Within the bonded tableau unitary group approach (BTUGA), a scheme, combined with Pauling’s resonance theory to select the predominant valence bond structures for VB calculations, is proposed. This scheme ensures a reliable and illustrative bonding picture in the description of chemical reactions, as exemplified by the isomerization reaction HNC?HCN. The computation results account for important bonding features about this isomerization at the ab initio level and explore the mechanism of phenomena such as (i) HCN is more stable than HNC; (ii) the C-N bond first lengthens and then shortens in the vicinity of the transition state; (iii) only H-atom migration is observed in the isomerization process, without the breaking of the CN bond. Our results demonstrate that only a few bonded tableau functions are sufficient enough to provide a visual and reliable bonding picture.
Thiophene adsorption on the Rh（111） surfaces has been investigated by density functional theory.The results show that the adsorption at the hollow and bridge sites is the most stable.The molecular plane of the thiophene ring is distorted,the C=C bond is stretched to 1.448 and the C–C bond is shortened to 1.390.The C–H bonds tilt 22～42oaway from the surface.The calculated adsorption geometries are in reasonable agreement with population analysis and density of states.The thiophene molecule obtains 0.74 electrons, reflecting the interaction between the lone pair of sulfur and the d-orbitals of metal. The reaction paths and transition states for desulfurization of the molecule have been investigated. The bridge adsorption structure of thiophene leads to a thiol via an activated reaction with an energetic barrier of 0.30 eV. This second step is slightly difficult, and dissociation into a C4H4 fragment and a sulfur atom is possible, with an energetic barrier of 0.40 eV.
Adsorption behaviors of 2-bromothiophene on the Rh（111） surface were discussed with DFT. The results revealed that adsorption at the parallel hol site and bridge site was the most stable. After adsorption, bond length of 2-bromothiophene changed significantly. Molecular plane was distorted, and C-H （Br, S） in the molecule was oblique and upswept against the metal surface. Vertical adsorption site was less stable than the plane adsorption site, but there was no distortion for the thiophene ring after adsorption. Aromaticity of 2-bromothiophene was destroyed at the hol and bridge adsorption sites, and the carbon atom in the thiophene ring presented quasi-sp3 hybfidizaton. After adsorption at the parallel hol, 2-bromothiophene obtained 0.86 electrons in total, and Rh（111） surface lost 2.08 electrons in all.
