Electronic wave functions transitions

Small metal clusters are also of interest because of their importance in catalysis. Despite the fact that small clusters should consist of mostly surface atoms, measurement of the photon ionization threshold for Hg clusters suggest that a transition from van der Waals to metallic properties occurs in the range of 20-70 atoms per cluster [88] and near-bulk magnetic properties are expected for Ni, Pd, and Pt clusters of only 13 atoms [89] Theoretical calculations on Sin and other semiconductors predict that the stmcture reflects the bulk lattice for 1000 atoms but the bulk electronic wave functions are not obtained [90]. Bartell and co-workers [91] study beams of molecular clusters with electron dirfraction and molecular dynamics simulations and find new phases not observed in the bulk. Bulk models appear to be valid for their clusters of several thousand atoms (see Section IX-3). 

If the reaction is elementary, there is only a single transition state between A and B. At this point the derivative of the total electronic wave function with respect to the reaction coordinate Qa b vanishes ... 

In the transition state region, the spin-pairing change mnst take place. At this nuclear configuration, the electronic wave function may be written as... 

Figure 5. A cut across the ground state (GS) and the excited state (ES) potential surfaces of the H4 system. The parameter Qp is the phase preserving nuclear coordinate connecting the H(lll) with the transition state between H(I) and H(1I) (Fig, 4). Keeping the phase of the electronic wave function constant, this coordinate leads from the ground to the excited state. At a certain point, the two surfaces must touch. At the crossing point, the wave function is degenerate.

This situation arises when the electronic wave function of the transition state is described by the out-of-phase combination of the two base functions. If the electronic wave function of the transition state is described by the in-phase coinbination. no curve crossing occurs. 

Adopting the view that any theory of aromaticity is also a theory of pericyclic reactions [19], we are now in a position to discuss pericyclic reactions in terms of phase change. Two reaction types are distinguished those that preserve the phase of the total electi onic wave-function - these are phase preserving reactions (p-type), and those in which the phase is inverted - these are phase inverting reactions (i-type). The fomier have an aromatic transition state, and the latter an antiaromatic one. The results of [28] may be applied to these systems. In distinction with the cyclic polyenes, the two basis wave functions need not be equivalent. The wave function of the reactants R) and the products P), respectively, can be used. The electronic wave function of the transition state may be represented by a linear combination of the electronic wave functions of the reactant and the product. Of the two possible combinations, the in-phase one [Eq. (11)] is phase preserving (p-type), while the out-of-phase one [Eq. (12)], is i-type (phase inverting), compare Eqs. (6) and (7). Normalization constants are assumed in both equations ... 

B. The phase changes near the transition state lying along this coordinate. It must therefore be positive close to that locality. The electronic wave function of... 

According to Eq. (A.4), if < 0, the ground state will be the in-phase combination, and the out-of-phase one, an excited state. On the other hand, if > 0, the ground state will be the out-of-phase combination, while the in-phase one is an excited state. This conclusion is far reaching, since it means that the electronic wave function of the ground state is nonsymmetric in this case, in contrast with common chemical intuition. We show that when an even number of electron pairs is exchanged, this is indeed the case, so that the transition state is the out-of-phase combination. 

Effect of diagonal-off-diagonal dynamic disorder (D-off-DDD). The polarization fluctuations and the local vibrations give rise to variation of the electron densities in the donor and the acceptor, i.e., they lead to a modulation of the electron wave functions A and B. This leads to a modulation of the overlapping of the electron clouds of the donor and the acceptor and hence to a different transmission coefficient from that calculated in the approximation of constant electron density (ACED). This modulation may change the path of transition on the potential energy surfaces. 

Polarization fluctuations of a certain type were considered in the configuration model presented above. In principle, fluctuations of a more complicated form may be considered in the same way. A more general approach was suggested in Refs. 23 and 24, where Eq. (16) for the transition probability has been written in a mixed representation using the Feynman path integrals for the nuclear subsystem and the functional integrals over the electron wave functions of the initial and final states t) and t) for the electron ... 

The calculation of the integrals in Eq. (55) in the classical limit in the improved Condon approximation (for the nuclear subsystem) using the saddle point method leads to two coupled equations for the electron wave functions of the donor and the acceptor in the transitional configuration ... 

The second mechanism, due to the permutational properties of the electronic wave function is referred to as the permutational mechanism. It was introduced in Section I for the H4 system, and above for pericyclic reactions and is closely related to the aromaticity of the reaction. Following Evans principle, an aromatic transition state is defined in analogy with the hybrid of the two Kekule structures of benzene. A cyclic transition state in pericyclic reactions is defined as aromatic or antiaromatic according to whether it is more stable or less stable than the open chain analogue, respectively. In [32], it was assumed that the in-phase combination in Eq. (14) lies always the on the ground state potential. As discussed above, it can be shown that the ground state of aromatic systems is always represented by the in-phase combination of Eq. (14), and antiaromatic ones—by the out-of-phase combination. 

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