Tunnelling splittings in the high resolution microwave and UV spectra of the benzonitrile—water complex: modelling the internal motion in its S0 and S1 states

Refined values of the barriers to internal motion in the 1:1 complex between benzonitrile and water in the gas phase have been determined from analyses of its fully resolved microwave and ultraviolet spectra. Both spectra exhibit tunnelling splittings associated with this motion. Modelling this behaviour using a semi-rigid Hamiltonian for an internal rotation of water around its C ₂ axis yields values of V ₂ = 440 ± 30 cm^?1 and 450 ± 30 cm^?1 in the ground and excited electronic states, respectively. These relatively high barriers are a consequence of two hydrogen bonds between the interacting species.     

Rotational constants of malonaldehyde and isotopic species derived from ab initio results

A quantum mechanical treatment based on ab initio results for the 21-dimensional potential energy surface of malonaldehyde is extended to yield the rotational constants of the lowest two states of the hydrogen transfer motion. The approximate separation of rotation from internal motion by an Eckart type transformation allows one to use a restricted basis set involving not more than one quantum of excitation for the 20 small vibrations. The results agree with experiment on the apparent structural effects of tunnelling excitation and their dependence on isotopic substitution. In the case of asymmetrically substituted species, the extent of localization confirms qualitative estimates from observation. The second moments derived from the rotational constants indicate that the molecular extension is underestimated in the O···O direction and overestimated perpendicular to this direction within the molecular plane. The agreement with experiment is shown to improve significantly by correcting the equilibrium geometry but only marginally by varying further properties of the minimum energy path.     

The internal coordinate path Hamiltonian; application to methanol and malonaldehyde

The internal coordinate path Hamiltonian is introduced for the study of the vibrations of molecules which have one large amplitude motion. The Hamiltonian is represented in terms of a one path coordinate and 3N—7 normal coordinates. The variational method is used to solve the Schrödinger equation. The molecules studied are methanol and malonaldehyde. For methanol the internal coordinate is a dihedral angle, for malonaldehyde it is the difference in the distances between the migrating hydrogen and the neighbouring oxygen atoms. For methanol there is little coupling between the path and the normal coordinates and so no complications were encountered in the calculations which used harmonic surfaces generated by density functional and M?ller—Plesset theory. Fundamental frequencies were predicted. Malonaldehyde is a different story. There is substantial coupling between the path coordinate and several of the normal coordinates. This introduces many complications: an anharmonic surface is essential and large variational configuration interaction calculations are essential for convergence. Furthermore, because the Coriolis terms require the evaluation of derivatives of both the nuclear coordinates and the normal coordinate eigenvectors along the path, great care must be taken with these numerical procedures. B3LYP predicts too low a transition state which overemphasizes the large Coriolis terms near the transition state. This may be one of the reasons why our fundamental vibrations are in poor agreement with observation. It is most encouraging that the tunnelling splitting is 58 cm^?1 (obs. 21.56 cm^?1), obtained with our quartic density functional surface.     

Rate coefficients and kinetic isotope effects of the abstraction reaction of H atoms from methylsilane

ABSTRACT

Thermal rate constants for chemical reactions using improved canonical variational transition state theory (ICVT) with small-curvature tunnelling (SCT) contributions in a temperature range 180–2000 K are reported. The general procedure is used with high-quality ab initio computations and semi-classical reaction probabilities along the minimum energy path (MEP). The approach is based on a vibrational adiabatic reaction path and is applied to the multiple-channel hydrogen abstraction reaction H + SiH₃CH₃ → products and its isotopically substituted variants. All the degrees of freedom are optimised and harmonic vibrational frequencies and zero-point energies are calculated at the MP2 level with the cc-pVTZ basis set. Single-point energies are calculated at a higher level of theory; CCSD(T)-F12a/VTZ-F12. ICVT/SCT rate constants show that the quantum tunnelling contributions at low temperatures are relatively important and the H-abstraction channel from SiH₃ group of SiH₃CH₃ is the major pathway. The total rate constants are given by the following expression: k_tot(ICVT/SCT) = 2.29 10^?18 T^2.42 exp(?350.9/T) cm³ molec^?1 s^?1. These calculated rates are in agreement with the available experiments. The ICVT/SCT method is further exploited to predict primary and secondary kinetic isotope effects, respectively).     

The integrated number of vibrational states in acetylene (12C2H2, 13C2H2, 12C2D2)

A calculated exhaustive set of vibrational state energies in ¹²C₂H₂, ¹³C₂H₂ and ¹²C₂D₂ has been used to analyse the evolution of the integrated number of states with increasing vibrational energy N(E) up to 15000 cm^?1, 12000cm^?1 and 10000 cm^?1 in each isotopomer, respectively. The regular contribution to N(E) was modelled analytically and numerical parameters were fitted. The other expected contribution to N(E), which is of oscillatory nature, was quantified and is discussed using energyand time-dependent theories. Related periods of oscillation and temporal recurrences are interpreted consistently in terms of the constant of the motion N_r = 5v₂ + 3v₂ + 5v₃ + v₄ + v₅ and of an average vibrational quantum. More pragmatically, the vibrational dynamics appear to be dominated by the bending vibrations, i.e., by the slowest oscillators.     

Microwave spectrum,dipole moment,and structure of 3-aminopropanol

The microwave spectra of 3-aminopropanol and three of its deuterium substituted isotopic species have been investigated in the 26.5 to 40 GHz frequency region. The rotational spectrum of only one conformer has been assigned in which presumably a hydrogen bond of the OH---N type exists. The rotational spectra of a number of excited vibrational states have been observed and assignments made for some of these excited states. The average intensity ratio for the rotational transitions between the ground and excited vibrational states indicates that the first excited state is about 120 cm^?1 above the ground state.and the next higher state is roughly 200 cm^?1 above the ground vibrational state. The dipole moment was determined from the Stark effect measurements to be 3.13 ± 0.04 D with its principal axes components as |μ_a| = 2.88 ± 0.03 D, |μ_b| = 1.23 ± 0.04 D and |μ_c| = 0.06 ± 0.01 D. The possibility of another conformer where the hydrogen bond could be of NH---O type was explored, but the spectra of such a conformer could not be identified.     

Absorption spectrum of H<Stack><Subscript>3</Subscript><Superscript>+</Superscript></Stack> near 1.06 μm

The absorption spectra of molecular hydrogen plasma excited by electric hollow-cathode and high-frequency discharges are measured. The spectra in the region of 1.06 μm were recorded using a neodymium intracavity laser spectrometer with a resolution of 0.03 cm^?1 and an absorption sensitivity of 10^?8 cm^?1. The absorption lines that can be attributed to the transitions to vibrational states in the molecule are recorded.     

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic Investigation of the Binary and Ternary Cyanide Adducts of the Oxidized Horseradish Peroxidase: Identification of a Second Stretching Mode for the Carbon-Nitrogen Bond of the Bound Cyanide Ion

The binary and ternary cyanide adducts of the ferric horseradish peroxidase were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The carbon-nitrogen bond of the bound cyanide ion in the binary ferric cyanohorseradish peroxidase exhibits two stretching vibrations at 2130 cm^?1 and 2127 cm^?1 with the latter mode being observed in this work for the first time. This finding supports the results of the resonance Raman study of cyanohorseradish peroxidase, which identified two iron-carbon-nitrogen bending vibrations and two iron-carbon stretching vibrations, proving the existence of two conformational states. The identification of the latter carbon-nitrogen stretching frequency allowed the assignment of all of the vibrational modes of the iron-carbon-nitrogen groups of the two conformational states of the ferric cyanohorseradish peroxidase. The first conformer is characterized by a carbon-nitrogen stretch at 2130 cm^?1, an iron-carbon stretch at 453 cm^?1, and an iron-carbon-nitrogen bending mode at 405 cm^?1. The second state has a carbon-nitrogen stretch at 2127 cm^?1, an iron-carbon stretch at 360 cm^?1, and an iron-carbon-nitrogen bending mode at 422 cm^?1. The iron-carbon stretching band is weakly sensitive to pH changes, but it is sensitive to H₂O/D₂O substitution, indicating that the bound cyanide ion in cyanohorseradish peroxidase is hydrogen bonded to the surrounding protein. The two states were attributed to variation in the extent of hydrogen bonding of the iron-carbon-nitrogen groups in the two states. The carbon-nitrogen stretching vibrations of the ternary complexes of cyanohorseradish peroxidase with ferulic acid, benzamide, and benzhydroxamic acid have been investigated for the first time. The binding of the substrate to cyanohorseradish peroxidase does not always lead to the vanishing of one of the conformational states as in the carbon monoxide adducts of the ferrous horseradish peroxidase, but can cause shifts in the νC-N frequency and in the relative population of both conformational states.     

Correspondences of the vibrational frequencies of the ground and electronic excited states of quinoxaline as revealed by the Raman intensities

The intensities of the Raman lines of quinoxaline were measured at different excitation wavelengths. The matrix element ratios of the vibronic couplings between the two lowest electronic excited states of the molecule were evaluated from the Raman intensities of the b₁ vibrations, and they were compared with the matrix element ratios obtained from the vibrational frequencies of the ground and electronic excited states of the molecule. It was suggested that the ground state frequency of the b₁ vibration at 867 cm^?1 decreases greatly to 425 cm^?1 in the lowest $\text{nπ}{}^1$ excited state.     

Submillimeter wave spectrum and molecular constants of N2O

The submillimeter wave spectrum of the N₂O molecule has been investigated within the 375–565 GHz frequency range with a sensitivity better than 10^?8 cm^?1. The measured frequencies include 161 lines with intensities γ ? 10^?6 cm^?1 belonging to 22 spectroscopically different species of the molecule (specifically, the ground and some excited vibrational states of the five most abundant isotopic species of the molecule in natural abundance) with a statisticall and systematic error of the order of magnitude 10^?8. Rotational and two centrifugal stretching constants could be determined for each spectroscopic species. For each isotopic species observed, we have made a general analysis of the spectrum in different vibrational states bearing in mind resonance effects. The total number of the rotational and rovibrational constants obtained exceeds 40.     

Vibrationally unrelaxed fluorescence in matrix isolated CF2

The CF₂ emission spectrum in rare gas solids involves both the symmetric vibrations, ν₂ (668 cm^?1) and ν₁ (1120 cm^?1). A vibrationally unrelaxed emission is observed following selective excitation of the higher vibrational levels in the ν₂ manifold, and we measure vibrational relaxation rates of 2 × 10⁸/sec and 1.1 × 10⁸/sec, respectively, for the 2-1 and 1-0 relaxation in argon. All the vibrational bands show a strong coupling to the lattice modes, with a weak ZPL and strong phonon wing. This results from the change in geometry between the ground and excited electronic states.     

Complete characterization of the water dimer vibrational ground state and testing the VRT(ASP-W)III,SAPT-5st,and VRT(MCY-5f) surfaces

We report the observation of extensive a- and c-type rotation-tunnelling (RT) spectra of (H₂O)₂ for K_a = 0–3, and (D₂O)₂ for K_a = 0–4. These data allow a detailed characterization of the vibrational ground state to energies comparable to those of the low-lying (70–80 cm^?1) intermolecular vibrations. We present a comparison of the experimentally determined molecular constants and tunnelling splittings with those calculated on the VRT(ASP-W)III, SAPT-5st, and VRT(MCY-5f) intermolecular potential energy surfaces. The SAPT-5st potential reproduces the vibrational ground state properties of the water dimer very well. The VRT(MCY-5f) and especially the VRT(ASP-W)III potentials show larger disagreements, in particular for the bifurcation tunnelling splitting.     

Unravelling overlaps and torsion-facilitated coupling using two-dimensional laser-induced fluorescence

Two-dimensional laser-induced fluorescence (2D-LIF) spectroscopy is employed to identify contributions to fluorescence excitation spectra that arise from both overlapping bands and coupling between zero-order states (ZOSs). Evidence is found for the role of torsional motion in facilitating the coupling between vibrations that particularly involves the lowest-wavenumber out-of-plane vibrational modes. The experiments are carried out on jet-cooled p-fluorotoluene, where the molecules are initially in the lowest two torsional levels. Here we concentrate on the 390–420?cm^?1 features in the S₁?←?S₀ excitation spectrum, assigning the features seen in the 2D-LIF spectrum, aided by separate dispersed fluorescence spectra. The 2D-LIF spectra allow the overlapping contributions to be cleanly separated, including some that arise from vibrational-torsional coupling. Various coupling routes open up because of the different symmetries of the lowest two torsional modes; these combine with the vibrational symmetry to provide new symmetry-allowed vibration-torsion (‘vibtor’) interactions, and the role of the excited m?=?1 torsional level is found to be significant.     

Torsional tunneling splittings in the v4 = 1 excited torsional state of Si2H6: analysis of hot bands accompanying fundamental transitions in the high resolution infrared spectrum

The (ν₄?+?ν₆)???ν₄, (ν₄?+?ν₈)???ν₄ and (ν₄?+?ν₉)???ν₄ hot infrared systems of disilane (Si₂H₆) have been analysed at high resolution, and the values of the relative vibration–rotation–torsion parameters have been determined. The torsional splitting is about 0.500?cm^?1 in the ν₄ and ν₄?+?ν₆ states, and decreases strongly in the vibrationally degenerate upper states ν₄?+?ν₈ (about 0.0272?cm^?1 on average) and ν₄?+?ν₉ (about 0.3019?cm^?1), consistent with theoretical predictions. Comparison between the vibrational wavenumbers of cold transitions and hot transitions originating in the excited torsional state v₄?=?1 allows one to determine the change of the fundamental torsional frequency ν₄ caused by the excitation of small amplitude vibrations. A remarkable increase in ν₄ of about 8.599?cm^?1 is found in the v₉?=?1 state (E_1d SiH₃-rocking mode, asymmetric to inversion in the staggered geometry), and this corresponds to an increase in the torsional barrier height in this excited fundamental vibrational state by about 48.77?cm^?1. The mechanism responsible for the decrease of the torsional splittings in the degenerate vibrational states is briefly outlined by means of second-order perturbation theory, using torsion-hindered vibrational basis functions of E_1d and E_2d symmetries for the degenerate modes.     

Das Schwingungsspektrum des monoklinen CaSO4·2H2O

The relations between the imaginary part of the optical dielectric tensor in molecular crystals and transitions active in absorption, derived in a preceding paper [1], are experimentally verified by investigating the vibrational spectrum of monoclinic crystals of gypsum. Reflection spectra of precisely oriented crystal sections were recorded using polarized light between 10 000 cm^?1 and 300 cm^?1 at room temperature and at about 15°K. The eigenfrequencies of polar vibrations and the direction and magnitude of transition moments in the crystal are derived from these spectra. These results definitely support the assumption, that the bands observed between 500 cm^?1 and 300 cm^?1 are caused by hindered rotations of the water molecules. The temperature dependence of the spectra of these molecules in the region of the two stretching modes indicates mixing of these states as a result of the crystalline field. Besides this, mechanisms are discussed, which lead to the decay of excited vibrational modes and thus give rise to the observed temperature dependence of the bandwidths.     

Microwave and low-frequency vibrational spectra of bullvalene

The microwave spectrum of bullvalene has been investigated in the region 18–40 GHz. In addition to transitions in the ground vibrational state, transitions arising from five excited vibrational states below 600 cm⁻¹ have also been observed. A combination of microwave intensity measurements and infrared and Raman data has been utilized to assign these vibrations. Three of the vibrations are E-type modes at 241, 355, and 588 cm⁻¹. One is an A₁-type mode at 445 cm⁻¹, and another is an A₂-type at 266 cm⁻¹. The microwave spectrum indicates the presence of a first-order Coriolis interaction for the E modes at 241 and 588 cm⁻¹. The first-order Coriolis coupling constant q = 0.557 MHz for the 241 cm⁻¹ vibration. The spectral results are consistent with C_3v symmetry for bullvalene.     

Theoretical study of rearrangements in water dimer and trimer

The global minimum and transition states for the acceptor-tunnelling, donor-acceptor interchange and bifurcation tunnelling rearrangements of the water dimer, and the single-flip, bifurcation and concerted proton transfer processes in the water trimer have been reinvestigated. Our analysis of the tunnelling splittings and spectroscopy is based on ab initio calculations at the computational level of second-order M?ller-Plesset (MP2) theory with basis sets of aug-cc-pVXZ quality (X = D, T, Q for the dimer; X = D, T for the trimer). In both water dimer and trimer, the binding energy, barrier heights, intermonomer distances, and harmonic frequencies converge smoothly as the size of the basis set increases. In the water dimer, the binding energy was evaluated as 5.09kcal mol^?1, while the activation energies are 0.52 (acceptor-tunnelling) 0.79 (donor-acceptor interchange), and 1.94 kcal mol^?1 (bifurcation tunnelling) at the MP2/aug-cc-pVQZ level. In the water trimer, the binding energy was evaluated as 16.29 kcal mol^?1, while the activation energies are 0.28 (single-flip), 2.34 (bifurcation), and 26.36 (proton transfer) kcal mol^?1 at the MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ level.     

Molecular vibrations and lattice dynamics of ortho-terphenyl

Infrared and Raman spectra of crystalline, melted and solvated ortho-terphenyl and its perdeuterated isotopomer, D₁₄-ortho-tephenyl, have been recorded. Optimized geometries and vibrational frequencies were calculated by the semiempirical RHF/AM1 method and by DFT using the B3LYP functional and 6–31G(d) basis set. In both cases the lowest energy conformation is of C₂ symmetry. With the scaled AM1 and B3LYP/6-31G(d) force fields the average error in reproducing the experimental molecular vibrational frequencies is 13cm^?1 and 5cm^?1, respectively. The AM1 potential energy surface for phenyl torsions was mapped on a 15° grid. The barrier to concerted internal rotation is estimated to lie between 3 kJ mol^?1 and 6kJ mol^?1. The calculations of the lattice dynamics at k = 0 in the low temperature fully ordered crystal phase of parent and deuterated ortho-terphenyl were performed with inclusion of six low lying intramolecular vibrations. The conformational change of the ortho-terphenyl molecule induced by crystal packing forces was taken into account by re-defining the unperturbed molecular vibrational state. Although an accurate assignment of lattice vibrations was not possible, the calculated spectra give quite a reasonable picture of the low frequency dynamics in crystalline ortho-terphenyl. The relevance of the results obtained to the glass forming property of ortho-terphenyl is discussed.     

Vibronic and cation spectroscopy of selected rotamers of 4-chloro-3-fluorophenol

We applied the two-colour resonant two-photon ionisation and mass-analysed threshold ionisation techniques to record the vibrationally resolved spectra of the selected rotamers and ³⁵Cl and ³⁷Cl isotopologues of 4-chloro-3-fluorophenol in the electronically excited S₁ and cationic ground D₀ states. The band origins of the S₁ ← S₀ electronic transition and the adiabatic ionisation energies of the cis and trans rotamers of 4-chloro-3-fluorophenol are determined to be 35,233 ± 2 and 35,405 ± 2 cm^?1, and 69,334 ± 5 and 69,460 ± 5 cm^?1, respectively. The electronic transition energies and general spectral features of the two isotopologues are nearly identical. Most of the observed active vibrations result from the in-plane ring deformation and substituent-sensitive motions. The experimental data show that the frequency difference in the observed active vibrations of the rotamers and isotopologues depends on the nature, vibrational pattern, location, and relative orientation of the substituents.