyl)cyclobut-1-ene and 1-cyano-1-methylcyclobutene. We find the metallicity ξ(r ) of the ring-opening bond does not occur exactly at the transition state in agreement with transition state theory. The vector-based stress tensor response β was used to distinguish the effect of the CN, CH , and CF groups on the TSIC and TSOC paths that was consistent with the ellipticity ε, the total local energy density H(r ) and the stress tensor stiffness S . We determine the directional properties of the TSIC and TSOC ring-opening reactions by constructing a stress tensor UσTS space with trajectories TσTS (s) with length l in real space, longer l correlated with the lowest density functional theory-evaluated total energy barrier and hence will be more thermodynamically favored. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) and stress tensor analysis was applied to analyze intramolecular interactions influencing the photoisomerization dynamics of a light-driven rotary molecular motor. For selected nonadiabatic molecular dynamics trajectories characterized by markedly different S state lifetimes, the electron densities were obtained using the ensemble density functional theory method. The analysis revealed that torsional motion of the molecular motor blades from the Franck-Condon point to the S energy minimum and the S/S conical intersection is controlled by two factors: greater numbers of intramolecular bonds before the hop-time and unusually strongly coupled bonds between the atoms of the rotor and the stator blades. This results in the effective stalling of the progress along the torsional path for an extended period of time. This finding suggests a possibility of chemical tuning of the speed of photoisomerization of molecular motors and related molecular switches by reshaping their molecular backbones to decrease or increase the degree of coupling and numbers of intramolecular bond critical points as revealed by the QTAIM/stress tensor analysis of the electron density. Additionally, the stress tensor scalar and vector analysis was found to provide new methods to follow the trajectories, and from this, new insight was gained into the behavior of the S state in the vicinity of the conical intersection.
The utility of the QTAIM/stress tensor analysis method for characterizing the photoisomerization of light driven molecular rotary machines is investigated on the example of the torsion path in fluorene molecular motor. The scalar and vector descriptors of QTAIM/stress tensor reveal additional information on the bonding interactions between the rotating units of the motor, which cannot be obtained from the analysis of the ground and excited state potential energy surfaces. The topological features of the fluorene motor molecular graph display that, upon the photoexcitation a certain increase in the torsional stiffness of the rotating bond can be attributed to the increasing topological stability of the rotor carbon atom attached to the rotation axle. The established variations in the torsional stiffness of the rotating bond may cause transfer of certain fraction of the torsional energy to other internal degrees of freedom, such as the pyramidalization distortion. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Using QTAIM we show that the hydrogen bonding complexes of 5-halogenated-1-methyluracil (XmU; X = F, Cl, Br, I or At) with a water molecule were always stronger than the corresponding halogen bonds. The strength of the hydrogen bond decreased with increasing halogen size. The hydrogen bonds displayed an admixture of covalent character but all the halogen bonds were purely electrostatic in nature. An F---O halogen bond was found and was facilitated by an intermediate F---H bonding interaction. The metallicity ξ(r b ) of the C=O bonds neighboring the hydrogen bonds and of the C-X bonds contiguous with the halogen bonds was explored.
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