Dihydrogen bond interactions as a result of H2 cleavage at Cu, Ag and Au centres

Abstract

A quantum chemical study of H₂ activation at fluorides of coinage metals, MF (M = Cu, Ag and Au), and its splitting was performed. The following reaction path was analyzed: FM⋯H₂ → FH⋯HM → HM⋯FH, where both the molecular complexes and the corresponding transition states have been characterized at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVQZ//MP2/aug-cc-pVQZ level of theory. Further single-point CASSCF/CASPT2 calculations, including spin–orbit coupling effects, were also performed to analyze the role of non-dynamic correlation. The scalar relativistic effects are included via aug-cc-pVQZ-PP basis sets used for the metals. The dihydrogen-bonded copper (FH⋯HCu) and silver (FH⋯HAg) complexes are observed as a result of H₂ cleavage, while the corresponding FH⋯HAu gold complex is not found but the HAu⋯HF arrangement is observed, instead. The energetic and geometrical parameters of the complexes have been analyzed and both the Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules approach and the Natural Bond Orbitals method were additionally applied to analyze the intermolecular interactions.