Out of several plausible isomeric structures of the toluene–ICl charge transfer (CT) complex, the most feasible one was determined by a detailed ab initio and DFT study at the HF, B3LYP, and mPW1PW91 levels using 6-31++G(d, p) basis set. Potential energy surface scans were performed with six possible structures ( I and Cl facing the o-, m-, and p-carbon atoms of toluene separately); the structures at the local minima of the surfaces were subjected to frequency calculation and the ones having no negative frequency were accepted as the real structure in the ground state. These structures were then subjected to full optimization. It was observed that the I – Cl bond, with its I atom oriented toward the aromatic ring, stands vertically above a C -atom at the ortho or para positions, being inclined at about 9° to the line perpendicular to the aromatic ring. Complexation increases the I – Cl bond length. After correction for basis set superposition error through a counterpoise calculation, we conclude from the binding energy that the preferred structure is the one with ICl above the ortho C atom. The calculated binding energy closely matches the experimental free energy of complexation. The electronic CT transition energy (hν CT ) with this structure in the ground state was calculated in vacuo by the restricted configuration interaction singlets method and in carbontetrachloride medium by the time dependent density functional theory method under the polarizable continuum model. The value of hν CT obtained from the ground-to-excited state transition electric dipole moments of the complex, is close to (somewhat underestimated) the reported experimental value.
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