Potential energy surfaces of LaH+ and LaH+2

Using the complete active space multiconfiguration self-consistent field (CAS-MCSCF) followed by full second-order configuration interaction (SOCI) calculations, 16 electronic states of LaH+ and 8 electronic states of LaH+2 are investigated. The potential energy surface of these electronic states of LaH+2 and LaH+ are computed. These calculations show that the 3F(5d2) ground state of La+ ion forms a weak complex with H2. The La+(1D) excited state inserts into H2 with a small barrier (<8 kcal/mol) to form the 1A1 ground state of LaH+2 (re=2.057 Å, θe=106°). At the SOCI level of theory LaH+2 is found to be 11 kcal/mol more stable than La+(3F)+H2. Our calculations explain the experimental observations on La++H2→LaH++H reaction. The adiabatic ionization potential (IP) of LaH2 and LaH are calculated as 5.23 and 5.33 eV, respectively. The ground state of LaH+ was found to be a 2Δ state. We compute De(LaH+) and De(HLa–H+) as 2.54 eV in excellent agreement with the experimental De(LaH+)=2.57 eV measured by Armentrout and co-workers. The spin–orbit effects of LaH+ were also studied using the relativistic configuration interaction (RCI) method.