Benchmarking Plane Waves Quantum Mechanical Calculations of Iron(II) Tris(2,2′-bipyridine) Complex by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy

In this work, we used, for the first time, a computational Self-Consistent Field procedure based on plane waves to describe the low and high spin conformational states of the complex [Fe(bpy)(3)](2+) The results obtained in the study of the minimum energy structures of this complex, a prototype of a wide class of compounds called Spin Cross Over, show how the plane wave calculations are in line with the most recent studies based on gaussian basis set functions and, above all, reproduce within acceptable errors the experimental spectra of X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy (XANES). This preliminary study shows the capabilities of plane wave methods to correctly describe the molecular structures of metal-organic complexes of this type and paves the way for future even complex computational simulations based on the energy gradient, such as Nudge Elastic Band or ab-initio Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics.