Orbital Interactions in BeC$_2$H$_2$ and LiC$_2$H$_2$ Complexes

Ab initio calculations are carried out at the 6-311G$^{**}$ level for the $C_{2v}$ interactions of Be and Li atoms with acetylene molecule. The main contribution to the deep minima on the $^3B_2\;BeC_2H_2\;and\;^2B_2 LiC_2H_2$ potential energy curves is the b_2\;(2p(3b_2)-l{\pi}_g^*(4b_2))$ interaction, the $a_1\;(2s(6a_1)-I{\pi}_u(5a_1))$ interaction playing a relatively minor role. The exo deflection of the C-H bonds is basically favored, as in the $b_2$ interaction, due to steric crowding between the metal and H atoms, but the strong in-phase orbital interaction, or mixing, of the $a_1$ symmetry hydrogen orbital with the $5a'_1,\;6a'_1,\;and\;7a'_1$ orbitals can cause a small endo deflection in the repulsive complexes. The Be complex is more stable than the Li complex due to the double occupancy of the 2s orbital in Be. The stability and structure of the $MC_2H_2$ complexes are in general determined by the occupancy of the singly occupied frontier orbitals.