Intermolecular potential energy surface of Ar-NO

Rotational spectra of an open-shell complex, Ar-NO, in the electronic ground state have been analyzed by employing an analysis using a free-rotor model, where previously observed data by Mills et al. [J. Phys. Chem. 90, 3331 (1986); 90, 4961 (1986)] and additional transitions observed by Fourier-transform microwave spectroscopy in the present study are simultaneously analyzed with a standard deviation of the least-squares fit to be 27.5 kHz. A two-dimensional intermolecular potential energy surface for Ar-NO has been determined from the analysis. The determined potential energy surface is compared with those of Ar-OH and Ar-SH, which are also complexes containing an open-shell species with the 2Pi ground electronic state.     

The role of the excited electronic states in the C+ + H2O reaction

The electronic excited states of the [COH2]+ system have been studied in order to establish their role in the dynamics of the C+ + H2O-->[COH]+ +H reaction, which is a prototypical ion-molecule reaction. The most relevant minima and saddle points of the lowest excited state have been determined and energy profiles for the lowest excited doublet and quartet electronic states have been computed along the fragmentation and isomerization coordinates. Also, nonadiabatic coupling strengths between the ground and the first excited state have been computed where they can be large. Our analysis suggests that the first excited state could play an important role in the generation of the formyl isomer, which has been detected in crossed beam experiments [D. M. Sonnenfroh et al., J. Chem. Phys. 83, 3985 (1985)], but could not be explained in quasiclassical trajectory computations [Y. Ishikawa et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 370, 490 (2003); J. R. Flores, J. Chem. Phys. 125, 164309 (2006)].     

Polarizable and flexible model for ethanol

A polarizable, flexible model for ethanol is obtained based on an extensive series of B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) calculations and molecular dynamics simulations. The ethanol model includes electric-field dependence in both the atomic charges and the intramolecular degrees of freedom. Field-dependent intramolecular potentials have been attempted only once previously, for OH and HH stretches in water [P. Cicu et al., J. Chem. Phys. 112, 8267 (2000)]. The torsional potential involving the hydrogen-bonding hydrogen in ethanol is found to be particularly field sensitive. The methodology for developing field-dependent potentials can be readily generalized to other molecules and is discussed in detail. Molecular dynamics simulations of bulk ethanol are performed and the results are assessed based on comparisons with the self-diffusion coefficient [N. Karger et al., J. Chem. Phys. 93, 3437 (1990)], dielectric constant [J. T. Kindt and C. A. Schmuttenmaer, J. Phys. Chem. 100, 10373 (1996)], enthalpy of vaporization [R. C. Wilhoit and B. J. Zwolinski, J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data, Suppl. 2, 2 (1973)], and experimental interatomic distributions [C. J. Benmore and Y. L. Loh, J. Chem. Phys. 112, 5877 (2000)]. The simultaneous variation of the atomic charges and the intramolecular potentials requires modified equations of motion and a multiple time step algorithm has been implemented to solve these equations. The article concludes with a discussion of the bulk structure and properties with an emphasis on the hydrogen bonding network.     

Vibrationally inelastic collisions in H+ +CO system: comparing quantum calculations with experiments

State-resolved cross beam experiments [H. Udseth et al., J. Chem. Phys. 60, 3051 (1974); J. Krutein and F. Linder, J. Chem. Phys. 71, 599 (1979); G. Niedner-Schatteburg and J. P. Toennies, Adv. Chem. Phys. LXXXII, 553 (1992)], coupled with proton energy loss spectroscopy for the inelastic scattering of H(+) from CO in the collision range of 10-30 eV show very low vibrational excitation of the target molecule. Stimulated by the experimentally observed low vibrational inelasticity in the system the ground and the first two low-lying excited electronic potential-energy surfaces have been computed using the ab initio multireference configuration interaction method. Quantum dynamics has been performed on the ground potential energy surface in the framework of vibrational close-coupling rotational infinite-order sudden approximation. The various computed dynamical attributes such as differential and integral cross sections, and average vibrational energy transfer are analyzed in detail, and compared successfully with the available experimental results.     

Time-dependent wave packet study on trans-cis isomerization of HONO driven by an external field

The present paper is devoted to a full quantum mechanical study of the cis-->trans isomerization of HONO. In contrast to our previous study [Richter et al., J. Chem. Phys. 120, 6072 (2004)], the dynamics is now performed in the presence of an external time-dependent field in order to be closer to experimental conditions. A six-dimensional dipole surface is computed. Using a previously developed potential energy surface [Richter et al., J. Chem. Phys. 120, 1306 (2004)], all eigenstates up to 4000 cm(-1) are calculated. We simulate the dynamics during and after excitation by an electromagnetic pulse whose parameters are chosen to efficiently trigger the isomerization. Our investigations show that there is a selective isomerization pathway.     

Near infrared spectra (4000-10 500 cm-1) of phenol-OH and phenol-OD in carbon tetrachloride

The near infrared spectra (3800-10 500 cm(-1) of phenol-OH and phenol-OD are studied in carbon tetrachloride solution. The bandwidth of the v(OH) and v(OD) stretching vibrations increases with the vibrational quantum number in contrast to results obtained by nonresonant ionization spectroscopy (S.I. Ishiuchi et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 283 (1998) 243). The bandwidth of the v(CH) vibrations obtained by a deconvolution procedure also increases with the frequencies associated with the vibrational transitions. The anharmonicity of the v(CH) vibrations ranges between 51 and 72 cm(-1). Numerous absorptions are observed in the near infrared spectra. These absorptions are tentatively assigned to combinations involving the fundamental transitions which have been recently calculated at different levels of theory (D. Michalska et al., J. Phys. Chem. 100 (1996) 17786). The experimental, theoretical and harmonic v(OH) and vi(CH) frequencies are compared.     

Molecular nitrogen-N2 properties: the intermolecular potential and the equation of state

Quantum mechanical (QM) high precision calculations were used to determine N(2)-N(2) intermolecular interaction potential. Using QM numerical data the anisotropic potential energy surface was obtained for all orientations of the pair of the nitrogen molecules in the rotation invariant form. The new N(2)-N(2) potential is in reasonably good agreement with the scaled potential obtained by van der Avoird et al. using the results of Hartree-Fock calculations [J. Chem. Phys. 84, 1629 (1986)]. The molecular dynamics (MD) of the N(2) molecules has been used to determine nitrogen equation of state. The classical motion of N(2) molecules was integrated in rigid rotor approximation, i.e., it accounted only translational and rotational degrees of freedom. Fincham [Mol. Simul. 11, 79 (1993)] algorithm was shown to be superior in terms of precision and energy stability to other algorithms, including Singer [Mol. Phys. 33, 1757 (1977)], fifth order predictor-corrector, or Runge-Kutta, and was therefore used in the MD modeling of the nitrogen pressure [S. Krukowski and P. Strak, J. Chem. Phys. 124, 134501 (2006)]. Nitrogen equation of state at pressures up to 30 GPa (300 kbars) and temperatures from the room temperature to 2000 K was obtained using MD simulation results. Results of MD simulations are in very good agreement (the error below 1%) with the experimental data on nitrogen equation of state at pressures below 1 GPa (10 kbars) for temperatures below 1800 K [R. T. Jacobsen et al., J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 15, 735 (1986)]. For higher temperatures, the deviation is slightly larger, about 2.5% which still is a very good agreement. The slightly larger difference may be attributed to the vibrational motion not accounted explicitly by rigid rotor approximation, which may be especially important at high temperatures. These results allow to obtain reliable equation of state of nitrogen for pressures up to 30 GPa (300 kbars), i.e., close to molecular nitrogen stability limit, determined by Nellis et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 53, 1661 (1984)].     

Contribution of water dimer absorption to the millimeter and far infrared atmospheric water continuum

We present a rigorous calculation of the contribution of water dimers to the absorption coefficient alpha(nu,T) in the millimeter and far infrared domains, over a wide range (276-310 K) of temperatures. This calculation relies on the explicit consideration of all possible transitions within the entire rovibrational bound state manifold of the dimer. The water dimer is described by the flexible 12-dimensional potential energy surface previously fitted to far IR transitions [C. Leforestier et al., J. Chem. Phys. 117, 8710 (2002)], and which was recently further validated by the good agreement obtained for the calculated equilibrium constant Kp(T) with experimental data [Y. Scribano et al., J. Phys. Chem. A. 110, 5411 (2006)]. Transition dipole matrix elements were computed between all rovibrational states up to an excitation energy of 750 cm(-1), and J=K=5 rotational quantum numbers. It was shown by explicit calculations that these matrix elements could be extrapolated to much higher J values (J=30). Transitions to vibrational states located higher in energy were obtained from interpolation of computed matrix elements between a set of initial states spanning the 0-750 cm(-1) range and all vibrational states up to the dissociation limit (approximately 1200 cm(-1)). We compare our calculations with available experimental measurements of the water continuum absorption in the considered range. It appears that water dimers account for an important fraction of the observed continuum absorption in the millimeter region (0-10 cm(-1)). As frequency increases, their relative contribution decreases, becoming small (approximately 3%) at the highest frequency considered nu=944 cm(-1).     

Vibrational overtone spectrum of matrix isolated cis, cis-HOONO

Cis, cis-peroxynitrous acid is known to be an intermediate in atmospheric reactions between OH and NO2 as well as HOO and NO. The infrared absorption spectra of matrix-isolated cc-HOONO and cc-DOONO in argon have been observed in the range of 500-8000 cm-1. Besides the seven fundamental vibrational modes that have been assigned earlier for this molecule [Zhang et al., J. Chem. Phys. 124, 084305 (2006)], more than 50 of the overtone and combination bands have been observed for cc-HOONO and cc-DOONO. Ab initio CCSD(T)/atomic natural orbital anharmonic force field calculations were used to help guide the assignments. Based on this study of the vibrational overtone transitions of cis, cis-HOONO that go as high as 8000 cm-1 and the earlier paper on the vibrational fundamentals, we conclude that the CCSD(T)/ANO anharmonic frequencies seem to correct to +/-35 cm-1. The success of the theoretically predicted anharmonic frequencies {upsilon} in assigning overtone spectra of HOONO up to 8000 cm-1 suggests that the CCSD(T)/ANO method is producing a reliable potential energy surface for this reactive molecule.     

Local response dispersion method. II. Generalized multicenter interactions

Recently introduced local response dispersion method [T. Sato and H. Nakai, J. Chem. Phys. 131, 224104 (2009)], which is a first-principles alternative to empirical dispersion corrections in density functional theory, is implemented with generalized multicenter interactions involving both atomic and atomic pair polarizabilities. The generalization improves the asymptote of intermolecular interactions, reducing the mean absolute percentage error from about 30% to 6% in the molecular C(6) coefficients of more than 1000 dimers, compared to experimental values. The method is also applied to calculations of potential energy curves of molecules in the S22 database [P. Jure?ka et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 8, 1985 (2006)]. The calculated potential energy curves are in a good agreement with reliable benchmarks recently published by Molnar et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 131, 065102 (2009)]. These improvements are achieved at the price of increasing complexity in the implementation, but without losing the computational efficiency of the previous two-center (atom-atom) formulation. A set of different truncations of two-center and three- or four-center interactions is shown to be optimal in the cost-performance balance.     

Modeling of HeN+ clusters. II. Calculation of He3+ vibrational spectrum

We have computed the vibrational spectrum of the helium ionized trimer He(3)(+) using three different potential energy surfaces [D. T. Chang and G. L. Gellene, J. Chem. Phys. 119, 4694 (2003); E. Scifoni et al., ibid. 125, 164304 (2006); I. Paidarova et al., Chem. Phys. 342, 64 (2007)]. Differences in the details of these potential energy surfaces induce discrepancies between bound state energies of the order of 0.01 eV. The effects of the geometric phase induced by the conical intersection between the ground electronic potential energy surface and the first excited one are studied by computing vibrational spectra with and without this phase. The six lowest vibrational bound states are negligibly affected by the geometric phase. Indeed, they correspond to wavefunctions localized in the vicinity of the linear symmetric configurations and can be assigned well defined vibrational quantum numbers. On the other hand, higher excited states are delocalized, cannot be assigned definite vibrational quantum numbers, and the geometric phase shifts their energies by approximately 0.005 eV.     

Quasiclassical trajectories on a finite element density functional potential energy surface: The C++H2O reaction revisited

A new method for the representation of potential energy surfaces (PESs) based on the p version of the finite element method is presented and applied to the PES of the [COH2]+ system in order to study the C++H2O-->[COH]++H reaction through the quasiclassical trajectory method. Benchmark ab initio computations have been performed on the most relevant stationary points of the PES through a procedure that incorporates basis set extrapolations, the contribution of the core correlation energy, and scalar relativistic corrections. The electronic structure method employed to compute the many points needed to construct the PES is a hybrid density functional approach of the B3LYP type with geometry-dependent parameters, which improves dramatically the performance with respect of the B3LYP method. The trajectory computations shed light on the behavior of the COH2+ complex formed in the collision. At a fixed relative translational energy of 0.62 eV, which corresponds to the crossed beam experiments [D. M. Sonnenfroh et al., J. Chem. Phys. 83, 3985 (1985)], the complex dissociates significantly into the reactants (37%). However, the behavior for a thermal sampling at T=300 K is significantly different because only 9% of the trajectories where capture occurs lead to dissociation into the reactants. The latter kind of behavior is coherent with the view that simple ion-molecule reactions proceed quite often at the capture rate provided it is corrected by the fraction of the electronic states which, being nearly degenerate for the reactants, become attractive at short distances. For both T=300 K and crossed beam conditions, the trajectory computations indicate that COH2+ is the critical intermediate, in agreement with a recent work [Y. Ishikawa et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 370, 490 (2003)] and in contrast with the interpretation of the crossed beam experiments. Besides, virtually all trajectories generate COH++H (>99%), but a significant proportion of the isoformyl cation is formed with enough vibrational energy as to surmount the COH+-HCO+ isomerization barrier, about 37% at T=300 K.     

Accuracy of recent potential energy surfaces for the He-N2 interaction. I. Virial and bulk transport coefficients

A new exchange-Coulomb semiempirical model potential energy surface for the He-N2 interaction has been developed. Together with two recent high-level ab initio potential energy surfaces, it has been tested for the reliability of its predictions of second-virial coefficients and bulk transport phenomena in binary mixtures of He and N2. The agreement with the relevant available measurements is generally within experimental uncertainty for the exchange-Coulomb surface and the ab initio surface of Patel et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 119, 909 (2003)], but with slightly poorer agreement for the earlier ab initio surface of Hu and Thakkar [J. Chem. Phys. 104, 2541 (1996)].     

On the possible catalytic role of a single water molecule in the acetone + OH gas phase reaction: a theoretical pseudo-second-order kinetics study

In this work, we have revisited the mechanism of the acetone + OH radical reaction assisted by a single water molecule simulating atmospheric conditions. Density functional methods are employed in conjunction with CCSD(T) and large basis sets to explore the potential energy surface of this radical-molecule reaction. Computational kinetics calculations in a pseudo-second order mechanism have been performed, taking into account average atmospheric water concentrations and temperatures. We have used this method recently to study the single-water molecule-assisted H-abstraction in acetaldehyde (Iuga et al. in J Phys Chem Lett 1:3112, 2010) and in glyoxal (Iuga et al. in Chem Phys Lett 501:11, 2010) by OH radicals, and we showed that the initial water complexation step is essential in the rate constant calculation. In both cases, the amount of complex formed is only about 0.01% of the total organic molecule concentration, and as a consequence, water does not accelerate the reaction. In the acetone reaction with OH radicals under atmospheric conditions, we also find that the water–acetone complex concentration is much too small to be relevant, and thus, the rate constant of the water-assisted mechanism is orders of magnitude smaller than the water-free corresponding value.     

An eight-degree-of-freedom, time-dependent quantum dynamics study for the H2+C2H reaction on a new modified potential energy surface

An eight-dimensional time-dependent quantum dynamics wave packet approach is performed for the study of the H2+C2H-->H+C2H2 reaction system on a new modified potential energy surface (PES) [L.-P. Ju et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 409, 249 (2005)]. This new potential energy surface is obtained by modifying Wang and Bowman's old PES [J. Chem. Phys. 101, 8646 (1994)] based on the new ab initio calculation. This new modified PES has a much lower transition state barrier height at 2.29 kcal/mol than Wang and Bowman's old PES at 4.3 kcal/mol. This study shows that the reactivity for this diatom-triatom reaction system is enhanced by vibrational excitations of H2, whereas the vibrational excitations of C2H only have a small effect on the reactivity. Furthermore, the bending excitations of C2H, compared to the ground state reaction probability, hinder the reactivity. The comparison of the rate constant between this calculation and experimental results agrees with each other very well. This comparison indicates that the new modified PES corrects the large barrier height problem in Wang and Bowman's old PES.     

Rate constant for OH(2 Pi)+O(3P)-->H(2S)+O2(3 Sigma g-) reaction on an improved ab initio potential energy surface and implications for the interstellar oxygen problem

The authors report a global potential energy surface for the ground electronic state of HO(2)(X (2)A(")), which improves upon the XXZLG potential [Xu and et al., J. Chem. Phys. 122, 244305 (2005)] with additional high-level ab initio points for the long-range interaction potential in the O+OH channel. Exact J=0 quantum mechanical reaction probabilities were calculated on the new potential and the rate constant for the title reaction was obtained using a J-shifting method. The calculated rate constant is in good agreement with available experimental values and our results predict a significantly lower rate at temperature range below 30 K, offering a possible explanation for the "interstellar oxygen problem."     

New mechanistic insight into electronically excited CO-NiO(100): a quantum dynamical analysis

In a recent study Redlich et al. [Redlich et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 2006, 420, 110] measured the velocity distribution of CO molecules desorbing from a NiO(100) surface after irradiation with an ultraviolet (UV) laser pulse. Due to the complexity of the involved processes no experimental evidence on the excitation and desorption mechanism could be obtained. In recent ab initio studies Mehdaoui et al. [Mehdaoui et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 2007, 98, 037601] have shown that a 5sigma --> 2pi* (a (3)Pi) like transition within the CO adsorbate is most likely the crucial excitation step in the CO-NiO(100) system. At first sight this seems unlikely, since the interaction of CO molecules with the NiO(100) surface is very weak (-0.30 eV) and the corresponding CO gas phase transition energy is about 1.5 eV higher than the laser pulse energy of 4.66 eV used in the experiment. In this work we give further insight into relevant electronically excited states and identify the desorption mechanism by analysing the dynamical processes after laser excitation by quantum dynamical wave packet simulations on the basis of three-dimensional (3D) ab initio potential energy surfaces. The results corroborate the so far discussed excitation mechanism, which proposes the formation of a genuine C-Ni bond as the driving force for photodesorption, as the crucial excitation step.     

Direct correlation function for complex square barrier-square well potentials in the first-order mean spherical approximation

The direct correlation function of the complex discrete potential model fluids is obtained as a linear combination of the first-order mean spherical approximation (FMSA) solution for the simple square well model that has been reported recently [Hlushak et al., J. Chem. Phys. 130, 234511 (2009)]. The theory is employed to evaluate the structure and thermodynamics of complex fluids based on the square well-barrier and square well-barrier-well discrete potential models. Obtained results are compared with theoretical predictions of the hybrid mean spherical approximation, already reported in the literature [Guillen-Escamilla et al., J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 19, 086224 (2007)], and with computer simulation data of this study. The compressibility route to thermodynamics is then used to check whether the FMSA theory is able to predict multiple fluid-fluid transitions for the square barrier-well model fluids.