Optimal unsymmetric orbitals

Figure 3.2. Altitude drawing of the A optimal unsymmetric orbital for values in the x-z plane. The H nuclei are on the z-axis. The two vertical lines point at the nuclei.

The most recent theoretical study, by Alhrichs and co-workers, deals with the di(phosphino)carbene Id and (phosphino) (phosphonio)carbenes Ie,f.16 The optimized geometry of the di(phosphino)carbene Id is weakly bent (PCP angle 160.5°) and highly unsymmetrical Only one of the phosphorus centers (P1) is in a planar environment, and it is much more closely bonded to the carbenic center than the other one (P1C 1.533 and P2C 1.765 A). The atomic charges (P1 +1.0, C -0.8, P2 +0.6) indicate that the short P bond is a double bond reinforced by Coulombic attraction, while the nature of the molecular orbitals revealed a slight delocalization of the carbene lone pair into the low-lying a (P-N) orbitals of the two phosphino substituents. The distortion from the symmetrical structure can be viewed as a second-order Jahn-Teller effect. 

Although a Slater-determinant reference state 4> cannot describe such electronic correlation effects as the wave-function modification required by the interelec -tronic Coulomb singularity, a variationally based choice of an optimal reference state can greatly simplify the -electron formalism. 4> defines an orthonormal set of N occupied orbital functions occupation numbers = 1. While () = 1 by construction, for any full A-electron wave function T that is to be modelled by it is convenient to adjust (T T) > 1 to the unsymmetrical... 

---