Study on Vapor-Liquid Nucleation Rates for n-Alcohols by Density Functional Theory

The statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT) in conjunction with the Weeks‐Chandler‐Anderson (WCA) approximation for intermolecular interaction is employed to construct a non‐uniform equation of state (EOS) for n‐alcohols. The molecular parameters for methanol, ethanol, 1‐propanol, 1‐butanol, 1‐pentanol and 1‐hexanol are obtained by fitting to the experimental data of vapor‐liquid equilibria and then used to predict the nucleation rates under the framework of density functional theory (DFT). The predictions are found to be in quite good agreement with the experimental data. Investigation shows that the combination of DFT and SAFT is a successful approach for vapor‐liquid nucleation rates of n‐alcohols.     

Quantum Chemical Microsolvation by Automated Water Placement

We developed a quantitative approach to quantum chemical microsolvation. Key in our methodology is the automatic placement of individual solvent molecules based on the free energy solvation thermodynamics derived from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and grid inhomogeneous solvation theory (GIST). This protocol enabled us to rigorously define the number, position, and orientation of individual solvent molecules and to determine their interaction with the solute based on physical quantities. The generated solute–solvent clusters served as an input for subsequent quantum chemical investigations. We showcased the applicability, scope, and limitations of this computational approach for a number of small molecules, including urea, 2-aminobenzothiazole, (+)-syn-benzotriborneol, benzoic acid, and helicene. Our results show excellent agreement with the available ab initio molecular dynamics data and experimental results.     

Accurate CO2 Joule–Thomson inversion curve by molecular simulations

We present simulation of the Joule–Thomson inversion curve (JTIC) for carbon dioxide using two different approaches based on Monte Carlo (MC) simulations in the isothermal–isobaric ensemble. We model carbon dioxide using a two-center Lennard–Jones (LJ) plus point quadrupole moment (2CLJQ) potential. We show that a precision of four significant figures in ensemble averages of thermodynamic quantities of interest is needed to obtain accurately the JTIC. The agreement between the experimental data, Wagner equation of state (EOS) and our simulations results indicates that the 2CLJQ potential represents an excellent balance between simplicity and accuracy in modeling of carbon dioxide. Additionally, we calculate the JTIC using the BACKONE EOS (that uses the same intermolecular potential as in our simulations) and show that the BACKONE EOS performs very well in predicting the JTIC for carbon dioxide.     

A fundamental measure theory for the sticky hard sphere fluid

We construct a density functional theory (DFT) for the sticky hard sphere (SHS) fluid which, like Rosenfeld's fundamental measure theory (FMT) for the hard sphere fluid [Y. Rosenfeld, Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 980 (1989)], is based on a set of weighted densities and an exact result from scaled particle theory (SPT). It is demonstrated that the excess free energy density of the inhomogeneous SHS fluid Φ(SHS) is uniquely defined when (a) it is solely a function of the weighted densities from Kierlik and Rosinberg's version of FMT [E. Kierlik and M. L. Rosinberg, Phys. Rev. A 42, 3382 (1990)], (b) it satisfies the SPT differential equation, and (c) it yields any given direct correlation function (DCF) from the class of generalized Percus-Yevick closures introduced by Gazzillo and Giacometti [J. Chem. Phys. 120, 4742 (2004)]. The resulting DFT is shown to be in very good agreement with simulation data. In particular, this FMT yields the correct contact value of the density profiles with no adjustable parameters. Rather than requiring higher order DCFs, such as perturbative DFTs, our SHS FMT produces them. Interestingly, although equivalent to Kierlik and Rosinberg's FMT in the case of hard spheres, the set of weighted densities used for Rosenfeld's original FMT is insufficient for constructing a DFT which yields the SHS DCF.     

System-dependent dispersion coefficients for the DFT-D3 treatment of adsorption processes on ionic surfaces

Dispersion-corrected density functional theory calculations (DFT-D3) were performed for the adsorption of CO on MgO and C(2) H(2) on NaCl surfaces. An extension of our non-empirical scheme for the computation of atom-in-molecules dispersion coefficients is proposed. It is based on electrostatically embedded M(4)X(4) (M=Na, Mg) clusters that are used in TDDFT calculations of dynamic dipole polarizabilities. We find that the C(MM)(6) dispersion coefficients for bulk NaCl and MgO are reduced by factors of about 100 and 35 for Na and Mg, respectively, compared to the values of the free atoms. These are used in periodic DFT calculations with the revPBE semi-local density functional. As demonstrated by calculations of adsorption potential energy curves, the new C(6) coefficients lead to much more accurate energies (E(ads)) and molecule-surface distances than with previous DFT-D schemes. For NaCl/C(2) H(2) we obtained at the revPBE-D3(BJ) level a value of E(ads) =-7.4 kcal mol(-1) in good agreement with experimental data (-5.7 to -7.1 kcal mol(-1)). Dispersion-uncorrected DFT yields an unbound surface state. For the MgO/CO system, the computed revPBE-D3(BJ) value of E(ads) =-4.1 kcal mol(-1) is also in reasonable agreement with experimental results (-3.0 kcal mol(-1)) when thermal corrections are taken into account. Our new dispersion correction also improves computed lattice constants of the bulk systems significantly compared to plain DFT or previous DFT-D results. The extended DFT-D3 scheme also provides accurate non-covalent interactions for ionic systems without empirical adjustments and is suggested as a general tool in surface science.     

Calculation of the crystal-melt interfacial free energy of succinonitrile from molecular simulation

The crystal-metal interfacial free energy for a six-site model of succinonitrile [N triple bond C-(CH(2))(2)-C triple bond N] has been calculated using molecular-dynamics simulation from the power spectrum of capillary fluctuations in interface position. The orientationally averaged magnitude of the interfacial free energy is determined to be (7.0+/-0.4)x10(-3) J m(-2). This value is in agreement (within the error bars) with the experimental value [(7.9+/-0.8)x10(-3) J m(-2)] of Marasli et al. [J. Cryst. Growth 247, 613 (2003)], but is about 20% lower than the earlier experimental value [(8.9+/-0.5)x10(-3) J m(-2)] obtained by Schaefer et al. [Philos. Mag. 32, 725 (1975)]. In agreement with the experiment, the calculated anisotropy of the interfacial free energy of this body-centered-cubic material is small. In addition, the Turnbull coefficient from our simulation is also in agreement with the experiment. This work demonstrates that the capillary fluctuation method of Hoyt et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 5530 (2001)] can be successfully applied to determine the crystal-melt interfacial free energy of molecular materials.     

Interfacial colloidal sedimentation equilibrium. II. Closure-based density functional theory

In Part I [R. E. Beckham and M. A. Bevan, J. Chem. Phys. 127, 164708 (2007)], results were presented for the sedimentation equilibrium of concentrated colloidal dispersions using confocal scanning laser microscopy experiments, Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, and a local density approximation perturbation theory. In this paper, we extended the modeling effort on those systems to include nonlocal density functional theory (DFT), which is capable of predicting the microstructure of the sediment at length scales comparable to the colloidal particle dimension. Specifically, we use a closure-based DFT formulation to predict interfacial colloidal sedimentation equilibrium density profiles. The colloid-colloid and colloid-surface interactions were modeled with DLVO screened electrostatic potentials using parameters taken directly from the experimental work. The DFT profiles were compared to the experimental and MC results from Part I. Good agreement was found for relatively dilute interfacial colloidal fluids, but agreement was less satisfactory as interfacial layering became more pronounced for conditions approaching the onset of interfacial crystallization. We also applied DFT in an inverse sense using the measured colloid density profile to extract the underlying colloid-surface potential; this can be thought of as a microscopic analog to the well-known procedure of using the macroscopic (coarse-grained) density profile to extract the osmotic equation of state. For the dilute interfacial fluid, the inverse DFT calculations reproduced the true colloid-surface potential to within 0.5kT at all elevations.     

Investigation of the interfacial properties for CO_2-methanol and CO_2-ethanol mixtures

An equation of state (EOS) applicable for the interfacial properties of CO2-methanol and CO2-ethanol mixtures was established by combining the cross-association EOS and the density gradient theory (DGT). The correlated surface tensions of CO2-ethanol mixtures agreed well with the experimental data. The results illustrated the temperature and pressure dependence of the cross-association between CO2 and alcohol hydroxyls in the whole vapor-liquid surface,and the influence of the cross-association on the calcu...     

CO_2-甲醇和CO_2-乙醇体系的界面性质

在交叉缔合的均相状态方程的基础上,结合密度梯度理论(density gradient theory,DGT),建立了适用于CO2-甲醇和CO2-乙醇二元体系界面性质研究的状态方程,对CO2-乙醇体系表面张力的关联结果与实验值吻合良好.阐明了CO2分子与甲醇分子和乙醇分子之间的交叉缔合作用对二元体系表面张力计算结果的影响,以及界面相中CO2与醇羟基之间的交叉缔合与温度和压力之间的关系.     

Ions at the water-oil interface: interfacial tension of electrolyte solutions

A theory, based on a modified Poisson-Boltzmann equation, is presented that allows us to calculate the excess interfacial tension of an electrolyte-oil interface accurately. The chaotropic (structure-breaking) ions are found to adsorb to the water-oil interface as the result of large polarizability, weak hydration, and hydrophobic and dispersion interactions. However, kosmotropic (structure-making) anions as well as potassium and sodium ions are found to be repelled from the interface. The adsorption of I(-) and ClO(4)(-) is found to be so strong as to lower the interfacial tension of the water-oil interface, in agreement with the experimental data. The agreement between the calculated interfacial tensions and the available experimental data is very good. The theory is used to predict the interfacial tensions of six other potassium salts, for which no experimental data is available at the moment.     

Anharmonic vibrational spectroscopy and investigation of intramolecular mode couplings in adenine

Vibrational frequencies for the nucleobase adenine are calculated by the vibrational self-consistent field (VSCF) and correlation corrected vibrational self-consistent field (CC-VSCF) methods using Hartree-Fock (HF), density functional theory (DFT) and second order Møller-Plesset (MP2) theories. A large number of potential energy surface (PES) points were computed in the anharmonic calculations corresponding to each method. The quartic force field (QFF) approximation was used to generate the full grid of points for the VSCF solver. We have implemented our new procedure for computing the mode-mode coupling integrals in the 2-mode coupling representations of the quartic force field (2MR-QFF) for prediction of coupling magnitudes. Calculations were performed using the 6-31G(d,p) basis set. Comparison of the calculated ab initio anharmonic spectra with Ar matrix experimental data of adenine reported in the literature reveals that, the CC-VSCF (DFT) wavenumbers show the best agreement. The experimental geometric parameters of adenine are compared with the theoretically optimized molecular structural parameters. These are found to be in good agreement. Vibrational assignments are based on the calculated potential energy distribution (PED) values.     

FT-IR,XPS, and DFT Study of Adsorption Mechanism of Sodium Acetohydroxamate onto Goethite or Hematite

The adsorption of sodium acetohydroxamate on the goethite or hematite surface was investi-gated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and periodic plane-wave density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The core-level shifts and charge transfers of the adsorbed surface iron sites calculated by DFT with periodic in-terfacial structures were confronted to the X-ray photoemission experiments. FT-IR results reveal that the interfacial structure of sodium acetohydroxamate adsorbed on the goethite or hematite surface may be assigned to a ve-membered ring complex. In agreement with the adsorption energies determined by the DFT calculations, a ve-membered ring complex is formed via bonding of one surface iron atom of goethite (101) or (100) to both oxygen atoms of hydroxamate group, and these two oxygen atoms of the hydroxamate group correspond-ingly attach to two neighboring iron atoms of the goethite surface. But a ve-membered ring complex between two oxygen atoms of the hydroxamate group and one surface iron atom of hematite (001) is formed without any extra attachments. The calculated core-level shifts of Fe2p for the interfacial structures are correspondingly in good agreement with the experimental observed one, which con rmed the reliability of the calculated results.     

Interfacial tension and interfacial profiles: an equation-of-state approach

A quasi-thermodynamic approach of inhomogeneous systems is used for modeling the fluid-fluid interface. It is based on the recently introduced QCHB (quasi-chemical hydrogen bonding) equation-of-state model of fluids and their mixtures, which is used for the estimation of the Helmholtz free energy density difference, Deltapsi(0), between the system with interface and another system of the same constitution but without interface. Consistent expressions for the interfacial tension and interfacial profiles for various properties are presented. The interfacial tension is proportional to the integral of Deltapsi(0) along the full height of the system, the proportionality constant being equal to 1, when no density gradient contributions are taken into consideration, 2, when the Cahn-Hilliard approximation is adopted, and 4, when the full density gradient contributions are taken into consideration. A satisfactory agreement is obtained between experimental and calculated surface tensions. Extension of the approach to mixtures is examined along with the associated problems for the numerical calculations of the interfacial profiles. A new equation is derived for the chemical potentials in the interfacial region, which facilitates very much the calculation of the composition profiles across the interface.     

Modelling interfacial properties of binary and ternary liquid mixtures of tetrahydrofuran, 2-propanol and 2,2,4-trimethylpentane

The present modelling study has been dedicated to determining the interfacial properties of binary and ternary liquid mixtures made up of tetrahydrofuran, 2-propanol and 2,2,4-trimethylpentane. The variation of the temperature is from 288 to 308 K. By using both UNIFAC activity model and the fugacity model based on the cubic plus association (CPA) equation of state (EOS), a model based on the equality of chemical potentials in the liquid and the surface layer is utilised to describe the liquid–vapour interface of these liquid mixtures. The surface tension, composition and density are simultaneously predicted. The results of this model show that experimental surface tension data are in a good agreement with the predicted ones. The model using CPA EOS and molar volume has a better performance than the one uses the UNIFAC activity model.     

Rotationally invariant ab initio evaluation of Coulomb and exchange parameters for DFT+U calculations

Conventional density functional theory (DFT) fails for strongly correlated electron systems due to large intra-atomic self-interaction errors. The DFT+U method provides a means of overcoming these errors through the use of a parametrized potential that employs an exact treatment of quantum mechanical exchange interactions. The parameters that enter into this potential correspond to the spherically averaged intra-atomic Coulomb (U) and exchange (J) interactions. Recently, we developed an ab initio approach for evaluating these parameters on the basis of unrestricted Hartree-Fock (UHF) theory, which has the advantage of being free of self-interaction errors and does not require experimental input [Mosey and Carter, Phys. Rev. B 76, 155123 (2007)]. In this work, we build on that method to develop a more robust and convenient ab initio approach for evaluating U and J. The new technique employs a relationship between U and J and the Coulomb and exchange integrals evaluated using the entire set of UHF molecular orbitals (MOs) for the system. Employing the entire set of UHF MOs renders the method rotationally invariant and eliminates the difficulty in selecting unambiguously the MOs that correspond to localized states. These aspects overcome two significant deficiencies of our earlier method. The new technique is used to evaluate U and J for Cr(2)O(3), FeO, and Fe(2)O(3). The resulting values of U-J are close to empirical estimates of this quantity for each of these materials and are also similar to results of constrained DFT calculations. DFT+U calculations using the ab initio parameters yield results that are in good agreement with experiment. As such, this method offers a means of performing accurate and fully predictive DFT+U calculations of strongly correlated electron materials.     

Surface tension of quantum fluids from molecular simulations

We present the first molecular simulations of the vapor-liquid surface tension of quantum liquids. The path integral formalism of Feynman was used to account for the quantum mechanical behavior of both the liquid and the vapor. A replica-data parallel algorithm was implemented to achieve good parallel performance of the simulation code on at least 32 processors. We have computed the surface tension and the vapor-liquid phase diagram of pure hydrogen over the temperature range 18-30 K and pure deuterium from 19 to 34 K. The simulation results for surface tension and vapor-liquid orthobaric densities are in very good agreement with experimental data. We have computed the interfacial properties of hydrogen-deuterium mixtures over the entire concentration range at 20.4 and 24 K. The calculated equilibrium compositions of the mixtures are in excellent agreement with experimental data. The computed mixture surface tension shows negative deviations from ideal solution behavior, in agreement with experimental data and predictions from Prigogine's theory. The magnitude of the deviations at 20.4 K are substantially larger from simulations and from theory than from experiments. We conclude that the experimentally measured mixture surface tension values are systematically too high. Analysis of the concentration profiles in the interfacial region shows that the nonideal behavior can be described entirely by segregation of H(2) to the interface, indicating that H(2) acts as a surfactant in H(2)-D(2) mixtures.     

N-Acetylated amino sugars: the dependence of NMR 3J(HNH2)-couplings on conformation, dynamics and solvent

N-Acetylated amino sugars are essential components of living organisms, but their dynamic conformational properties are poorly understood due to a lack of suitable experimental methodologies. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is ideally suited to these conformational studies, but accurate equations relating the conformation of key substituents (e.g., the acetamido group) to NMR observables are unavailable. To address this, density functional theory (DFT) methods have been used to calculate vicinal coupling constants in N-acetylated amino sugars and derive empirical Karplus equations for (3)J(H(N)H(2)) of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) and N-acetyl-D-galactosamine (GalNAc). The fitted Karplus parameters were found to be similar to those previously derived for peptide amide groups, but are consistently larger in magnitude. Local intramolecular interactions had a small effect on the calculated J-couplings and comparison with experimental data suggested that DFT slightly overestimated them. An implicit solvation model consistently lowered the magnitude of the calculated values, improving the agreement with the experimental data. However, an explicit solvent model, while having a small effect, worsened the agreement with experimental data. The largest contributor to experimentally-determined (3)J(H(N)H(2))-couplings is proposed to be librations of the amide group, which are well approximated by a Gaussian distribution about a mean dihedral angle. Exemplifying the usefulness of our derived Karplus equations, the libration of the amide group could be estimated in amino sugars from experimental data. The dynamical spread of the acetamido group in free alpha-GlcNAc, beta-GlcNAc and alpha-GalNAc was estimated to be 32 degrees , 42 degrees and 20 degrees , with corresponding mean dihedral angles of 160 degrees , 180 degrees and 146 degrees , respectively.     

Communication: Density-functional theory for inhomogeneous hyperbranched polymeric fluids: polydisperse effect of degree of branching

We developed a new density-functional theory (DFT) for inhomogeneous hyperbranched polymers that is able to describe the polydisperse degree of branching quantitatively. The topological contributions of the polymer chains to the Helmholtz free energy take into account the effect of triple connections that are absent in previous DFT investigations. One key advantage of the new theory is that the computational cost shows only a linear relationship with the molecular weight (rather than an exponential relationship). The practical utility of the new DFT is illustrated by investigating colloidal stability in the presence of monodisperse and polydisperse hyperbranched polymers.     

In situ Raman monitoring triazole formation from self-assembled monolayers of 1,4-diethynylbenzene on Ag and Au surfaces via "click" cyclization

We prepared acetylenyl-terminated aromatic self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of 1,4-diethynylbenzene on silver and gold. After the fabrication of pendent acetylenyl SAMs, the formation of triazoles was performed via Cu(I)-catalyzed Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition "click" chemistry. A density functional theory (DFT) calculation of Raman frequencies showed good agreement with our experimental data to provide evidence of the formation of the triazole molecule. Our results indicated that "click" chemistry could be successfully applied to simple aromatic SAMs proximate (<1 nm) to roughened gold surfaces. The reaction process could be monitored in real time by measuring intensity changes of the nu(CC)(free) band in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra.     

A density functional theory study on the mechanism of the permanganate oxidation of substituted alkenes.

Oxidation of substituted alkenes by permanganate follows a (3 + 2) cycloaddition mechanism. DFT calculations (Becke3LYP/6-31G(d)) strongly favor the (3 + 2) pathway against a (2 + 2) pathway that proceeds through a metallaoxetane. The difference in free activation energy between the two pathways is around 40 to 45 kcal/mol for the nine compounds covered. The results for the (3 + 2) cycloaddition mechanism are in agreement with experimentally observed kinetic data reported earlier. Symmetric transition states are calculated for alkenes with at least one CH2 group between the double bond and the acid group, while all others are unsymmetrical due to the repulsion between the permanganate oxygens and the carboxylic oxygens. Steric bulk, introduced by the number and position of substituents at the double bond, has no significant effect on the activation energies. A higher level of theory (Becke3LYP/6-311G(d,p)) leads to a reduction of the rmsd between experimental and calculated values, but has little influence on the calculated geometries.