Structural, energetic and vibrational properties of some van der Waals complexes of CO2, OCS and OCSe

As part of a study of the properties of some chalcogen-bonded complexes with NH3, H2O, PH3 and H2S, we have investigated the oxygen-bound species containing CO2, OCS and OCSe by means of molecular orbital calculations at the ab initio level. The structures of the NH3, H2O and PH3 complexes are all similar, with a primary C...X interaction (X = N, O, P) and one of the hydrogen atoms approaching an oxygen atom in a weak secondary attraction. The H2S complexes show a greater variety of alternative structures. The changes in the monomer geometrical parameters, the interaction energies and the harmonic vibrational spectra vary in general in a systematic way as the acid and the base are changed. Deviations from this systematic behaviour have been rationalised.