Data for the adsorption properties of dimethyl oxalate and ethanol on the MoO3(010) and MoO2(011) surfaces

This dataset provides the computational data supporting the manuscript entitled "Molybdenum Oxidation State Governs Brønsted–Lewis Acid Synergy in Dimethyl Oxalate Transesterification" by Li et al., providing all computational data underlying the reported adsorption behaviors on MoO₃(010) and MoO₂(011) surfaces. It includes optimized bulk and surface structures, representative CP2K input/output files, and post-processed electron density data, enabling reproducibility of the adsorption energies and electron density difference maps for dimethyl oxalate (DMO) and ethanol. The calculations reveal that DMO adsorbs more strongly on MoO₃(010) (−0.9 eV) than on MoO₂(011) (−0.7 eV), reflecting more facile Lewis acid activation by the Mo⁶⁺-dominated surface. Electron density accumulates between the surface Mo and the carbonyl O atom, while the carbonyl C loses density, indicating polarization of the molecule upon adsorption. Ethanol adsorption shows even more pronounced differences: on MoO₃(010), it interacts either with a surface Lewis acidic Mo atom or a Brønsted acidic Mo–OH site, both configurations exhibiting similar adsorption energies of approximately −1.1 eV. Adsorption on the Lewis acid site induces electron accumulation at the Mo–O bond and activation of the hydroxyl H, whereas adsorption on the Brønsted acid site increases the overall electronegativity of ethanol, enhancing its nucleophilicity. In contrast, ethanol binds weakly (−0.1 eV) to MoO₂(011) via a hydrogen bond with a surface O atom, with negligible interaction with Mo sites. All data are organized in a comprehensive folder structure covering bulk crystal models, isolated molecules, surface optimizations, and adsorption energy evaluations, with hydroxylated and non-hydroxylated MoO₃ surfaces included. Computational settings employ CP2K (GPW) with PBEsol for structural optimizations and BEEF-vdW for energy calculations, along with specified basis sets, k-point sampling, and slab models. The dataset enables verification of all figures and tables in the manuscript and facilitates detailed analysis of Brønsted–Lewis acid synergy in MoO_x-catalyzed transesterification.