Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.108, No.15, 3119-3124, 2004
Ground and low-lying excited electronic states of difluorodiazirine
Ground and low-lying excited electronic states of difluorodiazirine (F2CN2) were investigated using the recently revised, multireference, second-order generalized Van Vleck perturbation theory (GVVPT2). Initial studies on the ground state were carried out with the single-reference Mcircle divideller-Plesset second order perturbation theory (MP2), quadratic configuration interaction with single and double excitation (QCISD), and coupled cluster with sin-le, double, perturbative triple excitations (CCSD(T)) methods using several correlation-consistent atomic basis sets. MP2 and QCISD did not give semiquantitatively correct descriptions of the ground state of the molecule. For the ground state, GVVPT2 results are in close agreement with CCSD(T) but lie slightly closer to the experimental results. A balanced treatment of nondynamic and dynamic correlation effects has been shown to be of crucial importance for correct description of the system. Equilibrium geometries, excitation energies, and thermodynamic stabilities of the states were calculated and compared with available experimental data. It has been shown for the first time that not only is the ground-state metastable but that the lowest excited state (1(3)B(1)) is also metastable, relative to decay into CF2 and N-2; this may be important to elucidating the mechanism of ultraviolet photolysis of this compound.