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Hindawi Publishing CorporationJournal of ChemistryVolume 2013 Article ID 684134 6 pageshttpdxdoiorg1011552013684134
Research ArticleNucleophilicity Index Based on Atomic Natural Orbitals
Dariusz W Szczepanik and Janusz Mrozek
Department of Computational Methods in Chemistry Faculty of Chemistry Jagiellonian UniversitySt Ingardena 3 30-060 Cracow Poland
Correspondence should be addressed to Dariusz W Szczepanik szczepadchemiaujedupl
Received 30 May 2013 Accepted 21 August 2013
Academic Editor K R S Chandrakumar
Copyright copy 2013 D W Szczepanik and J Mrozek This is an open access article distributed under the Creative CommonsAttribution License which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work isproperly cited
A simple method of evaluating a semilocal (regional) nucleophilicity is introducedThe concept involves use of the natural orbitalsfor atomic populations to identify the most ldquoreactive populationrdquo of electrons on particular atom in molecule The results of testcalculations considering the regioselectivity problem in electrophilic aromatic substitution to the benzene derivatives are presentedand briefly discussed
1 Introduction
There is a wide variety of reactivity predictors for electron-transfer-controlled reactions among which the Fukui func-tion originating from the density functional theory (DFT) isone of the most fundamental ones [1 2] Within the orbital-based calculations one of the simplest methods to interpretand implement is the condensed Fukui index [3ndash6] (a coarse-grained atom-by-atom representation of the Fukui function)which can be determined from electron population analysisThere are many arguments [7 8] in favor of the condensedFukui index based on the Hirshfeldrsquos populational scheme[9] however other population analysis methods includingthe Mullikenrsquos [10ndash13] and Lowdinrsquos [14] as well as the NPAschemes [15] are also in common use (eg [16ndash18])
In this paper we briefly introduce and test a new simplemethod of evaluating the relative (with respect to particularatom in two ldquohomologousrdquo molecules) reactivity of nucle-ophiles based on the natural orbitals for atomic populationof electrons [19] and involving their energies as well asoccupation numbers The method is related to the Fukuifunction concept and its approximation within the frame-work of FrontierMolecular Orbital (FMO) theory [20ndash22] Inthis workwe take into consideration the well-known problem(somewhat trivial but illustrative) of regioselectivity predic-tion in the electrophilic aromatic substitution to the fol-lowing benzene derivatives fluorobenzene (C
6H5F) aniline
(C6H5NH2) phenol (C
6H5OH) nitrobenzene (C
6H5NO2)
benzoic acid (C6H5COOH) and benzaldehyde (C
6H5CHO)
In general functional groups ndashOH and ndashNH2are clas-
sified as electron donating and strongly activating in theelectrophilic substitution reactions while functional groupsndashNO2 ndashCOOH and CHO remove electron density from
the benzene ring and thus strongly deactivate the moleculeFunctional groups from the former class tend to be orthoparadirecting while those from the latter one direct electrophilesto attack the benzene molecule at the meta position In flu-orobenzene (likewise in other benzene halides) the benzenering is weakly deactivated due to inductive withdrawal ofelectrons by electronegative atom F However the resonancedonation of nonbonding electrons of fluorine atom to thebenzene ring causes that the most preferable positions ofelectrophilic attack are ortho and para
2 Method Details
Let us assume the closed-shell molecular system with119873 elec-trons doubly occupying 119899 lowest molecular orbitals |120593119900⟩ =
|1205931⟩ |120593
119899⟩ equiv |120593
lowast⟩ generated as linear combinations of
orthogonalized atomic orbitals (OAO) |120594⟩
1003816100381610038161003816120593119894 ⟩ = sum
120572
1003816100381610038161003816120594120572⟩ ⟨120594120572 | 120593119894⟩ = sum
where the rectangular matrix C119900 groups the relevant LCAOMOexpansion coefficients It follows directly from the super-position principle of quantummechanics that the conditionalprobability of ldquofinding electronrdquo from 119894th occupied molecularorbital on 120572th atomic orbital reads
Similarly by replacing the operator 120572with the operator
119883
projecting onto the subspace of all OAOs centered on atom119883 we get the conditional probability of the event that theelectron from electron population on atom119883 can be ascribedto 119894th molecular orbital
is obviously not diagonal It follows directly from orthonor-mality of molecular orbitals that regarding the whole (molec-ular) electron population119873
Here 119865120593 is the Fock operator and diagonal matrix 120576119900collects orbital energies of occupied canonical MOs Sincenatural orbitals |120579
119883⟩ are not the eigenvectors of 119865120593 the
matrix of orbital energies (12) is not diagonal Orbital ener-gies of both frontier canonical molecular orbitals HOMO(120576lowastequiv 120576
HOMOequiv 120576119899119899 ) and LUMO (120576
LUMOequiv 120576119899+1119899+1
) areknown to be useful qualitative indicators of chemical reac-tivity Thus it is of our special interest to investigate how theexpectation values of operator 119865120593 within representation of|120579119883⟩managewith evaluation of the reactivity of the particular
atom119883 However due to nonorthogonality of natural-orbitalsets for different atoms only the relative changes of 120576120579
119883for the
same119883 in two homologous species should be comparedOne of the standard frontier-orbital treatments of chem-
ical reactivity is the regioselectivity problem for examplein the electrophilic aromatic substitution to the benzenederivatives The standard FMO theory analysis of the effectof substituent groups involves the electron populations ofthe highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) whereaswithin the newly proposed ldquoreverse scenariordquo we focus on theelectron population of particular atom first and then analyzethe highest ldquoenergiesrdquo of occupied atomic NOs
3 Numerical Results
To examine the presented methodology we have used state-functions calculated at RHF(ROHF for cations)STO-3GRHF(ROHF)6-31Glowast as well as DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZtheory levels using the standard ab initio quantum chemistrypackage GAMESS [24] for the following benzene derivativesfluorobenzene aniline phenol nitrobenzene benzoic acidand benzaldehyde The highest energies of occupied naturalorbitals and the corresponding electron populations werecomparedwith two standardMO-based atomic descriptors ofreactivity the atomic index of nucleophilicity [25] involvingonly the highest occupied MO |120593lowast⟩
Table 1 Atomic indices of nucleophilicity (13) and condensed atomic Fukui indices (14) for selected benzene derivatives For asymmetricspecies the position refers to carbon atom with larger electron population Methods RHFROHF basis sets STO-3G 6-31Glowast
and the Fukui nucleophilic reactivity index [26] involvingelectron populations on atom 119883 in cation 119873+
119883 and neutral
molecule119873119883
119865119883= 119873119883minus 119873+
119883 (14)
Both indices were calculated only within basis sets STO-3Gand 6-31Glowast since larger basis sets (especially those includingdiffuse functions eg aug-cc-pVDZ) are well known to dra-matically lose their ldquoatomic attributenessrdquo of AOs and con-sequently many population-type descriptors usually assumecompletely unreasonable values Two alternative proceduresof population analysis were used in calculation of indices (13)and (14) the Mullikenrsquos scheme (superscript M) [10ndash13] andthe Lowdinrsquos one (superscriptL) [14] involving the standardldquogeometricalrdquo orthogonalization of atomic orbitals
The results presented in Table 1 clearly indicate that onlyindex 119877
119883calculated within extended basis set allows one
to correctly predict the position of electrophilic attack inall molecules under consideration The Fukui nucleophilicreactivity index 119865
119883properly copes with orthopara directing
but it completely fails with respect to meta directing Itis worth notice that indicator 119877
119883 involving only electron
populations and energies of HOMO is far less sensitive topopulation analysis method than index 119865
119883 Furthermore if
one excludes the results formeta directing groups there is nosignificant difference between 119877
119883calculated within STO-3G
and 6-31Glowast basis setsWe performed a similar analysis using the newly pro-
posed method based on natural orbitals |120579119883⟩ Table 2 collects
orbital occupation numbers 119899lowast119883and the corresponding rela-
tive ldquoenergetic effectsrdquoΔ120576lowast119883 calculated as a difference between
the highest energy of occupied natural orbitals of particularcarbon atoms in benzene and its derivative
Δ120576lowast
119883= 120576lowast
119883(derivative) minus 120576lowast
119883(benzene) (15)
Even a cursory analysis of occupation numbers in Table 2allows one to correctly predict the preferential orthoparaor meta directing of substituent groups regardless of basissets used in calculations However evaluation of energeticeffects provides more detailed information about activat-ingdeactivating influence of substituent groups on particularcarbon atoms For example ndashNH
2is properly recognized
as the best activator and the most activated carbon atomis in position para (activated for about 11 kcalsdotmolminus1) whilesubstituent group ndashNO
2strongly deactivates themolecule for
about 20ndash25 kcalsdotmolminus1 and the most active population ofelectrons is then located on carbon atom in position metaFor the majority of cases orbital energies properly predict theposition of electrophilic substitution
In calculations of natural orbitals from Table 2 we usedthe standard Lowdinrsquos orthogonalization procedure to obtainorthogonal AOs However it was of our interest to find how998779120576lowast
119883and 119899
lowast
119883depend on the orthogonalization procedure
Table 3 contains the same data as Table 2 but is calcu-lated within representation of ldquophysicallyrdquo orthogonalizedatomic orbitals (superscript P) [27ndash29] At first glance onecan observe a small improvement of electron populationsfrom DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZ Also in contrast to cal-culations involving ldquogeometricalrdquo orthogonalization Δ120576lowastP
119883
4 Journal of Chemistry
Table 2 Occupation numbers (11) and differences between the highest NO ldquoenergiesrdquo (15) in [kcalsdotmoLminus1] for benzene and its derivativescalculated within representation of ldquogeometricallyrdquo orthogonalized atomic orbitals For asymmetric species the position refers to carbonatom with larger electron population Methods RHFSTO-3G 6-31Glowast and DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZ
Molecule Position STO-3G 6-31Glowast Aug-cc-pVDZ119899lowastL119883
Table 3 Occupation numbers (11) and differences between the highest NO ldquoenergiesrdquo (15) in [kcalsdotmolminus1] for benzene and its derivativescalculated within representation of ldquophysicallyrdquo orthogonalized atomic orbitals For asymmetric species the position refers to carbon atomwith larger electron population Methods RHFSTO-3G 6-31Glowast and DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZ
Molecule Position STO-3G 6-31Glowast Aug-cc-pVDZ119899lowastP119883
for benzaldehyde in STO-3G basis set correctly predictmeta directing of substituent group In general howevercalculated energies are similar to those from Table 2 (averagedistances between the respective energies calculated within
ldquogeometricallyrdquo and ldquophysicallyrdquo orthogonalized AO repre-sentations are 04 (STO-3G) 08 (6-31Glowast) and 09 (aug-cc-pVDZ) [kcalsdotmolminus1]) and thus allow one to draw almost thesame conclusions about reactivity of particular carbon atom
Journal of Chemistry 5
The energetic effects from Tables 2 and 3 are relativelysmall (but comparable with differences between stabilizationenergies of the corresponding Wheland intermediates [30])For comparison below we present several simple speciesordered with respect to relative nucleophilicities (from weakto very good nucleophiles) and the corresponding energiesΔ120576lowastL119883
[kcalsdotmolminus1] (of orbitals identified as lone pairs inall cases) calculated at DFTB3LYPTZP with model corepotential [31 32]
CH3COOH ltH
2O lt NH
3lt CH
3Ominus lt CH
3Sminus
00(reference) 118 611 2179 2324
4 Summary
In this work we have briefly introduced a simple method ofevaluating the relative nucleophilicity in energy scale Theconcept involves the use of natural orbitals for atomic popula-tion of electrons and their energies (ie expectation values ofFock operator) as well as occupation numbers to identify ldquothemost reactive population of electronsrdquo on particular atom (ormolecular fragment) Such scenario is directly related to thestandard FMO theory treatment involving atomic popula-tions of electrons of the highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO) in the newly proposed approach we first focus onthe electron population of particular atom and then analyzeenergies of occupied natural orbital This strategy has beenexamined on the regioselectivity problem in the electrophilicaromatic substitution to the benzene derivatives Analysis ofthe results allows one to draw the conclusion that evaluationand comparison of relative chemical nucleophilicities ofatoms in an energy domain are more reliable and advan-tageous than analyses involving other popular MO-basedthis seems to be somehow obvious since in contradistinc-tion to the majority of condensed atomic indices energeticdescriptors converge systematically to the complete-basis-setlimit It has to be noticed however that electron populationof the highest occupied natural orbital of a particular atomin molecule is somewhat insensitive to basis set variationsand the corresponding energy seems to exhibit the basis setdependence quite consistent with the variational principle
The presented methodology is still in need of thoroughanalysis and examination Also it is of our special interestto take advantage of the approach based on natural atomicorbitals involving virtual molecular orbitals to evaluate theenergetic descriptor of electrophilicity of atoms and molecu-lar fragments
References
[1] R G Parr and W T Yang J ldquoDensity functional approach tothe frontier-electron theory of chemical reactivityrdquo Journal ofthe American Chemical Society vol 106 no 14 pp 4049ndash40501984
[2] P W Ayers and M Levy ldquoPerspective on lsquoDensity functionalapproach to the frontier-electron theory of chemical reactivityrsquordquoTheoretical Chemistry Accounts vol 103 no 3-4 pp 353ndash3602000
[3] W T Yang and W J Mortier ldquoThe use of global and localmolecular parameters for the analysis of the gas-phase basicity
of aminesrdquo Journal of the American Chemical Society vol 108no 19 pp 5708ndash5711 1986
[4] P Fuentealba P Perez and R Contreras ldquoOn the condensedFukui functionrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physics vol 113 no 7Article ID 2544 8 pages 2000
[5] N Otero M Mandado and R A Mosquera ldquoRevisiting thecalculation of condensed Fukui functions using the quantumtheory of atoms in moleculesrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physicsvol 126 no 23 Article ID 234108 6 pages 2007
[6] P Bultinck S Fias C van Alsenoy P W Ayers and R Carbo-Dorca ldquoCritical thoughts on computing atom condensed Fukuifunctionsrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 127 no 3Article ID 034102 11 pages 2007
[7] R F Nalewajski and R G Parr ldquoInformation theory atoms inmolecules andmolecular similarityrdquoProceedings of theNationalAcademy of Sciences of the United States of America vol 97 no16 pp 8879ndash8882 2000
[8] P W Ayers ldquoAtoms in molecules an axiomatic approach IMaximum transferabilityrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physics vol113 no 24 pp 10886ndash10898 2000
[9] F L Hirshfeld ldquoBonded-atom fragments for describing molec-ular charge densitiesrdquo Theoretica Chimica Acta vol 44 no 2pp 129ndash138 1977
[10] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MOmolecular wave functions Irdquo The Journal of Chemical Physicsvol 23 no 10 Article ID 1833 8 pages 1955
[11] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MO molecular wave functions II Overlap populations bondorders and covalent bond energiesrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 10 Article ID 1841 6 pages 1955
[12] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MOmolecular wave functions IV Bonding and antibonding inLCAO and valence-bond theoriesrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 12 pp 2343ndash2346 1955
[13] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MO molecular wave functions III Effects of hybridization onoverlap and gross AO populationsrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 12 Article ID 2338 5 pages 1955
[14] P O Lowdin ldquoOn the non-orthogonality problem connectedwith the use of atomicwave functions in the theory ofmoleculesand crystalsrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 18 no 3Article ID 365 11 pages 1950
[15] A E Reed R B Weinstock and F Weinhold ldquoNatural popu-lation analysisrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 83 no 2Article ID 735 12 pages 1985
[16] S Arulmozhiraja and P Kolandaivel ldquoCondensed Fukui func-tion dependency on atomic chargesrdquoMolecular Physics vol 90no 1 pp 55ndash62 1997
[17] R K Roy K Hirao S Krishnamurty and S Pal ldquoMullikenpopulation analysis based evaluation of condensed Fukui func-tion indices using fractional molecular chargerdquo The Journal ofChemical Physics vol 115 no 7 pp 2901ndash2907 2001
[18] F de Proft C van Alsenoy A Peeters W Langenaeker andP Geerlings ldquoAtomic charges dipole moments and Fukuifunctions using the Hirshfeld partitioning of the electrondensityrdquo Journal of Computational Chemistry vol 23 no 12 pp1198ndash1209 2002
[19] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoOn quadratic bond-orderdecomposition within molecular orbital spacerdquo Journal ofMathematical Chemistry vol 51 no 6 pp 1619ndash1633 2013
[20] K Fukui T Yonezawa and H Shingu ldquoA molecular orbitaltheory of reactivity in aromatic hydrocarbonsrdquo The Journal ofChemical Physics vol 20 no 4 pp 722ndash725 1952
6 Journal of Chemistry
[21] K Fukui T Yonezawa and C Nagata ldquoA free-electron modelfor discussing reactivity in unsaturated hydrocarbonsrdquo TheJournal of Chemical Physics vol 21 no 1 pp 174ndash176 1953
[22] M Berkowitz ldquoDensity functional approach to frontier con-trolled reactionsrdquo Journal of the American Chemical Society vol109 no 16 pp 4823ndash4825 1987
[23] R F Nalewajski D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoBond differ-entiation and orbital decoupling in the orbital-communicationtheory of the chemical bondrdquoAdvances in Quantum Chemistryvol 61 pp 1ndash48 2011
[24] M W Schmidt K K Baldridge J A Boatz et al ldquoGeneralatomic and molecular electronic structure systemrdquo Journal ofComputational Chemistry vol 14 no 11 pp 1347ndash1363 1993
[25] R Franke Theorecital Drug Design Methods Elsevier Amster-dam The Netherlands 1984
[26] J Melin P W Ayers and J V Ortiz ldquoRemoving electrons canincrease the electron density a computational study of negativefukui functionsrdquo The Journal of Physical Chemistry A vol 111no 40 pp 10017ndash10019 2007
[27] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoSymmetrical orthogonalizationwithin linear space of molecular orbitalsrdquo Chemical PhysicsLetters vol 512 pp 157ndash160 2012
[28] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoElectron population analysisusing a referenceminimal set of atomic orbitalsrdquoComputationaland Theoretical Chemistry vol 996 pp 103ndash109 2012
[29] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoOn several alternatives forLowdin orthogonalizationrdquo Computational and TheoreticalChemistry vol 1008 pp 15ndash19 2013
[30] G W Wheland ldquoA quantum mechanical investigation of theorientation of substituants in aromaticmoleculesrdquo Journal of theAmerican Chemical Society vol 64 no 4 pp 900ndash908 1942
[31] Y Sakai E Miyoshi M Klobukowski and S Huzinaga ldquoModelpotentials for main group elements Li through RnrdquoThe Journalof Chemical Physics vol 106 no 19 pp 8084ndash8092 1997
[32] T NoroM Sekiya and T Koga ldquoContracted polarization func-tions for the atoms helium through neonrdquoTheoretical ChemistryAccounts vol 98 no 1 pp 25ndash32 1997
where the rectangular matrix C119900 groups the relevant LCAOMOexpansion coefficients It follows directly from the super-position principle of quantummechanics that the conditionalprobability of ldquofinding electronrdquo from 119894th occupied molecularorbital on 120572th atomic orbital reads
Similarly by replacing the operator 120572with the operator
119883
projecting onto the subspace of all OAOs centered on atom119883 we get the conditional probability of the event that theelectron from electron population on atom119883 can be ascribedto 119894th molecular orbital
is obviously not diagonal It follows directly from orthonor-mality of molecular orbitals that regarding the whole (molec-ular) electron population119873
Here 119865120593 is the Fock operator and diagonal matrix 120576119900collects orbital energies of occupied canonical MOs Sincenatural orbitals |120579
119883⟩ are not the eigenvectors of 119865120593 the
matrix of orbital energies (12) is not diagonal Orbital ener-gies of both frontier canonical molecular orbitals HOMO(120576lowastequiv 120576
HOMOequiv 120576119899119899 ) and LUMO (120576
LUMOequiv 120576119899+1119899+1
) areknown to be useful qualitative indicators of chemical reac-tivity Thus it is of our special interest to investigate how theexpectation values of operator 119865120593 within representation of|120579119883⟩managewith evaluation of the reactivity of the particular
atom119883 However due to nonorthogonality of natural-orbitalsets for different atoms only the relative changes of 120576120579
119883for the
same119883 in two homologous species should be comparedOne of the standard frontier-orbital treatments of chem-
ical reactivity is the regioselectivity problem for examplein the electrophilic aromatic substitution to the benzenederivatives The standard FMO theory analysis of the effectof substituent groups involves the electron populations ofthe highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) whereaswithin the newly proposed ldquoreverse scenariordquo we focus on theelectron population of particular atom first and then analyzethe highest ldquoenergiesrdquo of occupied atomic NOs
3 Numerical Results
To examine the presented methodology we have used state-functions calculated at RHF(ROHF for cations)STO-3GRHF(ROHF)6-31Glowast as well as DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZtheory levels using the standard ab initio quantum chemistrypackage GAMESS [24] for the following benzene derivativesfluorobenzene aniline phenol nitrobenzene benzoic acidand benzaldehyde The highest energies of occupied naturalorbitals and the corresponding electron populations werecomparedwith two standardMO-based atomic descriptors ofreactivity the atomic index of nucleophilicity [25] involvingonly the highest occupied MO |120593lowast⟩
Table 1 Atomic indices of nucleophilicity (13) and condensed atomic Fukui indices (14) for selected benzene derivatives For asymmetricspecies the position refers to carbon atom with larger electron population Methods RHFROHF basis sets STO-3G 6-31Glowast
and the Fukui nucleophilic reactivity index [26] involvingelectron populations on atom 119883 in cation 119873+
119883 and neutral
molecule119873119883
119865119883= 119873119883minus 119873+
119883 (14)
Both indices were calculated only within basis sets STO-3Gand 6-31Glowast since larger basis sets (especially those includingdiffuse functions eg aug-cc-pVDZ) are well known to dra-matically lose their ldquoatomic attributenessrdquo of AOs and con-sequently many population-type descriptors usually assumecompletely unreasonable values Two alternative proceduresof population analysis were used in calculation of indices (13)and (14) the Mullikenrsquos scheme (superscript M) [10ndash13] andthe Lowdinrsquos one (superscriptL) [14] involving the standardldquogeometricalrdquo orthogonalization of atomic orbitals
The results presented in Table 1 clearly indicate that onlyindex 119877
119883calculated within extended basis set allows one
to correctly predict the position of electrophilic attack inall molecules under consideration The Fukui nucleophilicreactivity index 119865
119883properly copes with orthopara directing
but it completely fails with respect to meta directing Itis worth notice that indicator 119877
119883 involving only electron
populations and energies of HOMO is far less sensitive topopulation analysis method than index 119865
119883 Furthermore if
one excludes the results formeta directing groups there is nosignificant difference between 119877
119883calculated within STO-3G
and 6-31Glowast basis setsWe performed a similar analysis using the newly pro-
posed method based on natural orbitals |120579119883⟩ Table 2 collects
orbital occupation numbers 119899lowast119883and the corresponding rela-
tive ldquoenergetic effectsrdquoΔ120576lowast119883 calculated as a difference between
the highest energy of occupied natural orbitals of particularcarbon atoms in benzene and its derivative
Δ120576lowast
119883= 120576lowast
119883(derivative) minus 120576lowast
119883(benzene) (15)
Even a cursory analysis of occupation numbers in Table 2allows one to correctly predict the preferential orthoparaor meta directing of substituent groups regardless of basissets used in calculations However evaluation of energeticeffects provides more detailed information about activat-ingdeactivating influence of substituent groups on particularcarbon atoms For example ndashNH
2is properly recognized
as the best activator and the most activated carbon atomis in position para (activated for about 11 kcalsdotmolminus1) whilesubstituent group ndashNO
2strongly deactivates themolecule for
about 20ndash25 kcalsdotmolminus1 and the most active population ofelectrons is then located on carbon atom in position metaFor the majority of cases orbital energies properly predict theposition of electrophilic substitution
In calculations of natural orbitals from Table 2 we usedthe standard Lowdinrsquos orthogonalization procedure to obtainorthogonal AOs However it was of our interest to find how998779120576lowast
119883and 119899
lowast
119883depend on the orthogonalization procedure
Table 3 contains the same data as Table 2 but is calcu-lated within representation of ldquophysicallyrdquo orthogonalizedatomic orbitals (superscript P) [27ndash29] At first glance onecan observe a small improvement of electron populationsfrom DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZ Also in contrast to cal-culations involving ldquogeometricalrdquo orthogonalization Δ120576lowastP
119883
4 Journal of Chemistry
Table 2 Occupation numbers (11) and differences between the highest NO ldquoenergiesrdquo (15) in [kcalsdotmoLminus1] for benzene and its derivativescalculated within representation of ldquogeometricallyrdquo orthogonalized atomic orbitals For asymmetric species the position refers to carbonatom with larger electron population Methods RHFSTO-3G 6-31Glowast and DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZ
Molecule Position STO-3G 6-31Glowast Aug-cc-pVDZ119899lowastL119883
Table 3 Occupation numbers (11) and differences between the highest NO ldquoenergiesrdquo (15) in [kcalsdotmolminus1] for benzene and its derivativescalculated within representation of ldquophysicallyrdquo orthogonalized atomic orbitals For asymmetric species the position refers to carbon atomwith larger electron population Methods RHFSTO-3G 6-31Glowast and DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZ
Molecule Position STO-3G 6-31Glowast Aug-cc-pVDZ119899lowastP119883
for benzaldehyde in STO-3G basis set correctly predictmeta directing of substituent group In general howevercalculated energies are similar to those from Table 2 (averagedistances between the respective energies calculated within
ldquogeometricallyrdquo and ldquophysicallyrdquo orthogonalized AO repre-sentations are 04 (STO-3G) 08 (6-31Glowast) and 09 (aug-cc-pVDZ) [kcalsdotmolminus1]) and thus allow one to draw almost thesame conclusions about reactivity of particular carbon atom
Journal of Chemistry 5
The energetic effects from Tables 2 and 3 are relativelysmall (but comparable with differences between stabilizationenergies of the corresponding Wheland intermediates [30])For comparison below we present several simple speciesordered with respect to relative nucleophilicities (from weakto very good nucleophiles) and the corresponding energiesΔ120576lowastL119883
[kcalsdotmolminus1] (of orbitals identified as lone pairs inall cases) calculated at DFTB3LYPTZP with model corepotential [31 32]
CH3COOH ltH
2O lt NH
3lt CH
3Ominus lt CH
3Sminus
00(reference) 118 611 2179 2324
4 Summary
In this work we have briefly introduced a simple method ofevaluating the relative nucleophilicity in energy scale Theconcept involves the use of natural orbitals for atomic popula-tion of electrons and their energies (ie expectation values ofFock operator) as well as occupation numbers to identify ldquothemost reactive population of electronsrdquo on particular atom (ormolecular fragment) Such scenario is directly related to thestandard FMO theory treatment involving atomic popula-tions of electrons of the highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO) in the newly proposed approach we first focus onthe electron population of particular atom and then analyzeenergies of occupied natural orbital This strategy has beenexamined on the regioselectivity problem in the electrophilicaromatic substitution to the benzene derivatives Analysis ofthe results allows one to draw the conclusion that evaluationand comparison of relative chemical nucleophilicities ofatoms in an energy domain are more reliable and advan-tageous than analyses involving other popular MO-basedthis seems to be somehow obvious since in contradistinc-tion to the majority of condensed atomic indices energeticdescriptors converge systematically to the complete-basis-setlimit It has to be noticed however that electron populationof the highest occupied natural orbital of a particular atomin molecule is somewhat insensitive to basis set variationsand the corresponding energy seems to exhibit the basis setdependence quite consistent with the variational principle
The presented methodology is still in need of thoroughanalysis and examination Also it is of our special interestto take advantage of the approach based on natural atomicorbitals involving virtual molecular orbitals to evaluate theenergetic descriptor of electrophilicity of atoms and molecu-lar fragments
References
[1] R G Parr and W T Yang J ldquoDensity functional approach tothe frontier-electron theory of chemical reactivityrdquo Journal ofthe American Chemical Society vol 106 no 14 pp 4049ndash40501984
[2] P W Ayers and M Levy ldquoPerspective on lsquoDensity functionalapproach to the frontier-electron theory of chemical reactivityrsquordquoTheoretical Chemistry Accounts vol 103 no 3-4 pp 353ndash3602000
[3] W T Yang and W J Mortier ldquoThe use of global and localmolecular parameters for the analysis of the gas-phase basicity
of aminesrdquo Journal of the American Chemical Society vol 108no 19 pp 5708ndash5711 1986
[4] P Fuentealba P Perez and R Contreras ldquoOn the condensedFukui functionrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physics vol 113 no 7Article ID 2544 8 pages 2000
[5] N Otero M Mandado and R A Mosquera ldquoRevisiting thecalculation of condensed Fukui functions using the quantumtheory of atoms in moleculesrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physicsvol 126 no 23 Article ID 234108 6 pages 2007
[6] P Bultinck S Fias C van Alsenoy P W Ayers and R Carbo-Dorca ldquoCritical thoughts on computing atom condensed Fukuifunctionsrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 127 no 3Article ID 034102 11 pages 2007
[7] R F Nalewajski and R G Parr ldquoInformation theory atoms inmolecules andmolecular similarityrdquoProceedings of theNationalAcademy of Sciences of the United States of America vol 97 no16 pp 8879ndash8882 2000
[8] P W Ayers ldquoAtoms in molecules an axiomatic approach IMaximum transferabilityrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physics vol113 no 24 pp 10886ndash10898 2000
[9] F L Hirshfeld ldquoBonded-atom fragments for describing molec-ular charge densitiesrdquo Theoretica Chimica Acta vol 44 no 2pp 129ndash138 1977
[10] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MOmolecular wave functions Irdquo The Journal of Chemical Physicsvol 23 no 10 Article ID 1833 8 pages 1955
[11] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MO molecular wave functions II Overlap populations bondorders and covalent bond energiesrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 10 Article ID 1841 6 pages 1955
[12] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MOmolecular wave functions IV Bonding and antibonding inLCAO and valence-bond theoriesrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 12 pp 2343ndash2346 1955
[13] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MO molecular wave functions III Effects of hybridization onoverlap and gross AO populationsrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 12 Article ID 2338 5 pages 1955
[14] P O Lowdin ldquoOn the non-orthogonality problem connectedwith the use of atomicwave functions in the theory ofmoleculesand crystalsrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 18 no 3Article ID 365 11 pages 1950
[15] A E Reed R B Weinstock and F Weinhold ldquoNatural popu-lation analysisrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 83 no 2Article ID 735 12 pages 1985
[16] S Arulmozhiraja and P Kolandaivel ldquoCondensed Fukui func-tion dependency on atomic chargesrdquoMolecular Physics vol 90no 1 pp 55ndash62 1997
[17] R K Roy K Hirao S Krishnamurty and S Pal ldquoMullikenpopulation analysis based evaluation of condensed Fukui func-tion indices using fractional molecular chargerdquo The Journal ofChemical Physics vol 115 no 7 pp 2901ndash2907 2001
[18] F de Proft C van Alsenoy A Peeters W Langenaeker andP Geerlings ldquoAtomic charges dipole moments and Fukuifunctions using the Hirshfeld partitioning of the electrondensityrdquo Journal of Computational Chemistry vol 23 no 12 pp1198ndash1209 2002
[19] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoOn quadratic bond-orderdecomposition within molecular orbital spacerdquo Journal ofMathematical Chemistry vol 51 no 6 pp 1619ndash1633 2013
[20] K Fukui T Yonezawa and H Shingu ldquoA molecular orbitaltheory of reactivity in aromatic hydrocarbonsrdquo The Journal ofChemical Physics vol 20 no 4 pp 722ndash725 1952
6 Journal of Chemistry
[21] K Fukui T Yonezawa and C Nagata ldquoA free-electron modelfor discussing reactivity in unsaturated hydrocarbonsrdquo TheJournal of Chemical Physics vol 21 no 1 pp 174ndash176 1953
[22] M Berkowitz ldquoDensity functional approach to frontier con-trolled reactionsrdquo Journal of the American Chemical Society vol109 no 16 pp 4823ndash4825 1987
[23] R F Nalewajski D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoBond differ-entiation and orbital decoupling in the orbital-communicationtheory of the chemical bondrdquoAdvances in Quantum Chemistryvol 61 pp 1ndash48 2011
[24] M W Schmidt K K Baldridge J A Boatz et al ldquoGeneralatomic and molecular electronic structure systemrdquo Journal ofComputational Chemistry vol 14 no 11 pp 1347ndash1363 1993
[25] R Franke Theorecital Drug Design Methods Elsevier Amster-dam The Netherlands 1984
[26] J Melin P W Ayers and J V Ortiz ldquoRemoving electrons canincrease the electron density a computational study of negativefukui functionsrdquo The Journal of Physical Chemistry A vol 111no 40 pp 10017ndash10019 2007
[27] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoSymmetrical orthogonalizationwithin linear space of molecular orbitalsrdquo Chemical PhysicsLetters vol 512 pp 157ndash160 2012
[28] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoElectron population analysisusing a referenceminimal set of atomic orbitalsrdquoComputationaland Theoretical Chemistry vol 996 pp 103ndash109 2012
[29] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoOn several alternatives forLowdin orthogonalizationrdquo Computational and TheoreticalChemistry vol 1008 pp 15ndash19 2013
[30] G W Wheland ldquoA quantum mechanical investigation of theorientation of substituants in aromaticmoleculesrdquo Journal of theAmerican Chemical Society vol 64 no 4 pp 900ndash908 1942
[31] Y Sakai E Miyoshi M Klobukowski and S Huzinaga ldquoModelpotentials for main group elements Li through RnrdquoThe Journalof Chemical Physics vol 106 no 19 pp 8084ndash8092 1997
[32] T NoroM Sekiya and T Koga ldquoContracted polarization func-tions for the atoms helium through neonrdquoTheoretical ChemistryAccounts vol 98 no 1 pp 25ndash32 1997
Table 1 Atomic indices of nucleophilicity (13) and condensed atomic Fukui indices (14) for selected benzene derivatives For asymmetricspecies the position refers to carbon atom with larger electron population Methods RHFROHF basis sets STO-3G 6-31Glowast
and the Fukui nucleophilic reactivity index [26] involvingelectron populations on atom 119883 in cation 119873+
119883 and neutral
molecule119873119883
119865119883= 119873119883minus 119873+
119883 (14)
Both indices were calculated only within basis sets STO-3Gand 6-31Glowast since larger basis sets (especially those includingdiffuse functions eg aug-cc-pVDZ) are well known to dra-matically lose their ldquoatomic attributenessrdquo of AOs and con-sequently many population-type descriptors usually assumecompletely unreasonable values Two alternative proceduresof population analysis were used in calculation of indices (13)and (14) the Mullikenrsquos scheme (superscript M) [10ndash13] andthe Lowdinrsquos one (superscriptL) [14] involving the standardldquogeometricalrdquo orthogonalization of atomic orbitals
The results presented in Table 1 clearly indicate that onlyindex 119877
119883calculated within extended basis set allows one
to correctly predict the position of electrophilic attack inall molecules under consideration The Fukui nucleophilicreactivity index 119865
119883properly copes with orthopara directing
but it completely fails with respect to meta directing Itis worth notice that indicator 119877
119883 involving only electron
populations and energies of HOMO is far less sensitive topopulation analysis method than index 119865
119883 Furthermore if
one excludes the results formeta directing groups there is nosignificant difference between 119877
119883calculated within STO-3G
and 6-31Glowast basis setsWe performed a similar analysis using the newly pro-
posed method based on natural orbitals |120579119883⟩ Table 2 collects
orbital occupation numbers 119899lowast119883and the corresponding rela-
tive ldquoenergetic effectsrdquoΔ120576lowast119883 calculated as a difference between
the highest energy of occupied natural orbitals of particularcarbon atoms in benzene and its derivative
Δ120576lowast
119883= 120576lowast
119883(derivative) minus 120576lowast
119883(benzene) (15)
Even a cursory analysis of occupation numbers in Table 2allows one to correctly predict the preferential orthoparaor meta directing of substituent groups regardless of basissets used in calculations However evaluation of energeticeffects provides more detailed information about activat-ingdeactivating influence of substituent groups on particularcarbon atoms For example ndashNH
2is properly recognized
as the best activator and the most activated carbon atomis in position para (activated for about 11 kcalsdotmolminus1) whilesubstituent group ndashNO
2strongly deactivates themolecule for
about 20ndash25 kcalsdotmolminus1 and the most active population ofelectrons is then located on carbon atom in position metaFor the majority of cases orbital energies properly predict theposition of electrophilic substitution
In calculations of natural orbitals from Table 2 we usedthe standard Lowdinrsquos orthogonalization procedure to obtainorthogonal AOs However it was of our interest to find how998779120576lowast
119883and 119899
lowast
119883depend on the orthogonalization procedure
Table 3 contains the same data as Table 2 but is calcu-lated within representation of ldquophysicallyrdquo orthogonalizedatomic orbitals (superscript P) [27ndash29] At first glance onecan observe a small improvement of electron populationsfrom DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZ Also in contrast to cal-culations involving ldquogeometricalrdquo orthogonalization Δ120576lowastP
119883
4 Journal of Chemistry
Table 2 Occupation numbers (11) and differences between the highest NO ldquoenergiesrdquo (15) in [kcalsdotmoLminus1] for benzene and its derivativescalculated within representation of ldquogeometricallyrdquo orthogonalized atomic orbitals For asymmetric species the position refers to carbonatom with larger electron population Methods RHFSTO-3G 6-31Glowast and DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZ
Molecule Position STO-3G 6-31Glowast Aug-cc-pVDZ119899lowastL119883
Table 3 Occupation numbers (11) and differences between the highest NO ldquoenergiesrdquo (15) in [kcalsdotmolminus1] for benzene and its derivativescalculated within representation of ldquophysicallyrdquo orthogonalized atomic orbitals For asymmetric species the position refers to carbon atomwith larger electron population Methods RHFSTO-3G 6-31Glowast and DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZ
Molecule Position STO-3G 6-31Glowast Aug-cc-pVDZ119899lowastP119883
for benzaldehyde in STO-3G basis set correctly predictmeta directing of substituent group In general howevercalculated energies are similar to those from Table 2 (averagedistances between the respective energies calculated within
ldquogeometricallyrdquo and ldquophysicallyrdquo orthogonalized AO repre-sentations are 04 (STO-3G) 08 (6-31Glowast) and 09 (aug-cc-pVDZ) [kcalsdotmolminus1]) and thus allow one to draw almost thesame conclusions about reactivity of particular carbon atom
Journal of Chemistry 5
The energetic effects from Tables 2 and 3 are relativelysmall (but comparable with differences between stabilizationenergies of the corresponding Wheland intermediates [30])For comparison below we present several simple speciesordered with respect to relative nucleophilicities (from weakto very good nucleophiles) and the corresponding energiesΔ120576lowastL119883
[kcalsdotmolminus1] (of orbitals identified as lone pairs inall cases) calculated at DFTB3LYPTZP with model corepotential [31 32]
CH3COOH ltH
2O lt NH
3lt CH
3Ominus lt CH
3Sminus
00(reference) 118 611 2179 2324
4 Summary
In this work we have briefly introduced a simple method ofevaluating the relative nucleophilicity in energy scale Theconcept involves the use of natural orbitals for atomic popula-tion of electrons and their energies (ie expectation values ofFock operator) as well as occupation numbers to identify ldquothemost reactive population of electronsrdquo on particular atom (ormolecular fragment) Such scenario is directly related to thestandard FMO theory treatment involving atomic popula-tions of electrons of the highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO) in the newly proposed approach we first focus onthe electron population of particular atom and then analyzeenergies of occupied natural orbital This strategy has beenexamined on the regioselectivity problem in the electrophilicaromatic substitution to the benzene derivatives Analysis ofthe results allows one to draw the conclusion that evaluationand comparison of relative chemical nucleophilicities ofatoms in an energy domain are more reliable and advan-tageous than analyses involving other popular MO-basedthis seems to be somehow obvious since in contradistinc-tion to the majority of condensed atomic indices energeticdescriptors converge systematically to the complete-basis-setlimit It has to be noticed however that electron populationof the highest occupied natural orbital of a particular atomin molecule is somewhat insensitive to basis set variationsand the corresponding energy seems to exhibit the basis setdependence quite consistent with the variational principle
The presented methodology is still in need of thoroughanalysis and examination Also it is of our special interestto take advantage of the approach based on natural atomicorbitals involving virtual molecular orbitals to evaluate theenergetic descriptor of electrophilicity of atoms and molecu-lar fragments
References
[1] R G Parr and W T Yang J ldquoDensity functional approach tothe frontier-electron theory of chemical reactivityrdquo Journal ofthe American Chemical Society vol 106 no 14 pp 4049ndash40501984
[2] P W Ayers and M Levy ldquoPerspective on lsquoDensity functionalapproach to the frontier-electron theory of chemical reactivityrsquordquoTheoretical Chemistry Accounts vol 103 no 3-4 pp 353ndash3602000
[3] W T Yang and W J Mortier ldquoThe use of global and localmolecular parameters for the analysis of the gas-phase basicity
of aminesrdquo Journal of the American Chemical Society vol 108no 19 pp 5708ndash5711 1986
[4] P Fuentealba P Perez and R Contreras ldquoOn the condensedFukui functionrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physics vol 113 no 7Article ID 2544 8 pages 2000
[5] N Otero M Mandado and R A Mosquera ldquoRevisiting thecalculation of condensed Fukui functions using the quantumtheory of atoms in moleculesrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physicsvol 126 no 23 Article ID 234108 6 pages 2007
[6] P Bultinck S Fias C van Alsenoy P W Ayers and R Carbo-Dorca ldquoCritical thoughts on computing atom condensed Fukuifunctionsrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 127 no 3Article ID 034102 11 pages 2007
[7] R F Nalewajski and R G Parr ldquoInformation theory atoms inmolecules andmolecular similarityrdquoProceedings of theNationalAcademy of Sciences of the United States of America vol 97 no16 pp 8879ndash8882 2000
[8] P W Ayers ldquoAtoms in molecules an axiomatic approach IMaximum transferabilityrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physics vol113 no 24 pp 10886ndash10898 2000
[9] F L Hirshfeld ldquoBonded-atom fragments for describing molec-ular charge densitiesrdquo Theoretica Chimica Acta vol 44 no 2pp 129ndash138 1977
[10] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MOmolecular wave functions Irdquo The Journal of Chemical Physicsvol 23 no 10 Article ID 1833 8 pages 1955
[11] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MO molecular wave functions II Overlap populations bondorders and covalent bond energiesrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 10 Article ID 1841 6 pages 1955
[12] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MOmolecular wave functions IV Bonding and antibonding inLCAO and valence-bond theoriesrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 12 pp 2343ndash2346 1955
[13] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MO molecular wave functions III Effects of hybridization onoverlap and gross AO populationsrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 12 Article ID 2338 5 pages 1955
[14] P O Lowdin ldquoOn the non-orthogonality problem connectedwith the use of atomicwave functions in the theory ofmoleculesand crystalsrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 18 no 3Article ID 365 11 pages 1950
[15] A E Reed R B Weinstock and F Weinhold ldquoNatural popu-lation analysisrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 83 no 2Article ID 735 12 pages 1985
[16] S Arulmozhiraja and P Kolandaivel ldquoCondensed Fukui func-tion dependency on atomic chargesrdquoMolecular Physics vol 90no 1 pp 55ndash62 1997
[17] R K Roy K Hirao S Krishnamurty and S Pal ldquoMullikenpopulation analysis based evaluation of condensed Fukui func-tion indices using fractional molecular chargerdquo The Journal ofChemical Physics vol 115 no 7 pp 2901ndash2907 2001
[18] F de Proft C van Alsenoy A Peeters W Langenaeker andP Geerlings ldquoAtomic charges dipole moments and Fukuifunctions using the Hirshfeld partitioning of the electrondensityrdquo Journal of Computational Chemistry vol 23 no 12 pp1198ndash1209 2002
[19] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoOn quadratic bond-orderdecomposition within molecular orbital spacerdquo Journal ofMathematical Chemistry vol 51 no 6 pp 1619ndash1633 2013
[20] K Fukui T Yonezawa and H Shingu ldquoA molecular orbitaltheory of reactivity in aromatic hydrocarbonsrdquo The Journal ofChemical Physics vol 20 no 4 pp 722ndash725 1952
6 Journal of Chemistry
[21] K Fukui T Yonezawa and C Nagata ldquoA free-electron modelfor discussing reactivity in unsaturated hydrocarbonsrdquo TheJournal of Chemical Physics vol 21 no 1 pp 174ndash176 1953
[22] M Berkowitz ldquoDensity functional approach to frontier con-trolled reactionsrdquo Journal of the American Chemical Society vol109 no 16 pp 4823ndash4825 1987
[23] R F Nalewajski D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoBond differ-entiation and orbital decoupling in the orbital-communicationtheory of the chemical bondrdquoAdvances in Quantum Chemistryvol 61 pp 1ndash48 2011
[24] M W Schmidt K K Baldridge J A Boatz et al ldquoGeneralatomic and molecular electronic structure systemrdquo Journal ofComputational Chemistry vol 14 no 11 pp 1347ndash1363 1993
[25] R Franke Theorecital Drug Design Methods Elsevier Amster-dam The Netherlands 1984
[26] J Melin P W Ayers and J V Ortiz ldquoRemoving electrons canincrease the electron density a computational study of negativefukui functionsrdquo The Journal of Physical Chemistry A vol 111no 40 pp 10017ndash10019 2007
[27] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoSymmetrical orthogonalizationwithin linear space of molecular orbitalsrdquo Chemical PhysicsLetters vol 512 pp 157ndash160 2012
[28] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoElectron population analysisusing a referenceminimal set of atomic orbitalsrdquoComputationaland Theoretical Chemistry vol 996 pp 103ndash109 2012
[29] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoOn several alternatives forLowdin orthogonalizationrdquo Computational and TheoreticalChemistry vol 1008 pp 15ndash19 2013
[30] G W Wheland ldquoA quantum mechanical investigation of theorientation of substituants in aromaticmoleculesrdquo Journal of theAmerican Chemical Society vol 64 no 4 pp 900ndash908 1942
[31] Y Sakai E Miyoshi M Klobukowski and S Huzinaga ldquoModelpotentials for main group elements Li through RnrdquoThe Journalof Chemical Physics vol 106 no 19 pp 8084ndash8092 1997
[32] T NoroM Sekiya and T Koga ldquoContracted polarization func-tions for the atoms helium through neonrdquoTheoretical ChemistryAccounts vol 98 no 1 pp 25ndash32 1997
Table 2 Occupation numbers (11) and differences between the highest NO ldquoenergiesrdquo (15) in [kcalsdotmoLminus1] for benzene and its derivativescalculated within representation of ldquogeometricallyrdquo orthogonalized atomic orbitals For asymmetric species the position refers to carbonatom with larger electron population Methods RHFSTO-3G 6-31Glowast and DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZ
Molecule Position STO-3G 6-31Glowast Aug-cc-pVDZ119899lowastL119883
Table 3 Occupation numbers (11) and differences between the highest NO ldquoenergiesrdquo (15) in [kcalsdotmolminus1] for benzene and its derivativescalculated within representation of ldquophysicallyrdquo orthogonalized atomic orbitals For asymmetric species the position refers to carbon atomwith larger electron population Methods RHFSTO-3G 6-31Glowast and DFTB3LYPaug-cc-pVDZ
Molecule Position STO-3G 6-31Glowast Aug-cc-pVDZ119899lowastP119883
for benzaldehyde in STO-3G basis set correctly predictmeta directing of substituent group In general howevercalculated energies are similar to those from Table 2 (averagedistances between the respective energies calculated within
ldquogeometricallyrdquo and ldquophysicallyrdquo orthogonalized AO repre-sentations are 04 (STO-3G) 08 (6-31Glowast) and 09 (aug-cc-pVDZ) [kcalsdotmolminus1]) and thus allow one to draw almost thesame conclusions about reactivity of particular carbon atom
Journal of Chemistry 5
The energetic effects from Tables 2 and 3 are relativelysmall (but comparable with differences between stabilizationenergies of the corresponding Wheland intermediates [30])For comparison below we present several simple speciesordered with respect to relative nucleophilicities (from weakto very good nucleophiles) and the corresponding energiesΔ120576lowastL119883
[kcalsdotmolminus1] (of orbitals identified as lone pairs inall cases) calculated at DFTB3LYPTZP with model corepotential [31 32]
CH3COOH ltH
2O lt NH
3lt CH
3Ominus lt CH
3Sminus
00(reference) 118 611 2179 2324
4 Summary
In this work we have briefly introduced a simple method ofevaluating the relative nucleophilicity in energy scale Theconcept involves the use of natural orbitals for atomic popula-tion of electrons and their energies (ie expectation values ofFock operator) as well as occupation numbers to identify ldquothemost reactive population of electronsrdquo on particular atom (ormolecular fragment) Such scenario is directly related to thestandard FMO theory treatment involving atomic popula-tions of electrons of the highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO) in the newly proposed approach we first focus onthe electron population of particular atom and then analyzeenergies of occupied natural orbital This strategy has beenexamined on the regioselectivity problem in the electrophilicaromatic substitution to the benzene derivatives Analysis ofthe results allows one to draw the conclusion that evaluationand comparison of relative chemical nucleophilicities ofatoms in an energy domain are more reliable and advan-tageous than analyses involving other popular MO-basedthis seems to be somehow obvious since in contradistinc-tion to the majority of condensed atomic indices energeticdescriptors converge systematically to the complete-basis-setlimit It has to be noticed however that electron populationof the highest occupied natural orbital of a particular atomin molecule is somewhat insensitive to basis set variationsand the corresponding energy seems to exhibit the basis setdependence quite consistent with the variational principle
The presented methodology is still in need of thoroughanalysis and examination Also it is of our special interestto take advantage of the approach based on natural atomicorbitals involving virtual molecular orbitals to evaluate theenergetic descriptor of electrophilicity of atoms and molecu-lar fragments
References
[1] R G Parr and W T Yang J ldquoDensity functional approach tothe frontier-electron theory of chemical reactivityrdquo Journal ofthe American Chemical Society vol 106 no 14 pp 4049ndash40501984
[2] P W Ayers and M Levy ldquoPerspective on lsquoDensity functionalapproach to the frontier-electron theory of chemical reactivityrsquordquoTheoretical Chemistry Accounts vol 103 no 3-4 pp 353ndash3602000
[3] W T Yang and W J Mortier ldquoThe use of global and localmolecular parameters for the analysis of the gas-phase basicity
of aminesrdquo Journal of the American Chemical Society vol 108no 19 pp 5708ndash5711 1986
[4] P Fuentealba P Perez and R Contreras ldquoOn the condensedFukui functionrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physics vol 113 no 7Article ID 2544 8 pages 2000
[5] N Otero M Mandado and R A Mosquera ldquoRevisiting thecalculation of condensed Fukui functions using the quantumtheory of atoms in moleculesrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physicsvol 126 no 23 Article ID 234108 6 pages 2007
[6] P Bultinck S Fias C van Alsenoy P W Ayers and R Carbo-Dorca ldquoCritical thoughts on computing atom condensed Fukuifunctionsrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 127 no 3Article ID 034102 11 pages 2007
[7] R F Nalewajski and R G Parr ldquoInformation theory atoms inmolecules andmolecular similarityrdquoProceedings of theNationalAcademy of Sciences of the United States of America vol 97 no16 pp 8879ndash8882 2000
[8] P W Ayers ldquoAtoms in molecules an axiomatic approach IMaximum transferabilityrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physics vol113 no 24 pp 10886ndash10898 2000
[9] F L Hirshfeld ldquoBonded-atom fragments for describing molec-ular charge densitiesrdquo Theoretica Chimica Acta vol 44 no 2pp 129ndash138 1977
[10] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MOmolecular wave functions Irdquo The Journal of Chemical Physicsvol 23 no 10 Article ID 1833 8 pages 1955
[11] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MO molecular wave functions II Overlap populations bondorders and covalent bond energiesrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 10 Article ID 1841 6 pages 1955
[12] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MOmolecular wave functions IV Bonding and antibonding inLCAO and valence-bond theoriesrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 12 pp 2343ndash2346 1955
[13] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MO molecular wave functions III Effects of hybridization onoverlap and gross AO populationsrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 12 Article ID 2338 5 pages 1955
[14] P O Lowdin ldquoOn the non-orthogonality problem connectedwith the use of atomicwave functions in the theory ofmoleculesand crystalsrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 18 no 3Article ID 365 11 pages 1950
[15] A E Reed R B Weinstock and F Weinhold ldquoNatural popu-lation analysisrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 83 no 2Article ID 735 12 pages 1985
[16] S Arulmozhiraja and P Kolandaivel ldquoCondensed Fukui func-tion dependency on atomic chargesrdquoMolecular Physics vol 90no 1 pp 55ndash62 1997
[17] R K Roy K Hirao S Krishnamurty and S Pal ldquoMullikenpopulation analysis based evaluation of condensed Fukui func-tion indices using fractional molecular chargerdquo The Journal ofChemical Physics vol 115 no 7 pp 2901ndash2907 2001
[18] F de Proft C van Alsenoy A Peeters W Langenaeker andP Geerlings ldquoAtomic charges dipole moments and Fukuifunctions using the Hirshfeld partitioning of the electrondensityrdquo Journal of Computational Chemistry vol 23 no 12 pp1198ndash1209 2002
[19] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoOn quadratic bond-orderdecomposition within molecular orbital spacerdquo Journal ofMathematical Chemistry vol 51 no 6 pp 1619ndash1633 2013
[20] K Fukui T Yonezawa and H Shingu ldquoA molecular orbitaltheory of reactivity in aromatic hydrocarbonsrdquo The Journal ofChemical Physics vol 20 no 4 pp 722ndash725 1952
6 Journal of Chemistry
[21] K Fukui T Yonezawa and C Nagata ldquoA free-electron modelfor discussing reactivity in unsaturated hydrocarbonsrdquo TheJournal of Chemical Physics vol 21 no 1 pp 174ndash176 1953
[22] M Berkowitz ldquoDensity functional approach to frontier con-trolled reactionsrdquo Journal of the American Chemical Society vol109 no 16 pp 4823ndash4825 1987
[23] R F Nalewajski D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoBond differ-entiation and orbital decoupling in the orbital-communicationtheory of the chemical bondrdquoAdvances in Quantum Chemistryvol 61 pp 1ndash48 2011
[24] M W Schmidt K K Baldridge J A Boatz et al ldquoGeneralatomic and molecular electronic structure systemrdquo Journal ofComputational Chemistry vol 14 no 11 pp 1347ndash1363 1993
[25] R Franke Theorecital Drug Design Methods Elsevier Amster-dam The Netherlands 1984
[26] J Melin P W Ayers and J V Ortiz ldquoRemoving electrons canincrease the electron density a computational study of negativefukui functionsrdquo The Journal of Physical Chemistry A vol 111no 40 pp 10017ndash10019 2007
[27] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoSymmetrical orthogonalizationwithin linear space of molecular orbitalsrdquo Chemical PhysicsLetters vol 512 pp 157ndash160 2012
[28] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoElectron population analysisusing a referenceminimal set of atomic orbitalsrdquoComputationaland Theoretical Chemistry vol 996 pp 103ndash109 2012
[29] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoOn several alternatives forLowdin orthogonalizationrdquo Computational and TheoreticalChemistry vol 1008 pp 15ndash19 2013
[30] G W Wheland ldquoA quantum mechanical investigation of theorientation of substituants in aromaticmoleculesrdquo Journal of theAmerican Chemical Society vol 64 no 4 pp 900ndash908 1942
[31] Y Sakai E Miyoshi M Klobukowski and S Huzinaga ldquoModelpotentials for main group elements Li through RnrdquoThe Journalof Chemical Physics vol 106 no 19 pp 8084ndash8092 1997
[32] T NoroM Sekiya and T Koga ldquoContracted polarization func-tions for the atoms helium through neonrdquoTheoretical ChemistryAccounts vol 98 no 1 pp 25ndash32 1997
The energetic effects from Tables 2 and 3 are relativelysmall (but comparable with differences between stabilizationenergies of the corresponding Wheland intermediates [30])For comparison below we present several simple speciesordered with respect to relative nucleophilicities (from weakto very good nucleophiles) and the corresponding energiesΔ120576lowastL119883
[kcalsdotmolminus1] (of orbitals identified as lone pairs inall cases) calculated at DFTB3LYPTZP with model corepotential [31 32]
CH3COOH ltH
2O lt NH
3lt CH
3Ominus lt CH
3Sminus
00(reference) 118 611 2179 2324
4 Summary
In this work we have briefly introduced a simple method ofevaluating the relative nucleophilicity in energy scale Theconcept involves the use of natural orbitals for atomic popula-tion of electrons and their energies (ie expectation values ofFock operator) as well as occupation numbers to identify ldquothemost reactive population of electronsrdquo on particular atom (ormolecular fragment) Such scenario is directly related to thestandard FMO theory treatment involving atomic popula-tions of electrons of the highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO) in the newly proposed approach we first focus onthe electron population of particular atom and then analyzeenergies of occupied natural orbital This strategy has beenexamined on the regioselectivity problem in the electrophilicaromatic substitution to the benzene derivatives Analysis ofthe results allows one to draw the conclusion that evaluationand comparison of relative chemical nucleophilicities ofatoms in an energy domain are more reliable and advan-tageous than analyses involving other popular MO-basedthis seems to be somehow obvious since in contradistinc-tion to the majority of condensed atomic indices energeticdescriptors converge systematically to the complete-basis-setlimit It has to be noticed however that electron populationof the highest occupied natural orbital of a particular atomin molecule is somewhat insensitive to basis set variationsand the corresponding energy seems to exhibit the basis setdependence quite consistent with the variational principle
The presented methodology is still in need of thoroughanalysis and examination Also it is of our special interestto take advantage of the approach based on natural atomicorbitals involving virtual molecular orbitals to evaluate theenergetic descriptor of electrophilicity of atoms and molecu-lar fragments
References
[1] R G Parr and W T Yang J ldquoDensity functional approach tothe frontier-electron theory of chemical reactivityrdquo Journal ofthe American Chemical Society vol 106 no 14 pp 4049ndash40501984
[2] P W Ayers and M Levy ldquoPerspective on lsquoDensity functionalapproach to the frontier-electron theory of chemical reactivityrsquordquoTheoretical Chemistry Accounts vol 103 no 3-4 pp 353ndash3602000
[3] W T Yang and W J Mortier ldquoThe use of global and localmolecular parameters for the analysis of the gas-phase basicity
of aminesrdquo Journal of the American Chemical Society vol 108no 19 pp 5708ndash5711 1986
[4] P Fuentealba P Perez and R Contreras ldquoOn the condensedFukui functionrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physics vol 113 no 7Article ID 2544 8 pages 2000
[5] N Otero M Mandado and R A Mosquera ldquoRevisiting thecalculation of condensed Fukui functions using the quantumtheory of atoms in moleculesrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physicsvol 126 no 23 Article ID 234108 6 pages 2007
[6] P Bultinck S Fias C van Alsenoy P W Ayers and R Carbo-Dorca ldquoCritical thoughts on computing atom condensed Fukuifunctionsrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 127 no 3Article ID 034102 11 pages 2007
[7] R F Nalewajski and R G Parr ldquoInformation theory atoms inmolecules andmolecular similarityrdquoProceedings of theNationalAcademy of Sciences of the United States of America vol 97 no16 pp 8879ndash8882 2000
[8] P W Ayers ldquoAtoms in molecules an axiomatic approach IMaximum transferabilityrdquoThe Journal of Chemical Physics vol113 no 24 pp 10886ndash10898 2000
[9] F L Hirshfeld ldquoBonded-atom fragments for describing molec-ular charge densitiesrdquo Theoretica Chimica Acta vol 44 no 2pp 129ndash138 1977
[10] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MOmolecular wave functions Irdquo The Journal of Chemical Physicsvol 23 no 10 Article ID 1833 8 pages 1955
[11] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MO molecular wave functions II Overlap populations bondorders and covalent bond energiesrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 10 Article ID 1841 6 pages 1955
[12] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MOmolecular wave functions IV Bonding and antibonding inLCAO and valence-bond theoriesrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 12 pp 2343ndash2346 1955
[13] R S Mulliken ldquoElectronic population analysis on LCAO-MO molecular wave functions III Effects of hybridization onoverlap and gross AO populationsrdquo The Journal of ChemicalPhysics vol 23 no 12 Article ID 2338 5 pages 1955
[14] P O Lowdin ldquoOn the non-orthogonality problem connectedwith the use of atomicwave functions in the theory ofmoleculesand crystalsrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 18 no 3Article ID 365 11 pages 1950
[15] A E Reed R B Weinstock and F Weinhold ldquoNatural popu-lation analysisrdquo The Journal of Chemical Physics vol 83 no 2Article ID 735 12 pages 1985
[16] S Arulmozhiraja and P Kolandaivel ldquoCondensed Fukui func-tion dependency on atomic chargesrdquoMolecular Physics vol 90no 1 pp 55ndash62 1997
[17] R K Roy K Hirao S Krishnamurty and S Pal ldquoMullikenpopulation analysis based evaluation of condensed Fukui func-tion indices using fractional molecular chargerdquo The Journal ofChemical Physics vol 115 no 7 pp 2901ndash2907 2001
[18] F de Proft C van Alsenoy A Peeters W Langenaeker andP Geerlings ldquoAtomic charges dipole moments and Fukuifunctions using the Hirshfeld partitioning of the electrondensityrdquo Journal of Computational Chemistry vol 23 no 12 pp1198ndash1209 2002
[19] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoOn quadratic bond-orderdecomposition within molecular orbital spacerdquo Journal ofMathematical Chemistry vol 51 no 6 pp 1619ndash1633 2013
[20] K Fukui T Yonezawa and H Shingu ldquoA molecular orbitaltheory of reactivity in aromatic hydrocarbonsrdquo The Journal ofChemical Physics vol 20 no 4 pp 722ndash725 1952
6 Journal of Chemistry
[21] K Fukui T Yonezawa and C Nagata ldquoA free-electron modelfor discussing reactivity in unsaturated hydrocarbonsrdquo TheJournal of Chemical Physics vol 21 no 1 pp 174ndash176 1953
[22] M Berkowitz ldquoDensity functional approach to frontier con-trolled reactionsrdquo Journal of the American Chemical Society vol109 no 16 pp 4823ndash4825 1987
[23] R F Nalewajski D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoBond differ-entiation and orbital decoupling in the orbital-communicationtheory of the chemical bondrdquoAdvances in Quantum Chemistryvol 61 pp 1ndash48 2011
[24] M W Schmidt K K Baldridge J A Boatz et al ldquoGeneralatomic and molecular electronic structure systemrdquo Journal ofComputational Chemistry vol 14 no 11 pp 1347ndash1363 1993
[25] R Franke Theorecital Drug Design Methods Elsevier Amster-dam The Netherlands 1984
[26] J Melin P W Ayers and J V Ortiz ldquoRemoving electrons canincrease the electron density a computational study of negativefukui functionsrdquo The Journal of Physical Chemistry A vol 111no 40 pp 10017ndash10019 2007
[27] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoSymmetrical orthogonalizationwithin linear space of molecular orbitalsrdquo Chemical PhysicsLetters vol 512 pp 157ndash160 2012
[28] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoElectron population analysisusing a referenceminimal set of atomic orbitalsrdquoComputationaland Theoretical Chemistry vol 996 pp 103ndash109 2012
[29] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoOn several alternatives forLowdin orthogonalizationrdquo Computational and TheoreticalChemistry vol 1008 pp 15ndash19 2013
[30] G W Wheland ldquoA quantum mechanical investigation of theorientation of substituants in aromaticmoleculesrdquo Journal of theAmerican Chemical Society vol 64 no 4 pp 900ndash908 1942
[31] Y Sakai E Miyoshi M Klobukowski and S Huzinaga ldquoModelpotentials for main group elements Li through RnrdquoThe Journalof Chemical Physics vol 106 no 19 pp 8084ndash8092 1997
[32] T NoroM Sekiya and T Koga ldquoContracted polarization func-tions for the atoms helium through neonrdquoTheoretical ChemistryAccounts vol 98 no 1 pp 25ndash32 1997
[21] K Fukui T Yonezawa and C Nagata ldquoA free-electron modelfor discussing reactivity in unsaturated hydrocarbonsrdquo TheJournal of Chemical Physics vol 21 no 1 pp 174ndash176 1953
[22] M Berkowitz ldquoDensity functional approach to frontier con-trolled reactionsrdquo Journal of the American Chemical Society vol109 no 16 pp 4823ndash4825 1987
[23] R F Nalewajski D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoBond differ-entiation and orbital decoupling in the orbital-communicationtheory of the chemical bondrdquoAdvances in Quantum Chemistryvol 61 pp 1ndash48 2011
[24] M W Schmidt K K Baldridge J A Boatz et al ldquoGeneralatomic and molecular electronic structure systemrdquo Journal ofComputational Chemistry vol 14 no 11 pp 1347ndash1363 1993
[25] R Franke Theorecital Drug Design Methods Elsevier Amster-dam The Netherlands 1984
[26] J Melin P W Ayers and J V Ortiz ldquoRemoving electrons canincrease the electron density a computational study of negativefukui functionsrdquo The Journal of Physical Chemistry A vol 111no 40 pp 10017ndash10019 2007
[27] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoSymmetrical orthogonalizationwithin linear space of molecular orbitalsrdquo Chemical PhysicsLetters vol 512 pp 157ndash160 2012
[28] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoElectron population analysisusing a referenceminimal set of atomic orbitalsrdquoComputationaland Theoretical Chemistry vol 996 pp 103ndash109 2012
[29] D Szczepanik and J Mrozek ldquoOn several alternatives forLowdin orthogonalizationrdquo Computational and TheoreticalChemistry vol 1008 pp 15ndash19 2013
[30] G W Wheland ldquoA quantum mechanical investigation of theorientation of substituants in aromaticmoleculesrdquo Journal of theAmerican Chemical Society vol 64 no 4 pp 900ndash908 1942
[31] Y Sakai E Miyoshi M Klobukowski and S Huzinaga ldquoModelpotentials for main group elements Li through RnrdquoThe Journalof Chemical Physics vol 106 no 19 pp 8084ndash8092 1997
[32] T NoroM Sekiya and T Koga ldquoContracted polarization func-tions for the atoms helium through neonrdquoTheoretical ChemistryAccounts vol 98 no 1 pp 25ndash32 1997