%0 Journal Article %T A Computational Determination of the Lowest Energy Electronic and Geometric States of First Row Transition Metal Dioxygen Dications %A Jillian Lennartz %A Eric Dumas %A Lennie Ramirez %A John Morrison Galbraith %J Journal of Theoretical Chemistry %D 2013 %R 10.1155/2013/734354 %X The lowest energy geometric structures and electronic spin states of first row transition metal (TM) dioxygen dication molecules ([TM每O2]2+; TM = Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn) have been determined at the B3LYP/LANL2DZ level of theory (along with an extra -type polarization function added to the O atoms). In order to further verify the spin states, CASSCF(6 + , 9) energy points were determined ( = number of TM electrons). It has been found that with the exception of [Sc每O2]2+, [V每O2]2+, [Co每O2]2+, and [Ni每O2]2+, all [TM每O2]2+ molecules take on a high-spin state. [Sc每O2]2+ adopts a trigonal structure, while [Ti每O2]2+-[Mn每O2]2+ are essentially linear and [Fe每O2]2+-[Zn每O2]2+ are bent. It is further noted that the O每O bond decreases from 130.0ˋpm to 118.1ˋpm as the TM changes from Sc to Zn. However, the TM每O2 bond lengths fluctuate between values of 182.2ˋpm for [Ni每O2]2+ and 232.2ˋpm for [Zn每O2]2+. 1. Introduction Transition metals (TMs) bound to an O2 molecule are the chemically active site in many industrial [1每5] and biological [1, 2, 6每10] molecules. Considering the TM每O2 bond to lie along the -axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, in TM每O2 complexes, bonds can form by the interactions of TM , , and atomic orbitals with suitable orbitals on the O2 ligand in order to make ( ) or ( and ) bonds (Scheme 1). While there have been numerous studies of neutral TM每O2 [11, 12] complexes, in many TM每O2 containing molecules of biological and industrial importance, the TM is bound to a porphyrin ring in the 2ˋ oxidation state. Therefore, [TM每O2]2+ molecules are the simplest approximations to this important class of TM每O2 containing molecules. Scheme 1 Probably the most studied TM每O2 bond is the Fe每O2 bond due to its role in heme-containing proteins [13每16]. This bond has been described as low-spin Fe(II) accepting an electron pair from excited singlet-state O2 forming the bond, while donating an electron pair to oxygen to form a bond. An alternative view involves Fe(III) interacting with O2ˋ. In a third possibility, triplet Fe(II) couples with triplet O2 to form a closed shell singlet. Computational results vary depending on the extent of electron correlation and basis set size. It is clear, however, that the overall bonding scheme involves some degree of both O2 Fe and Fe O2ˋˋ and electron transfer. Further complicating matters, the number of near degenerate TM -orbitals leads to the possibility of many low lying spin states. In addition, there are a number of different ways that the O2 unit can be arranged relative to the TM. Herein, we seek to %U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jtc/2013/734354/