Magnetic Properties of Ni2+(aq) from First Principles

The aqueous solution of the Ni2+ ion was investigated using a first principles molecular dynamics (FPMD) simulation based on periodic density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. Statistical averages of the magnetic properties corresponding to the triplet spin state of the ion, the hyperfine coupling, g and zero-field splitting tensors, as well as the resulting paramagnetic nuclear magnetic resonance (pNMR) shielding terms were calculated using DFT from instantaneous simulation snapshots extracted from the FPMD trajectory. We report comprehensive tests of the reliability of systematically selected DFT functionals for the properties. The isotropic nuclear shielding of the O-17 nuclei can be obtained with good predictive power. The accuracy of the calculated H-1 shieldings is limited by the fact that the spin-density on the proton sites is not reproduced reliably with the tested functionals, rendering the dominant Fermi contact isotropic shielding term less well-defined. On the other hand, the dominant spin-dipole term of the shielding anisotropy, which gives a practically vanishing isotropic contribution, can be obtained with good reliability for both the H-1 and O-17 nuclei. The anisotropic shielding tensor can be thus utilized reliably in the calculation of Curie-type paramagnetic relaxation. We discuss the evolution of the pNMR properties through the first and second solvation shells of the ion, toward the bulk solvent. The magnetic properties of the dominant, six-coordinated solution are compared to those of the metastable, 5-fold coordinated intermediate occurring in the dissociative exchange process.