{"title":"Insights into Halogen Atom Effects on Donor-Acceptor Complexes in Organic Solar Cells: A Density Functional Theory Study on Quinoxylated Donors Family.","authors":"Alessandro Romo-Gutiérrez, Zuriel Natanael Cisneros-García, Carlos Iván Méndez-Barrientos, Jaime Gustavo Rodriguez-Zavala","doi":"10.1002/cphc.202500412","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.202500412","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study explores the molecular structures and properties of quinoxaline-based donor materials complexed with highly efficient electron-acceptor molecules in organic solar cells. Employing density functional theory calculations, the interaction between PBQX (X = 5-F, 6-F, 5-Cl, 5-Br, 6-Cl, 6-Br) electron donors and two well-known electron acceptors (Y6 and BTP-4Br) is systematically analyzed. Variations in the halogen atoms of donor compounds are examined to assess their impact on the electronic structure of donor-acceptor complexes. Halogen atoms (F, Cl, Br) in quinoxylated donors influence weak interactions, crucial for charge transport. Since dipole moment and intermolecular electric field play a significant role in molecular packing and exciton separation, they are also studied, predicting the best performance of PBQ6-F compared to PBQ5-F. Generally transition density matrix, hole-electron analysis, and charge transfer states in complexes corroborate the better behavior of PBQ6-F over PBQ5-F. Finally, all these findings are reflected in the kinetic study, carried out through Marcus theory for the different donor-acceptor combinations analyzed in this work, which could have implications for future experimental studies. As demonstrated by systematic studies such as the present one, variations in halogen atoms shed light on to propose possible donor-acceptor combinations in organic solar cells.</p>","PeriodicalId":9819,"journal":{"name":"Chemphyschem","volume":" ","pages":"e2500412"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144944475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ChemphyschemPub Date : 2025-08-25DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202500455
Shilpa Shajan, Devipriya Sivadasan, Krishnan Thirumoorthy, Venkatesan S Thimmakondu
{"title":"From Anti-Van't Hoff Le Bel Molecules of C<sub>6</sub>NH to Astronomically Relevant and Experimentally Known and Unknown Carbenes.","authors":"Shilpa Shajan, Devipriya Sivadasan, Krishnan Thirumoorthy, Venkatesan S Thimmakondu","doi":"10.1002/cphc.202500455","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.202500455","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Here, four stationary points with a planar tetracoordinate carbon (ptC) atom that are considered as anti-van't Hoff Le Bel molecules have been computationally identified for the first time within C<sub>6</sub>NH elemental composition. In total, 99 stationary points of C<sub>6</sub>NH ranging from 0.00 to 186.95 kcal mol<sup>-1</sup> are theoretically identified using density functional theory at the B3LYP-D3BJ/cc-pVTZ level of theory. Low-lying isomers and ptC isomers that are local minima are further investigated with coupled-cluster calculations at the CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ level of theory. These include the linear triplet isomer, HC<sub>6</sub>N, 1-cyanopenta-1,2-dien-4-yn-1,3-diyl (1) and the ring-chain carbene, 2-(2-cyanoeth-1-ynyl)cycloprop-2-en-1-ylidene (2). Both 1 and 2 are polar with dipole moment values of 4.86 and 3.56 Debye, respectively, and are experimentally known molecules through Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. The current theoretical study reveals that two of these ptC isomers (ptC25 and ptC29) upon ring-opening pathways of CC single bonds connected to the ptC atom lead to the formation of experimentally known cyano ring-chain carbene, 2 and another polar (μ = 4.18 Debye) low-lying ring-chain carbene, 2-cyano-3-ethynylcycloprop-2-en-1-ylidene (5), which is yet to be identified in the laboratory. Formation of both 2 and 5 from the ptC isomers are found to be highly exothermic in nature.</p>","PeriodicalId":9819,"journal":{"name":"Chemphyschem","volume":" ","pages":"e2500455"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144944432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ChemphyschemPub Date : 2025-08-21DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202500283
John P Richard
{"title":"Bill Jencks' Model for Lifetime Enforced Changes in Reaction Mechanism: A Legacy for Physical Organic Chemistry.","authors":"John P Richard","doi":"10.1002/cphc.202500283","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.202500283","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The change from a stepwise to concerted reaction mechanism is favored by the destabilization of the stepwise reaction intermediate that is avoided in the concerted reaction. William Jencks provides many examples of changes from stepwise to concerted reaction mechanisms that are strictly enforced as the lifetime of the stepwise reaction intermediate approaches that for a bond vibration, and the energy well for the reaction intermediate disappears. An early prescient example of lifetime-enforced changes in the mechanism for general acid catalysis of addition of thiolate anions to acetaldehyde is presented. Examples of lifetime-enforced concerted nucleophilic substitution and elimination reactions at benzylic carbon and of nucleophilic substitution on α-alkoxy carbon are presented to illustrate the power of this model to rationalize changes in reaction mechanism. Controversies that have been clarified by a consideration of the lifetime of putative carbocation intermediates of stepwise nucleophilic substitution reactions are discussed. The influence of coupling motions of the nucleophile and nucleofuge at the transition state for concerted bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reactions on the dominant product from competing solvolysis and substitution reactions is considered. Physical organic chemists are encouraged to use this powerful model in designing experiments to rationalize changes in reaction mechanisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":9819,"journal":{"name":"Chemphyschem","volume":" ","pages":"e2500283"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144944619","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Proton Exchange Between 3,6-Di-Tert-Butyl-2-Hydroxyphenoxyl and Dicarboxylic Acids Studied by Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy and Density Functional Theory Calculations.","authors":"Sergey Nikolskiy, Farida Abilkanova, Alfiya Kurmanova, Rakhim Rakhimov","doi":"10.1002/cphc.202500306","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.202500306","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The reaction of intermolecular proton exchange between the spin probe 3,6-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxyphenoxyl and some dicarboxylic acids, such as oxalic, maleic, succinic, and adipic, is studied. The experimental spectra of the radical with acids are recorded using dynamic electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. The studies are carried out at different temperatures in toluene. The rate constants of intermolecular proton exchange are determined by modeling the ESR spectra of the radical using equations based on the modified Bloch equations and the four-site jump model. It follows from the kinetic data that with an increase in the acid's carbon chain, the reaction rate slightly decreases, and the value of the activation barrier of the reaction increases. Analysis of the kinetic data using the Bell-Limbach model made it possible to calculate the components of the reaction's energy barrier. Quantum chemical calculations of the studied systems using the density functional theory B3LYP and the 6-31+G(d,p) basis set show that the proton exchange mechanism is a cooperative two-proton exchange. Calculations using the XMCQDPT/SA(4)-CASSCF(1,4)/6-31+G(d,p) method also show that excited states do not affect this process. This methodology can be used to determine the rate constants of intra- and intermolecular processes involving various OH- and NH-acids.</p>","PeriodicalId":9819,"journal":{"name":"Chemphyschem","volume":" ","pages":"e2500306"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144944516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Machine Learning Study of Methane Activation by O-Centered Radicals over Metal Oxide Clusters.","authors":"Ying Xu, Zi-Yu Li, Yu-Ting Xiao, Yu-Zhe Hu, Qi Yang, Xiao-Nan Wu, Sheng-Gui He","doi":"10.1002/cphc.202500274","DOIUrl":"10.1002/cphc.202500274","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Methane activation, a \"holy grail\" in chemistry, is crucial for producing value-added chemicals. Metal oxide clusters (MOCs) that activate methane through oxygen-centered radicals (O<sup>•-</sup>) have been extensively studied. However, a systematic and quantitative understanding of the electronic factors that govern the reactivity of the O<sup>•-</sup> radicals toward methane is still missing. Herein, a machine learning model has been developed to quantitatively describe the reactivity of MOCs toward CH<sub>4</sub> by incorporating 17 newly obtained experimental reaction rate constants alongside data accumulated from the literature, a total of 107 in number, as well as descriptors derived from density functional theory calculations. Utilizing the back propagation artificial neural network algorithm, the model described with only two key features-unpaired spin density (UPSD) and local charge (Q<sub>L</sub>)-is capable of predicting CH<sub>4</sub> activation reactivity of O<sup>•-</sup> containing MOCs across a wide range of metal elements and cluster compositions. Further investigations indicate that a feature related to the detachment or attachment of electrons can replace Q<sub>L</sub> while UPSD is irreplaceable. By using artificial intelligence, this study has made a big step forward in understanding methane activation by reactive oxygen species.</p>","PeriodicalId":9819,"journal":{"name":"Chemphyschem","volume":" ","pages":"e2500274"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144871692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ChemphyschemPub Date : 2025-08-14DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202401147
Pauline G. Simonnin, Sebastien N. Kerisit, Timothy C. Johnson, Kevin M. Rosso
{"title":"Structure and Dynamics of Water and Ions at Quartz (101) and (001) Surfaces under Applied Electric Fields from Molecular Simulations","authors":"Pauline G. Simonnin, Sebastien N. Kerisit, Timothy C. Johnson, Kevin M. Rosso","doi":"10.1002/cphc.202401147","DOIUrl":"10.1002/cphc.202401147","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Electrical double layer (EDL) models are commonly adopted as a framework for understanding electrokinetic properties at mineral-fluid interfaces but the dynamics of ion and water mobilities are typically not well known. Extending the previous work performed at equilibrium conditions, here it is examined how applied electric fields induce mobilities of monovalent and divalent ions at hydroxylated quartz (001) and (101) interfaces with various electrolyte solutions (NaCl, KCl, and CaCl<sub>2</sub>). The simulations reveal how the diffusion coefficients depend on the orientation and magnitude of the applied electric field, with a particularly strong effect for fields applied parallel to the quartz surfaces. While the effect in perpendicular applied fields is more subtle, nonetheless the disruption of the water in the first layers at the surface with corresponding effects on wettability is observed. The details of EDL ion drift mobilities are found to be strongly correlated to the silanol density and crystallographic orientation at the interface. The findings shed light on the complex interplay between local and external forces affecting how these interfaces respond in applied field applications that include electrical impedance spectroscopy, electroosmotic flow, and <i>ζ</i> -potential measurements.</p>","PeriodicalId":9819,"journal":{"name":"Chemphyschem","volume":"26 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144854729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ChemphyschemPub Date : 2025-08-13DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202500233
Bathini Veeraprakash, Gallelli Pratap, Nitin P. Lobo, Krishna V. Ramanathan, Tanneru Narasimhaswamy
{"title":"Mesophase Properties and Molecular Order of Shape Anisometrically Divergent Thiophene Mesogens","authors":"Bathini Veeraprakash, Gallelli Pratap, Nitin P. Lobo, Krishna V. Ramanathan, Tanneru Narasimhaswamy","doi":"10.1002/cphc.202500233","DOIUrl":"10.1002/cphc.202500233","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The shape anisometrically variant thiophene mesogens are investigated by <sup>13</sup>C NMR spectroscopy for the structural and orientational information in the liquid crystalline phase. These mesogens feature thiophene positioned at different locations within the core unit and include distinct substitutions. The mesogenic core is built with phenyl and thiophene rings directly connected or joined via linking units. Depending on the structure of the core unit, the occurrence of nematic and smectic C mesophases is recognized. The 1D and 2D <sup>13</sup>C NMR studies in the liquid crystalline phase reveal interesting orientational information. The <sup>13</sup>C<span></span><sup>1</sup>H dipolar couplings measured by the 2D separated local field technique offer precise structural information about thiophene and its orientation concerning the long molecular axis. The large variation in the magnitude of <sup>13</sup>C<span></span><sup>1</sup>H dipolar couplings of thiophene is found to be extremely sensitive to molecular shape and is analyzed with respect to individual ring geometries. Thus, for a rod-like mesogen, the thiophene ring main order parameter in the nematic phase is 0.45, whereas, for a mesogen with a flexible spacer, it decreases to 0.17 in the same phase. In contrast, the thiophene main order parameter for bent-core mesogen reaches 0.82 in the smectic C phase.</p>","PeriodicalId":9819,"journal":{"name":"Chemphyschem","volume":"26 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144844755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ChemphyschemPub Date : 2025-08-13DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202500207
Sherry Cao, Yihong Liu, Ruoxin Deng, Clement Lee, Lijia Liu
{"title":"Oxygen-Vacancy-Driven Persistent Luminescence in Mn2+-Doped MgGeO3: Insights from X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy","authors":"Sherry Cao, Yihong Liu, Ruoxin Deng, Clement Lee, Lijia Liu","doi":"10.1002/cphc.202500207","DOIUrl":"10.1002/cphc.202500207","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Mn<sup>2+</sup>-doped MgGeO<sub>3</sub> (MMGO) is a near-infrared-emitting persistent luminescence (PersL) phosphor. Its low luminescence decay has been linked to vacancies within the MgGeO<sub>3</sub> host, likely associated with Ge, although no direct correlations have been confirmed. In this study, the Ge K-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy is employed to investigate a series of MMGO submicron-sized particles with varying afterglow durations. These samples are synthesized using a recently developed hydrothermal method, where it is found that the PersL duration is related to the annealing temperature and the presence of codopants. It is first demonstrated that the XAFS spectra obtained using an in-house XAFS spectrometer are comparable in quality to those acquired at synchrotron facilities. Analysis of the local Ge environment of the MMGO shows that the PersL duration is directly related to the Ge–O coordination number. Additionally, the introduction of Li<sup>+</sup> extends the PersL duration of MMGO but does not alter the Ge–O coordination. The findings provide insights into the structural mechanisms driving luminescence and highlight the capability of in-house XAFS systems to deliver high-quality data for advanced materials research.</p>","PeriodicalId":9819,"journal":{"name":"Chemphyschem","volume":"26 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cphc.202500207","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144844756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ChemphyschemPub Date : 2025-08-13DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202500107
Victor García, Manuel Fernández
{"title":"Artificial Intelligence-Driven Optimization of Gaussian Orbital Expansions via Evolutionary Computing: Applications to Confined Atoms and Molecules","authors":"Victor García, Manuel Fernández","doi":"10.1002/cphc.202500107","DOIUrl":"10.1002/cphc.202500107","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Two artificial intelligence techniques, genetic algorithms and differential evolution, are applied to generate Gaussian expansions (φ-nG) for both free and sphere-confined atomic orbitals. A program (UCA-GSS-GA) is developed to enable the efficient calculation of these expansions. The accuracy of the obtained expansions is analyzed, and they are used to significantly refine self-consistent reaction field models for solvent effects. The orbitals, atoms, and molecules analyzed include some of the simplest systems (1<i>s</i>, H, H<sub>2</sub>, and CH<sub>4</sub>). However, the developed program is capable of handling all types of molecules and solvents.</p>","PeriodicalId":9819,"journal":{"name":"Chemphyschem","volume":"26 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144844754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ChemphyschemPub Date : 2025-08-12DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202500086
Selim Romero, Yoh Yamamoto, Tunna Baruah, Rajendra R. Zope
{"title":"Simplification of the Fermi–Löwdin Self-Interaction Correction Method for Efficient Self-Interaction-Free Density Functional Calculations","authors":"Selim Romero, Yoh Yamamoto, Tunna Baruah, Rajendra R. Zope","doi":"10.1002/cphc.202500086","DOIUrl":"10.1002/cphc.202500086","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Fermi–Löwdin orbital self-interaction-correction (FLOSIC) method uses symmetric orthogonalized Fermi orbitals as localized orbitals in one-electron SIC schemes. In FLOSIC, a set of Fermi orbital descriptors (FOD) defines the FLOs and is obtained by energy minimization. Determination of optimal FODs is a computationally very demanding task. Herein, simplification of the FLOSIC calculations by removing self-interaction error from a set of selected orbitals of interest (SOSIC) is proposed. This approach is illustrated by choosing a set of valence orbitals as active orbitals. The results of a wide range of properties obtained using the valence SOSIC (vSOSIC) scheme are compared against the Perdew–Zunger SIC results. The two methods agree within a few percent for the majority of the properties. The mean absolute error in the vertical detachment energy of water cluster anions with vSOSIC-Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (PBE) against benchmark CCSD(T) results is only 15 meV making vSOSIC-PBE an excellent alternative to the CCSD(T) for the case. The calculation on the [Cu<span></span><math></math>Cl<span></span><math></math>]<sup>2−</sup> complex demonstrates that the FOD optimization in vSOSIC is substantially smoother and faster. Assessment of the performance of SIC-r<span></span><math></math>SCAN shows that it performs similarly to the SIC-Strongly Constrained and Appropriately Normed functional (SCAN) for most properties, but for atomization energies, SIC-r<span></span><math></math>SCAN outperforms SIC-SCAN.</p>","PeriodicalId":9819,"journal":{"name":"Chemphyschem","volume":"26 18","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144820693","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}