Internal dynamics of flexible molecules: Cyclohexane

Summary The international motions of a single cyclohexane molecule are studied by molecular dynamics calculations. Classical trajectories are calculated by integrating Newton's equation of motion. The potential functions used are essentially the same as in Allinger's MM2 program which is widely applied for calculations on conformational energies of organic molecules.Geometries and relative energies are reported for all stable low energy conformers and some transition states of cyclohexane. Vibrational frequencies of classical oscillations of individual bonds — computed for ethane as reference system — are close to the experimental values.Two trajectories of the molecular dynamics of cyclohexane were simulated. In the first we were able to follow the process of ring inversion: chair twisted forms inverted chair. The reaction path is analysed in detail and compared with static approaches. The second trajectory shows the correlated reorientation of the possible twisted forms alone. This process is known as pseudorotation.Dedicated to Prof. Dr. Karl Schlögl