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Bond breaking and bond making in tetraoxygen: analysis of the O2(X3Sigma(g)-) + O2(X3Sigma(g)-) <==> O4 reaction using the electron pair localization function.

We study the nature of the electron pairing at the most important critical points of the singlet potential energy surface of the 2O2 <==> O4 reaction and its evolution along the reaction coordinate using the electron pair localization function (EPLF) [Scemama, A.; Chaquin, P.; Caffarel, M. J. Chem. Phys. 2004, 121, 1725]. To do that, the 3D topology of the EPLF calculated with quantum Monte Carlo (at both variational and fixed-node-diffusion Monte Carlo levels) using Hartree-Fock, multiconfigurational CASSCF, and explicitly correlated trial wave functions is analyzed. At the O4 equilibrium geometry the EPLF analysis reveals four equivalent covalent bonds and two lone pairs on each oxygen atom. Along the reaction path toward dissociation it is found that the two oxygen-oxygen bonds are not broken simultaneously but sequentially, and then the lone pairs are rearranged. In a more general perspective, the usefulness of the EPLF as a unique tool to analyze the topology of electron pairing in nontrivial chemical bonding situations as well as to visualize the major steps involved in chemical reactivity is emphasized. In contrast with most standard schemes to reveal electron localization (atoms in molecules, electron localization function, natural bond orbital, etc.), the newly introduced EPLF function gives a direct access to electron pairings in molecules.