Photoionization and electronic structure of chemical warfare agents

Abstract

The vertical, valence ionization energies for several chemical warfare agents (CWA): nerve agents, choking agents and blister agents have been calculated (as free molecules) using high-level ab initio coupled-cluster method: IP-EOM-CCSD. The calculated vertical, valence ionization energies were used to simulate UV photoelectron spectra. We also calculated 1st adiabatic ionization energies for these CWA. Our results, especially 1st ionization energies (vertical and adiabatic) may be useful when applying photoionization techniques as part of hyphenated methods for detection and identification of CWA. The variations of vertical ionization energies were rationalized by the analysis of the electronic structure of CWA. The influence of electronic structures on toxicological properties is also discussed on the basis of calculated Hirshfeld type charges.