Perturbation approach for frequency shifts in IR spectra of molecular clusters

A second order perturbation approach for the evaluation of the splitting and shifting of the infrared vibrational bands of molecular clusters, based on early publications of Buckingham, is presented. The Hamiltonian of the system comprises harmonic- and anharmonic intramolecular vibration terms, as well as the intermolecular potential. The anharmonic contributions of the intramolecular force field and the intermolecular potential are treated as a perturbation. In order to extend the applicability of the approach to homogeneous molecular clusters, the formalism of degenerate perturbation theory is employed. The new approach is applied to methanol clusters from dimer to hexamer for calculating the frequency shifts of the OH stretching mode (ω₁=3681.5 cm^?1), the CH₃ rocking mode (ω₇=1074.5 cm^?1), and the CO stretching mode (ω₈=1033.5 cm^?1). The numerical results compare favourably with experimental and previous theoretical data (except for ω₁), but with a tendency to overestimate the shifts.