The acidity at the external surface of protonic zeolites, because of the finite size of crystallites, has been questioned strongly for decades. We used density functional theory (DFT) calculations to propose atomistic models for the external surface of zeolite Beta, which show that bridging Si−(OH)−Al groups still exist at the pore mouth in what we call open micropores (pores that emerge at the external surface). However, at the outermost surface (no emerging micropores), water molecules adsorbed on Al atoms [Al−(H2O)] prevail. The local structure of those surface Al atoms depends on the temperature and water partial pressure. A detailed vibrational study of adsorbed CO helps in the assignment of the different sites and reveals a generalized vibrational Stark effect. Proton‐transfer ability was quantified by the adsorption of isobutene. Carbenium ions appear to be stabilized on the bridging Si−(OH)−Al groups located on the open micropores of the external surface in a similar way as in the bulk of zeolite Beta. By contrast, the outermost surface is not able to stabilize carbenium ions and promotes the existence of alkoxides. This work brings new atomic‐scale insights into the concept of pore‐mouth catalysis and provides the molecular architecture of potential active sites located in open micropores.

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Adding a nonlocal operator to the true Hamiltonian is used to define an Ž . adiabatic coupling between a noninteracting e.g., Kohn᎐Sham reference system and the real one. By using the Hellmann᎐Feynman theorem, it is shown that when the operator Ž . added is shifting upward the virtual noninteracting levels the correlation energy is related to the number of electrons displaced into the virtual levels. To construct approximations, calculations were performed for the uniform electron gas. The expectation that atomic systems would behave locally like a uniform electron gas with the unoccupied levels shifted up by a constant close to the atomic excitation energies is not confirmed by exploratory calculations on atoms. Some perturbation theory expressions are also given and suggest an approach to self-interaction free-correlation energy functionals.

The skeletal isomerization of alkenes catalyzed by zeolites involves secondary and tertiary carbenium ions for which respective reactivity cannot be easily assessed by standard theoretical approaches. Thanks to ab initio molecular dynamics, starting from 4-methyl-hex-1-ene (a monobranched C7 alkene), we identify and compare two mechanistic routes for skeletal isomerization: (i) a type B isomerization transforming a secondary carbenium into a tertiary carbenium (conventional route), and (ii) a two-step route involving an intramolecular 1,3 hydride-shift producing a tertiary carbenium, followed by a type B isomerization between two tertiary carbenium ions. We find that, in the case of the secondary cation, the relevant species from a kinetic point of view is the corresponding π-complex. The transition states found for type B isomerization reactions are edge-protonated cyclopropanes (edge-PCP) that exhibit similar stabilities and structures. The transition state for the 1,3-hydride shift is an edge-type PCP with one elongated C–C bond that is more stable than the one found for type B isomerization. From this analysis, we deduce relevant kinetic constants and quantify the respective contribution of both pathways to the global reaction rate. Although the secondary carbenium ions are poorly stable species, we show that they can hold a significant part of the reaction flux. Finally, we discuss, in detail, our kinetic and mechanistic insights with previous kinetic modeling data reported in the literature.