Equilibrium structure and torsional barrier of BH3NH3

Born-Oppenheimer equilibrium structures, r(e)(BO), of the electronic ground state of the borazane (BH3NH3) molecule of C-3 nu point-group symmetry are computed ab initio using the CCSD(T) method with basis sets up to quintuple-zeta quality. Inclusion of the counterpoise correction and extrapolation of the structural parameters to the complete basis set limit yield a best estimate of r(e)(BO) of BH3NH3. The anharmonic force field of BH3NH3, computed at, the CCSD(T) level of theory with a basis set of triple-zeta quality, allows the determination of semi-experimental equilibrium rotational constants, which in turn result in a semi-experimental equilibrium structure, r(e)(SE). The r(e)(BO) and r(e)(SE) structures are in excellent agreement, indicating the validity of the methods used for their determination. The empirical mass-dependent structure, r(m)((1)), of BH3NH3 is also determined. Although it is inferior in quality to the previous two structures, it is much more accurate than the standard empirical r(0) and r(s) structures reported earlier for BH3NH3. The semi-experimental r(e)(SE) as well as the empirical r(m)((1)) structures determined are based on experimental ground-state rotational constants available from the literature for nine isotopologues of borazane. The effective barrier to the internal rotation of BH3NH3, a molecule isoelectronic with CH3CH3, has been computed ab initio, employing the focal-point analysis (FPA) approach, to be 699 +/- 11 cm(-1). This compares favorably with an empirical redetermination of the effective barrier based on the above r(e)(SE) structure, V-3 = 718(17) cm(-1).