The molecular vibration-rotation kinetic-energy operator for general internal coordinates

The molecular kinetic-energy operator for general internal coordinates is formulated in terms of simple generalisations of the matrices A, B, α, and β of Crawford. A new matrix γ of the gradients of the translational and rotational constraints facilitates the calculation of the β matrix. It is shown that the kinetic pseudo-potential U is most conveniently calculated as an atomic sum, and results are given for valence coordinates in various types of molecules.