The Diels-Alder reaction of cyclopentadinene (CP) with methyl acrylate (MA) in room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) is theoretically examined. In the present study, quantum molecular orbital theory is combined with a multicomponent reference interaction site model (RISM). Because RISM is free from statistical error, it is possible to overcome the serious difficulty in the description of the strong Coulombic interaction in RTILs. We focused on the origin of the relatively moderate solvation effects of RTILs and the mechanism of endo-exo selectivity.

An excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) reaction of 4'-N,N-dimethylamino-3-hydroxyflavone in room temperature ionic liquid is theoretically investigated using RISM-SCF-SEDD, which is a hybrid method of molecular liquid theory and ab initio molecular orbital theory. The photo-excitation and proton-transfer processes are computed by considering the solvent fluctuation. The calculated absorption and emission energy are in good agreement with the experiments. The changes in the dipole moment indicate that the drastic solvation relaxation is accompanied by the excitation and an ESIPT process, which is consistent with the remarkable dynamic Stokes shift observed in the experiments. We calculated the nonequilibrium free-energy contour as a function of the proton coordinate and the solvation coordinate. We conclude that although immediately after the excitation the barrier height of the ESIPT process is relatively small, the barrier becomes larger as the solvation relaxation to the excited normal state proceeds. The solvation relaxation process is also investigated on the basis of microscopic solvation structure obtained by RISM calculations.

We applied a multiscale modeling approach that involves the statistical-mechanical three-dimensional reference interaction site model with the Kovalenko-Hirata closure approximation (3D-RISM-KH molecular theory of solvation) as well as density functional theory (DFT) of electronic structure to study the role of water in aggregation of the asphaltene model compound 4,4'-bis(2-pyren-1-yl-ethyl)-2,2'-bipyridine (PBP) [X. Tan, H. Fenniri and M. R. Gray, Energy Fuels, 2008, 22, 715]. The solvation free energy and potential of mean force predicted by 3D-RISM-KH reveal favorable pathways for disaggregation of PBP dimers in pure versus water-saturated chloroform solvent. The water density distribution functions elucidate hydrogen bonding preferences and water bridge formation between PBP monomers. The ΔG(298) values of -5 to -7 kcal mol(-1) for transfer of water molecules in chloroform to a state interacting with PBP molecules are in agreement with experimental results. Geometry optimization and thermochemistry analysis of PBP dimers with and without water bridges using WB97Xd/6-31G(d,p) predict that both PBP dimerization and dimer stabilization by water bridges are spontaneous (ΔG(298) < 0). The (1)H NMR chemical shifts of PBP monomers and dimers predicted using the gauge-independent atomic orbital method and polarizable continuum model for solvation in chloroform are in an excellent agreement with the experimental results for dilute and concentrated PBP solutions in chloroform, respectively [X. Tan, H. Fenniri and M. R. Gray, Energy Fuels, 2009, 23, 3687]. The DFT calculations of PBP dimers with explicit water show that bridges containing 1-3 water molecules lead to stabilization of PBP dimers. Additional water molecules form hydrogen bonds with these bridges and de-shield the PBP protons, negating the effect of water on the (1)H(C3) NMR chemical shift of PBP, in agreement with experiment. The ΔG(298) results show that hydrogen bonding to water and water-promoted polynuclear assembly bridging is as important as π-π interactions for asphaltene aggregation.

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A S(N)2 reaction of methyl p-nitrobenzenesulfonate (p-NBS) and chloride anion in ionic liquid ([mmim][PF(6)]) was studied using RISM-SCF-SEDD method coupled with a highly sophisticated ab initio electronic structure theory (CCSD). The solvation structure as well as the energy profile along the reaction were discussed through comparison with an ordinary solvent system, dichloromethane.

The valence ionization spectra up to 20 eV of group six metal carbonyls, chromium hexacarbonyl, molybdenum hexacarbonyl, and tungsten hexacarbonyl were studied by the symmetry-adapted cluster-configuration interaction (SAC-CI) method. The assignments of the spectra are given based on reliable SAC-CI calculations. The relativistic effects including the spin-orbit effects are important for the ionization spectrum of W(CO)(6). The relation between the metal-CO distance and ionization energies was examined. The lowest ionization energies of the three metal carbonyls are approximately the same because of the energy dependence of the metal-CO length and relativistic effects. In Cr(CO)(6), the Cr-CO interaction significantly increases the lowest ionization energy in comparison with Mo(CO)(6) and W(CO)(6) because of the relatively short metal-CO bond length. The relativistic effect reduces the lowest ionization energy of W(CO)(6) because the effective core potential of 5d electrons is more efficiently screened as a result of the relativistic contraction of the inner electrons.

An integral equation theory for molecular liquids, reference interaction site model (RISM), was applied to understand the liquid structure of nitromethane, which is extensively used as a solvent. In the theory, liquid structure is described by a set of pair correlation functions. With the aid of ab initio molecular orbital calculations, representative peaks were able to be related to specific configurations of molecules.

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