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Pere Alemany

Publications and source records attributed to Pere Alemany.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Concerning the different roles of cations in metallic Zintl phases: Ba7Ga4Sb9 as a test case.

The question of the different roles of cations in metallic Zintl phases has been examined by taking Ba7Ga4Sb9, an electron-rich phase, as a test case. The electronic structure of this solid has been studied by means of a first-principles density functional theory approach and, indeed, the different Ba atoms are found to play very different roles in determining the structural and transport properties of this phase. It is also found that Ba7Ga4Sb9 should be an anisotropic metal with both one- and three-dimensional contributions to the Fermi surface so that the system could exhibit a potentially very interesting physical behavior while keeping the metallic properties down to very low temperatures. Suggestions in order to modify the band filling and the physical properties are examined. Although isostructural electron-precise phases may be envisioned, it is predicted that they would be essentially three-dimensional metals.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Role of electron density and magnetic couplings on the nucleus-independent chemical shift (NICS) profiles of [2.2]paracyclophane and related species.

The nucleus-independent chemical shifts (NICS) and electron density profiles along the inner and outer regions defined by the two stacked aromatic rings of [2.2]paracyclophane have been analyzed and compared to those of free benzene and p-xylene and benzene dimers taken as reference models. It is found that stacked aromatic rings show a reduction of the NICS indicator of aromaticity as compared to the same free aromatic systems. This decrease of the NICS values upon stacking is not due to an increase of the electron density in the inner region between the rings (as claimed in a previous work) but is related to the magnetic couplings between superimposed rings that affect this measure of local aromaticity. The increase of local aromaticity in superimposed aromatic rings indicated by NICS is not real but the result of the coupling between the magnetic fields generated by the two stacked rings. This result warns about the use of NICS as a descriptor of aromaticity for species having superimposed aromatic rings.

Electrons↗
PubMed2005

Local aromaticity of the lowest-lying singlet States of [N]acenes (N = 6-9).

The local aromaticities of the six-membered rings in the two lowest-lying singlet states of [n]acenes (n = 6-9) have been assessed by means of three probes of local aromaticity based on structural, magnetic, and electron delocalization properties. Important differences between the local aromaticities of the closed-shell and diradical singlet electronic states are found. Thus, while the inner rings have the largest aromatic character in the closed-shell singlet states, the outer rings become the most aromatic for the diradical singlet states.

Letter↗
PubMed2005

Exchange coupling in mu-aqua:mu-oxo vs. di-mu-hydroxo dinuclear Cu(II) compounds: a density functional study.

Theoretical methods based on density functional theory have been applied to study the differences in exchange coupling between the di-mu-hydroxo and mu-aqua:mu-oxo tautomers of a dinuclear Cu(II) complex. The calculations indicate that the two compounds are totally different from a magnetic point of view. The transfer of one proton from one of the two hydroxo bridges to the other leaves an asymmetric structure with only one effective exchange pathway through the oxo bridge. The coordinated water molecule and an associated perchlorate counterion, although not directly involved in the exchange coupling, play an important role in the magnetic properties of this compound since their presence is crucial in the determination of the geometrical details of the Cu-O(ox)-Cu linkage and hence in the exchange coupling between the copper atoms.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Local aromaticity of [n]acenes, [n]phenacenes, and [n]helicenes (n = 1-9).

The local aromaticity of the six-membered rings in three series of benzenoid compounds, namely, the [n]acenes, [n]phenacenes, and [n]helicenes for n = 1-9, has been assessed by means of three probes of local aromaticity based on structural, magnetic, and electron delocalization properties. For [n]acenes our analysis shows that the more reactive inner rings are more aromatic than the outer rings. For [n]phenacenes, all indicators of aromaticity show that the external rings are the most aromatic. From the external to the central ring, the local aromaticity varies in a damped alternate way. The trends for the [n]helicene series are the same as those found for [n]phenacenes. Despite the departure from planarity in [n]helicenes, only a very slight loss of aromaticity is detected in [n]helicenes as compared to the corresponding [n]phenacenes. Finally, because of magnetic couplings between superimposed six-membered rings in the higher members of the [n]helicenes series, we have demonstrated that the NICS indicator of aromaticity artificially increases the local aromaticity of their most external rings.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Electronic structure of the K3Bi2 metallic phase.

The electronic structure of K3Bi2 is discussed on the basis of first-principles DFT calculations. It is shown that the dimers are formally (Bi2)3-, even though this might seem to be in contradiction with the metallic character of the salt. The apparent puzzle is explained by the sizable participation of the K levels in the bonding.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

The rich stereochemistry of eight-vertex polyhedra: a continuous shape measures study.

A stereochemical study of polyhedral eight-vertex structures is presented, based on continuous shape measures (CShM). Reference polyhedra, shape maps, and minimal-distortion interconversion paths are presented for eight-vertex polyhedral and polygonal structures within the CShM framework. The application of these stereochemical tools is analyzed for several families of experimental structures: 1) coordination polyhedra of molecular transition-metal coordination compounds, classified by electron configuration and ligands; 2) edge-bonded polyhedra, including cubane structures, realgar, and metal clusters; 3) octanuclear transition-metal supramolecular architectures; and 4) coordination polyhedra in extended structures in inorganic solids. Structural classification is shown to be greatly facilitated by these tools, and the detection of less common structures, such as the gyrobifastigium, is straightforward.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Continuous chirality measures in transition metal chemistry.

The definition of the continuous chirality measure(CCM) is provided and its applications are summarized in this tutorial review, with special emphasis on the field of transition metal complexes. The CCM approach, developed in recent years, provides a quantitative parameter that evaluates the degree of chirality of a given molecule. Many quantitative structural correlations with chirality have been identified for most of the important families of metal complexes. Our recent research has shown that one can associate the chirality measures with, e.g., enantioselectivity in asymmetric catalysis. We also explore a fragment approach to chirality in which we investigate which part of a molecule is responsible for the chirality-associated properties of a given family of compounds.

Copper↗
PubMed2005

Electronic structure of Li2Ga and Li9Al4, two solids containing infinite and uniform zigzag chains.

The electronic structure of inorganic solids such as Li(2)Ga and Li(9)Al(4) containing infinite zigzag homoatomic chains is discussed. It is shown that Li(2)Ga, a solid for which a Zintl-type electron-counting approach would suggest that a half-filled pi-type band occurs as in trans-polyacetylene, is really a three-dimensional solid with strong covalent interchain connections and small effective charge transfer. The zigzag chains do not play a dominant role as far as the electronic structure near the Fermi level is concerned, and there is no reason for the occurrence of a Peierls distortion despite the possible analogy with trans-polyacetylene. It is suggested that even assuming that a Zintl-type approach is appropriate for electron counting purposes, the infinite zigzag chains in this compound and those in trans-polyacetylene are not isolobal. The bonding in Li(9)Al(4) and Li(2)Ga is very similar, and both phases are predicted to be stable three-dimensional metals.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Minimal distortion pathways in polyhedral rearrangements.

A definition of minimum distortion paths between two polyhedra in terms of continuous shape measures (CShM) is presented. A general analytical expression deduced for such pathways makes use of one parameter, the minimum distortion constant, that can be easily obtained through the CShM methodology and is herein tabulated for pairs of polyhedra having four to eight vertexes. The work presented here also allows us to obtain representative model molecular structures along the interconversion pathways. Several commonly used polytopal rearrangement pathways are shown to be in fact minimum distortion pathways: the spread path leading from the tetrahedron to the square, the Berry pseudorotation that interconverts a square pyramid and a trigonal bipyramid, and the Bailar twist for the interconversion of the octahedron and the trigonal prism. Examples of applications to the analysis of the stereochemistries of several families of metal complexes are presented.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Mapping the stereochemistry and symmetry of tetracoordinate transition-metal complexes.

A continuous shape and symmetry study of tetracoordinate transition-metal complexes is presented, in an attempt to provide a systematic description of the stereochemistry of the metal coordination sphere in this important family of compounds. A tetrahedron/square-planar symmetry map has been developed, the main distortion paths of the ideal geometries are presented, and the applicability of a sawhorse shape measure is discussed. More than 13,000 structural data sets have been analyzed and the corresponding stereochemistries assigned from the values of their tetrahedral and square-planar symmetry measures. A good number of structures that are quite distant from the two ideal geometries can be adequately described as snapshots along the spread pathway for their interconversion, making use of the corresponding path deviation function. Further analysis of the structural data by metal electron configuration or by the denticity and conformation of the ligands provide general rules to describe the stereochemical preferences of tetracoordinate transition metal centers.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Theoretical evidence of persistent chirality in D3 homoleptic hexacoordinate complexes with monodentate ligands.

A theoretical study of the enantiomer interconversion pathway relevant to racemization reactions of hexacoordinate transition-metal complexes is presented based on density functional calculations. The potential-energy surface for the trigonal twist pathway of the [Zr(SH)(6)](2-) model compound has been explored. The optimum structure reproduces, to a very good approximation, the experimental geometry of the analogous compound in which the thiolato groups have C(6)H(4)-4-OMe substituents instead of H atoms. A barrier of about 19 kcal mol(-1) is estimated for the racemization of [Zr(SH)(6)](2-) and exploratory calculations for [Zr(SC(6)H(4)-4-OMe)(6)](2-) indicate that a larger barrier should be expected. For the chiral homoleptic organometallic complexes [ZrMe(6)](2-) and [RhMe(6)](3-) no significant racemization barrier is expected.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Shape and symmetry of heptacoordinate transition-metal complexes: structural trends.

The stereochemistries of heptacoordinate transition-metal complexes are analyzed by using continuous symmetry and shape measures of their coordination spheres. The distribution of heptacoordination through the transition-metal series is presented based on structural database searches including organometallic and Werner-type molecular complexes, metalloproteins, and extended solids. The most common polyhedron seems to be the pentagonal bipyramid, while different preferences are found for specific families of compounds, as in the complexes with three or four carbonyl or phosphine ligands, which prefer the capped octahedron or the capped trigonal prism rather than the pentagonal bipyramid. The symmetry maps for heptacoordination are presented and shown to be helpful for detecting stereochemical trends. The maximal symmetry interconversion pathways between the three most common polyhedra are defined in terms of symmetry constants and a large number of experimental structures are seen to fall along those paths.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

About the calculation of exchange coupling constants in polynuclear transition metal complexes.

The application of theoretical methods based on the density functional theory with hybrid functionals provides good estimates of the exchange coupling constants for polynuclear transition metal complexes. The accuracy is similar to that previously obtained for dinuclear compounds. We present test calculations on simple model systems based on H. He and CH(2). He units to compare with Hartree-Fock and multiconfigurational results. Calculations for complete, nonmodeled polynuclear transition metal complexes yield coupling constants in very good agreement with available experimental data.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Room-temperature synthesis and crystal, magnetic, and electronic structure of the first silver copper oxide.

Ag(2)Cu(2)O(3) is the first known silver copper oxide. It was prepared by coprecipitation at room temperature and ambient pressure and shows an increased thermal stability compared with silver oxides. The crystal structure (tetragonal, a = 5.8862(2) A, c = 10.6892(4) A, Z = 4, I4(1)/amd) was refined from neutron and X-ray powder diffraction data, and it is related to that of the mineral paramelaconite (Cu(4)O(3)). In addition to a thorough characterization (chemical and TG analyses, XPS, crystal structure, and electrochemical, magnetic, and transport properties), we have carried out band structure calculations [extended Hückel tight binding (EHTB) and spin polarized density functional (DFT) band calculations] for the title silver copper oxide and for the related paramelaconite structure (Cu(II)-Cu(I) mixed-valence system) with special incidence into the magnetic behavior and coupling constants in these magnetically novel 3-D compounds. This new oxide represents an important precedent in solid state inorganic chemistry but also has potential interest concerning its magnetic, electrochemical, and catalytic properties.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Exchange coupling in halo-bridged dinuclear Cu(II) compounds: a density functional study.

A density functional study of exchange coupling in halo-bridged dinuclear copper(II) compounds has been carried out. Coupling constants calculated for full unmodeled structures, as determined by X-ray diffraction, are in excellent agreement with experimental data, confirming the ability of the computational strategy used in this work to predict the magnetic behavior of such compounds. Model calculations have been used to examine the influence of several factors on the coupling constant: the nature of the bridging and terminal ligands, the coordination environment around copper atoms, and some structural distortions frequently found in this family of complexes. A ferromagnetic coupling is predicted when N-donor terminal ligands are present, especially for bromo-bridged systems, an interesting synthetic target.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1999

Chemical Transport Synthesis, Electrochemical Behavior, and Electronic Structure of Superconducting Zirconium and Hafnium Nitride Halides.

The layered nitrides beta-MNX (M = Zr, Hf; X = Cl, Br) crystallize in the space group R&thremacr;m with a hexagonal cell of dimensions a = 3.6031(6) Å, c = 27.672(2) Å for beta-ZrNCl, a = 3.5744(3) Å, c = 27.7075(9) Å for beta-HfNCl, and a = 3.6379(5) Å, c = 29.263(2) Å for beta-ZrNBr. Lithium intercalation using n-buthyllithium in hexane solutions leads to solvent free superconductors of formula Li(0.20)ZrNCl, Li(0.42)HfNCl, Li(0.67)HfNCl, and Li(0.17)ZrNBr showing critical temperatures of 12, 18, 24, and 13.5 K, respectively. Whereas several samples of beta-ZrNBr and beta-ZrNCl showed reproducibility in the lithium uptake and in the corresponding critical temperatures, different samples of beta-HfNCl subjected to the same treatment in n-buthyllithium showed lithium uptakes ranging from 0.07 to 0.67, and corresponding critical temperatures between 0 and 24 K. A linear dependence of T(c) versus the lithium content is observed when all the superconducting samples are considered. The results obtained from electrochemical lithiation are consistent with those obtained with chemical methods, as samples with larger capacity on discharge are also those found to have larger lithium contents after chemical lithiation. Most samples present a reduction step around 1.8 V vs Li(0)-Li(+) whose origin is still unclear. The electrochemical capacity on discharge for beta-HfNCl and beta-ZrNBr depends on the milling time spent in the preparation of the electrodes, with long milling times resulting in lower intercalation degree. Possible causes for this effect are either the creation of structural defects (e.g., stacking faults) or some sample decomposition induced by local heating. The same phenomena are proposed to account for the different behavior of beta-HfNCl samples, although additional aspects such as the presence of hydrogen, oxygen, or extra hafnium atoms in the structure have to be considered. Tight-binding band structure calculations for beta-MNX (M = Zr, X = Cl, Br; M = Hf, X = Cl), ZrCl, and Y(2)C(2)Br(2) are reported. The density of states and Fermi surfaces of the beta-MNX phases as well as the relationship between the electronic structure of the beta-ZrNCl and ZrCl are discussed. Despite the structural relationships, the electronic structures near the Fermi level of the beta-MNX and Y(2)Br(2)C(2) phases are found to be very different.

Journal Article↗