Hidden aspects of the Structural Theory of chemistry: The MC-QTAIM analysis reveals "alchemical" transformation from a triatomic to a diatomic structure
The Structural theory of chemistry introduces chemical/molecular structure as a combination of relative arrangement and bonding patterns of atoms in molecule. Nowadays, the structure of atoms in molecules is derived from the topological analysis of the quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM). In this context a molecular structure is varied by large geometrical variations and concomitant reorganization of electronic structure that are usually taking place in chemical reactions or under extreme hydrostatic pressure. In this report a new mode of structural variation is introduced within the context of the newly proposed multi-component QTAIM (MC-QTAIM) that originates from mass variation of nuclei. Accordingly, XCN and CNX series of species are introduced where X stands for a quantum particle with a unit of positive charge and a variable mass that is varied in discrete steps between the masses of proton and positron. Ab initio non-Born-Oppenheimer (non-BO) calculations are done on both series of species and the resulting non-BO wavefunctions are used for the MC-QTAIM analysis revealing a triatomic structure for the proton mass and a diatomic structure for the positron mass. In bo