Predicted high-energy molecules: helical all-nitrogen and helical nitrogen-rich ring clusters

Helical all-nitrogen and nitrogen-rich ring clusters, new types of potential high-energy molecules, were investigated in the computational study reported here. Stable helical all-nitrogen clusters N26 and N46 and nitrogen-rich helical structure N26H16 formed by fused six-membered rings were found and characterized as proper energy minima by having real frequencies for all eigenvectors of the Hessian matrix. Furthermore, the stability of [6] N-ring helix was studied by calculating the barrier of dissociation reaction. The potential of these type molecules as high-energy density materials was studied. For a better intuitive understanding of the unusual bonding patterns, the molecular isodensity contour (MIDCO) surfaces for [6] N-ring helix and [6] N-helicene were compared at some characteristic density threshold values of 0.20, 0.32, and 0.35 au. As indicated at these threshold values of the isodensity surfaces, the bonds of all-nitrogen clusters appear stronger than those of nitrogen-rich clusters. Apparently, the nitrogen-rich clusters are of higher energy than the all-nitrogen structures, especially if one takes into account the energy balance of bonds involving hydrogen.