How does multi-reference computation change the catalysis chemistry? DFT and CASPT2 studies of the Cu-catalysed coupling reactions between aryl iodides and β-diketones†

The molecular mechanism of a Cu-catalysed coupling reaction was theoretically studied using density functional theory (DFT) and the complete active space self-consistent field method followed by the second-order perturbation theory (CASSCF/CASPT2) to investigate the effects of the strong electron correlation of the Cu centre on the reaction profile. Both DFT and CASSCF/CASPT2 calculations showed that the catalytic cycle proceeds via an oxidative addition (OA) reaction, followed by a reductive elimination (RE) reaction, where OA is the rate-determining step. Although the DFT-calculated activation energies of the OA and RE steps are highly dependent on the choice of functionals, the CASSCF/CASPT2 results are less affected by the choice of DFT-optimised geometries. Therefore, with a careful assessment based on the CASSCF/CASPT2 single-point energy evaluation, an optimal choice of the DFT geometry is of good qualitative use for energetics at the CASPT2 level of theory. Based on the changes in the electron populations of the 3d orbitals during the OA and RE steps, the characteristic features of the DFT-calculated electronic structure were qualitatively consistent with those calculated using the CASSCF method. Further electronic structure analysis by the natural orbital occupancy of the CASSCF wavefunction showed that the ground state is almost single-reference in this system and the strong electron correlation effect of the Cu centre can be dealt with using the MP2 or CCSD method, too. However, the slightly smaller occupation numbers of the 3dπ orbital in the course of reactions suggested that the electron correlation effect of the Cu(III) centre appears through the interaction between the 3dπ orbital and the C–I antibonding σ* orbital in the OA step, and between the 3dπ orbital and the Cu–C antibonding σ* orbital in the RE step.