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Density Functional Study of Molecular Orbitals of Cobaltocene and Nickelocene Molecules

Tesfalem Belay Woldeamanuale

The electronic structure and geometry optimization of cobaltocene and nickelocene molecules are calculated using DFT/B3LYP with the basis set of 6-31G (d).The Eigen values, Eigen vector and population analysis of the molecules show that the first 12 molecular orbitals in cobaltocene and 14 in nickelocene have contribution from 2pz orbitals of carbon of (C5H5)- and 4s, 4p and 3d orbitals of cobalt and nickel respectively. We found that the extent of involvement of metal orbitals in the two cases is different. In cobaltocene the maximum involvement out of 4s and 4p orbital is in the order 4s>4pz>4py>4px and in 3d orbitals the order is 3dyz>3dxy>3dxz>3d2z>3dx2-y2. The involvement of corresponding orbital in nickelocene with respect to the 4s and 4p orbitals is in the order of 4py>4px>4s>4pz and in 3d orbitals the order is 3dyz>3dx2-y2>3dxy>3dxz>3dz2 molecules. The total involvement of 3d, 4s and 4p orbitals of metal and 2pz orbitals of the ten carbon atoms of both ligands of (C5H5)- in cobaltocene and nickelocene respectively are 40.2388 and 38.3776 hence we can conclude that cobaltocene is more stable than nickelocene. Similar results are found from calculation of parameters like dipole moment, HOMO-LUMO gap and Mullikan charge distribution. The population analysis shows that only 2pz orbitals of carbon of (C5H5)- and 3d orbitals of metal provide electrons to MOs of cobaltocene and nickelocene.