Intersystem Crossing Control of the Nb⁺ + CO₂ → NbO⁺ + CO Reaction

The transfer of an oxygen atom from carbon dioxide (CO₂) to a transition metal cation in the gas phase offers atomic level insights into single-atom catalysis for CO₂ activation. Given that these reactions often involve open-shell transition metals, they may proceed through intersystem crossing between different spin manifolds. However, a definitive understanding of such spin-forbidden reaction requires dynamical calculations on multiple global potential energy surfaces (PESs) coupled by spin-orbit couplings. In this work, we report global PESs and spin-orbit couplings for three low-lying spin (quintet, triplet, and singlet) states for the reaction between the niobium cation (Nb⁺) and CO₂, which are used to investigate the nonadiabatic reaction dynamics and kinetics. Comparison with experimental data of kinetics and collision dynamics shows satisfactory agreement. This reaction is found to be very similar to that between Ta⁺ + CO₂. Specifically, our theoretical findings suggest that the rate-limiting step in this reaction is intersystem crossing, rather than potential barriers.