Investigation of Structural and Electronic Properties of [Tris(Benzene-1,2-Dithiolato)M]3- (M = V, Cr, Mn, Fe and Co) Complexes: A Spectroscopic and Density Functional Theoretical Study

In this study, the first raw transition metals from V to Co complexes with benzene-1,2-dithiolate (L2-) ligand have been studied theoretically to elucidate the geometry, electronic structure and spectroscopic properties of the complexes. Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT) methods have been used. The ground state geometries, binding energies, spectral properties (UV-vis), frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) analysis, charge analysis and natural bond orbital (NBO) have been investigated. The geometrical parameters are in good agreement with the available experimental data. The metal-ligand binding energies are 1 order of magnitude larger than the physisorption energy of a benzene-1, 2-dthiolate molecule on a metallic surface. The electronic structures of the first raw transition metal series from V to Co have been elucidated by UV-vis spectroscopic using DFT calculations. In accordance with experiment the calculated electronic spectra of these tris complexes show bands at 522, 565, 559, 546 and 863 nm for V3+, Cr3+, Mn3+, Fe3+ and Co3+ respectively which are mainly attributed to ligand to metal charge transfer (LMCT) transitions. The electronic properties analysis shows that the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) is mainly centered on metal coordinated sulfur atoms whereas the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) is mainly located on the metal surface. From calculation of intramolecular interactions and electron delocalization by natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis, the stability of the complexes was estimated. The NBO results showed significant charge transfer from sulfur to central metal ions in the complexes, as well as to the benzene. The calculated charges on metal ions are also reported at various charge schemes. The calculations show encouraging agreement with the available experimental data.