Ab initio molecular orbital theory has been successful in predicting the stabilities of many weak complexes; typical of these are the complexes formed between water and various small molecules. To account for the correlation effect, Moller-Plesset perturbation theory truncated at the second order level was employed. In order to account for the hydrogen bonding, the 6-3lG** basis set was used. The geometry optimisations of the complexes were carried out using the Gaussian-92 suite of programs installed on a Hewlett-Packard 720 computer operating under UNIX. The interaction energies of the complexes were subjected to further analysis by applying the Morokuma decomposition scheme. The electrostatic interaction component accounts for over 40% of the total stabilisation energy in all the typical hydrogen bonded complexes. Gas phase enthalpies were computed and compared with the experimental values of similar systems. For the systems studied here, the prediction is that all complexes are stable at 25° C. A second program, Vibra, was used for carrying out a normal coordinate analysis. A third computer program for the graphical representation of molecular and crystallographic models, Schakal-92, was employed to illustrate the predicted equilibrium geometries and the fundamental vibrational modes. The predicted geometries, interaction energies, charge redistributions, vibrational wave numbers, infrared intensities and force constants are listed and compared with those in the literature, where applicable. Correlations between the various predicted properties show some interesting chemistry.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1996.