Hydration Shell Structure and Dynamics of Curium(III) in Aqueous Solution: First Principles and Empirical Studies
Results of ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD), quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) and classical molecular dynamics (CMD) simulations of Cm3+ in liquid water at a temperature of 300 K are reported. The AIMD simulation was based on the Car-Parrinello MD scheme and GGA-PBE formulation of density functional theory. Two QM/MM simulations were performed by treating Cm3+ and the water molecules in the first shell quantum mechanically using the PBE (QM/MM-PBE) and the hybrid PBE0 density functionals (QM/MM-PBE0). Two CMD simulations were carried out using ab initio derived pair plus three-body potentials (CMD-3B) and empirical Lennard-Jones pair potential (CMD-LJ). The AIMD and QM/MM-PBE simulations predict average first shell hydration numbers of 8, both of which disagree with recent experimental EXAFS and TRLFS value of 9. On the other hand, the average first shell hydration numbers obtained in the QM/MM-PBE0 and CMD simulations was 9, which agrees with experiment. All the simulations predicted a average first shell and second shell Cm-O bond distances of 2.49-2.53 Å and 4.67-4.75 Å respectively, both of which are in fair agreement with corresponding experimental values of 2.45-2.48 Å and 4.65 Å. The average geometric arrangement of the eight-fold and nine-fold coordinated first shell structures corresponded to the square anti-prism and tricapped trigonal prisms respectively. The second shell hydration number for AIMD QM/MM-PBE, QM/MM-PBE0, CMD-3B, and CMD-LJ, were 15.8, 17.2, 17.7, 17.4, and 16.4 respectively, which indicates second hydration shell over-coordination compared to recent EXAFS experimental value of 13. Save the EXAFS spectra CMD-LJ simulation, all the computed EXAFS spectra agree fairly well with experiment and a clear distinction could not be made between configurations with 8-fold and 9-fold coordinated first shells. The mechanisms responsible for the first shell associative and dissociative ligand exchange in the classical simulations have been analyzed. The first shell mean residence time is predicted to be on the nanosecond timescale. The computed diffusion constants of Cm3+ and water are in good agreement with experimental data.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1013919
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-77578; 29990; KC0302030; TRN: US201110%%824
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 115(18):4665-4677, Vol. 115, Issue 18
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
DIFFUSION
FUNCTIONALS
HYDRATION
ION EXCHANGE
LIGANDS
PRISMS
SIMULATION
SPECTRA
WATER
Ab initio molecular dynamics
quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics
classical molecular dynamics
curium
hydration number
hydrogen bonding
electronic structure
exchange mechanism
mean residence time
diffisuion constant
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory