Benchmark ab initio thermochemistry of the isomers of diimide, N₂H₂, using accurate computed structures and anharmonic force fields

A benchmark ab initio study on the thermochemistry of the trans-HNNH, cis-HNNH, and H$_2$NN isomers of diazene has been carried out using the CCSD(T) coupled cluster method, basis sets as large as $[7s6p5d4f3g2h/5s4p3d2f1g]$, and extrapolations towards the 1-particle basis set limit. The effects on inner-shell correlation and of anharmonicity in the zero-point energy were taken into account: accurate geometries and anharmonic force fields were thus obtained as by-products. Our best computed $\Delta H^\circ_{f,0}$ for trans-HNNH, 49.2 \pm 0.3 kcal/mol, is in very good agreement with a recent experimental lower limit of 48.8 \pm 0.5 kcal/mol. CCSD(T) basis set limit values for the isomerization energies at 0 K are 5.2 \pm 0.2 kcal/mol (cis-trans) and 24.1 \pm 0.2 kcal/mol (iso-trans). Our best computed geometry for trans-HNNH, $r_e$(NN)=1.2468 \AA, $r_e$(NH)=1.0283 \AA, and $\theta_e$=106.17$^\circ$, reproduces the precisely known ground-state rotational constants of trans-HNNH to within better than 0.1 %. The rotation-vibration spectra of both cis-HNNH and H$_2$NN are dominated by very strong Coriolis and Fermi resonances. In addition, the NH stretches in H$_2$NN are so strongly anharmonic that vibrational perturbation theory breaks down, and the molecule appears to be an excellent test case for variational treatments of the vibrational Schr\"odinger equation.