Ab initio studies on vibrational spectra of XSO2NCO (X = F,Cl): harmonic force fields and frequency assignments

The harmonic vibrational force fields and the IR spectrum of XSO₂NCO (X= F, C1) molecules have been studied usingab initio HF/SCF method with the 6-31G’ basis set. Theab initio harmonic force fields are scaled empirically using the scaled quantum mechanical (SQM) method of Pulay. A set of scale factors are optimized by the least-squares fitting to the experimental frequencies of FSO₂NCO and then are transferred to CISO₂NCO to give ana priori prediction of its fundamental frequencies. The average deviations between the theoretical frequencies and the experimental values for FSO₂NCO and C1SO₂NCO are 3 and 5 cm^-1, respectively. The assignments of the fundamentals for these two molecules are also made atcording to the potential energy distributions and theab initio IR intensities Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 29673029)     

Spectra and structure of silicon compounds. XVII Raman and infrared spectra and vibrational assignment for hexamethyldisilane and ab initio calculations for disilane and hexamethyldisilane

The IR spectra of gaseous and solid hexamethyldisilane between 4000 and 25 cm⁻¹ and the far-IR spectrum of the liquids from 450 to 25 cm⁻¹ have been recorded. The Raman spectra have been recorded from 3500 to 10 cm⁻¹ for all three physical phases. Assisted by ab initio calculations, the vibrational spectrum of hexamethyldisilane has been assigned under D_3d symmetry and the results of a normal coordinate analysis are discussed. No spectral features indicative of free internal rotation have been observed. Gradient ab initio calculations have been carried out for the disilane and hexamethyldisilane molecules using different types of basis sets. The structural parameters, rotational constants, unscaled and scaled frequencies and harmonic force constants have been reported for both disilane and hexamethyldisilane.     

FT-Raman and infrared spectra,r0 structural parameters,ab initio calculations and vibrational assignment for nitryl chloride

The FT-Raman spectra (2000-30 cm⁻¹) of liquid and solid nitryl chloride, ClNO₂, along with the infrared spectra (2000-80 cm⁻¹) of the gas and solid have been recorded. All six fundamentals are confidently identified and the potential energy distributions determined from the force fields obtained from ab initio calculations. Several different basis sets have been utilized to determine the harmonic frequencies and force constants which are compared to the previously reported valence force constants. Structural parameters have been calculated with these basis sets including electron correlation with MP2, MP3 and MP4 perturbation. The calculated equilibrium structural parameters are compared to the experimental r₀ structural parameters. The spectra of the solid indicate that there are at least two molecules per primitive cell. All of these results are compared to the corresponding quantities for some similar molecules.     

Scaled quantum mechanical force fields and vibrational spectra of solid state nucleic acid constituents V: thymine and uracil

The scale factors of the ab initio SCF STO-3G and MINI-1, and semiempirical PM3 harmonic force fields were determined by fitting to the Raman and IR spectra of polycrystalline uracil and thymine. Both in-plane and out-of-plane vibrational modes have been interpreted. The transferability of the scale factors between uracil and thymine and the performance of different computational methods were discussed. The Fermi resonance of the overtones of the out-of-plane deformation vibrations of oxygens with their stretching modes have been proposed as an explanation for the band splitting observed in the 1600–1800 cm⁻¹ region of uracil.     

Theoretical prediction of vibrational spectra. Scaled quantum mechanical (SQM) force field for fluorobenzene

The complete harmonic force field of fluorobenzene has been determined from ab initio Hartree-Fock calculations using the 4–21 Gaussian basis set. As force constants are systematically overestimated at this level of theory, the directly calculated force field was scaled by empirical factors taken over from benzene and methylfluoride. Except for a slight overestimation of the CF stretching frequency, the scaled quantum mechanical (SQM) force field obtained in this way reproduces the experimental fundamental frequencies of the parent molecule and two deuterated isotopomers within 20 cm⁻¹ (with mean deviations below 12 cm⁻¹), and experimental assignments are analyzed on this basis. Theoretical i.r. intensities reproduce the main features of the spectra fairly well.     

Building a database of force constants based on scaled ab initio (SQM) results. I. Chlorobenzenes

As part of a project for developing a database of harmonic force constants for organic molecules, the complete force fields for chlorobenzene, ortho-, meta-, para-dichlorobenzene and sym-trichlorobenzene have been determined, on the basis of ab initio Hartree—Fock calculations combined with empirical adjustments. The latter serve to correct for systematic errors in the theory, and are applied at two stages: the geometry is corrected by using empirical offset forces during the optimization; force constants are corrected by a few scale factors according to the SQM (scaled quantum mechanical) force field procedure. With scale factors taken over fixed from benzene and only two new scale factors introduced for the chlorobenzenes, experimental frequencies are reproduced with mean deviations of about 10 cm⁻¹. Some controversial assignments, still present in the deuterated derivatives, are discussed. Theoretical IR and Raman intensities have also been calcuated and used as semiquantitative information to assist assignments.     

Ab initio and molecular mechanics (MM2 and MM3) calculations of nonconjugated positively charged nitrogen-containing compounds

High-level ab initio calculations have been performed on N-methyl-N-methyleneammonium and related compounds to obtain accurate rotational barriers, structures, and vibrational frequencies. The 6-31G** basis set has been utilized at the Hartree-Fock level of theory for these calculations because little experimental data are available. The MM2(91) and MM3(94) force fields have been parameterized to include these nonconjugated charged nitrogen-containing compounds. Molecular mechanics geometries and vibrational frequencies compare well with the ab initio results. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Scaled quantum mechanical (SQM) force field and theoretical vibrational spectrum for benzonitrile

The complete harmonic force field of benzonitrile has been determined by ab initio Hartree—Fock calculations using a 4–21 Gaussian basis set. As force constants are systematically over-estimated at this level, the directly calculated force field was scaled by empirical factors previously optimized for benzene and HCN. Frequencies calculated from this scaled quantum mechanical (SQM) force field confirm the published experimental assignments for benzonitrile, benzonitrile-p-d and benzonitrile-d₅. Aside from the CH (and CD) stretching frequencies, which are strongly affected by anharmonicity, the mean deviation between the observed and calculated frequencies is below 9 cm⁻¹ for each isotopomer. Theoretical i.r. intensities reproduce the main features of the spectra semiquantitatively.     

Derivation of class II force fields: V. Quantum force field for amides,peptides, and related compounds

As the field of biomolecular structure advances, there is an ever-growing need for accurate modeling of molecular energy surfaces to simulate and predict the properties of these important systems. To address this need, a second generation amide force field for use in simulations of small organics as well as proteins and peptides has been derived. The critical question of what accuracy can be expected from calculations in general, and with this class II force field in particular, is addressed for structural, dynamic, and energetic properties. The force field is derived from a recent methodology we have developed that involves the systematic use of quantum mechanical observables. Systematic ab initio calculations were carried out for numerous configurations of 17 amide and related compounds. Relative energies and first and second derivatives of the energy of 638 structures of these compounds resulted in 140,970 ab initio quantum mechanical observables. The class II peptide quantum mechanical force field (QMFF), containing 732 force constants and reference values, was parameterized against these observables. A major objective of this work is to help establish the role of anharmonicity and coupling in improving the accuracy of molecular force fields, as these terms have not yet become an agreed upon standard in the ever more extensive simulations being used to probe biomolecular properties. This has been addressed by deriving a class I harmonic diagonal force field (HDFF), which was fit to the same energy surface as the QMFF, thus providing an opportunity to quantify the effects of these coupling and anharmonic contributions. Both force field representations are assessed in terms of their ability to fit the observables. They have also been tested by calculating the properties of 11 stationary states of these amide molecules. Optimized structures, vibrational frequencies, and conformational energies obtained from the quantum calculations and from both the QMFF and the HDFF are compared. Several strained and derivatized compounds including urea, formylformamide, and butyrolactam are included in these tests to assess the range of applicability (transferability) of the force fields. It was found that the class II coupled anharmonic force field reproduced the structures, energies, and vibrational frequencies significantly more faithfully than the class I harmonic diagonal force field. An important measure, rms energy deviation, was found to be 1.06 kcal/mol with the class II force field, and 2.30 kcal/mol with the harmonic diagonal force field. These deviations represent the error in relative configurational energy differences for strained and distorted structures calculated with the force fields compared with quantum mechanics. This provides a measure of the accuracy that might be expected in applications where strain may be important such as calculating the energy of a system as it approaches a (rotational) barrier, in ligand binding to a protein, or effects of introducing substituents into a molecule that may induce strain. Similar results were found for structural properties. Protein dynamics is becoming of ever-increasing interest, and, to simulate dynamic properties accurately, the dynamic behavior of model compounds needs to be well accounted for. To this end, the ability of the class I and class II force fields to reproduce the vibrational frequencies obtained from the quantum energy surface was assessed. An rms deviation of 43 cm⁻¹ was achieved with the coupled anharmonic force field, as compared to 105 cm⁻¹ with the harmonic diagonal force field. Thus, the analysis presented here of the class II force field for the amide functional group demonstrates that the incorporation of anharmonicity and coupling terms in the force field significantly improves the accuracy and transferability with regard to the simulation of structural, energetic, and dynamic properties of amides. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 19: 430–458, 1998     

Ab initio study of the vibrational assignment and force field of thiosemicarbazide-d0 and -d5

The complete harmonic force field and optimized geometry of thiosemicarbazide have been calculated at the ab initio Hartree—Fock level using the 3-21G basis set. On the basis of this, the frequencies of thiosemicarbazide-d₀ and -d₅ and their ¹⁵N isotopic molecules have been calculated. The calculated frequencies and their band assignments are utilized to critically examine our previous experimental assignments which were based on normal coordinate calculations. The theoretical IR and Raman intensities, together with qualitative experimental band intensities, are also presented.     

Theoretical prediction of vibrational spectra. The a priori scaled quantum mechanical (SQM) force field and vibrational spectra of pyrimidine

The complete harmonic force field of pyrimidine has been computed at the ab initio Hartree—Fock level using a 4–21 Gaussian basis set. In order to compensate the systematic overestimations of the force constants at the aforementioned level of quantum mechanical approximation, the theoretical force constants were empirically scaled by using nine scale factors. (The values of all these scale factors were previously determined by fitting the theoretical force field of benzene to the observed vibrational spectra of benzene.) The resulting a priori scaled quantum mechanical (SQM) force field is regarded as the most accurate and physically the most correct harmonic force field for pyrimidine. This force field was then used to predict the vibrational spectra of pyrimidine-h₄ and pyrimidine-d₄. On the basis of these a priori vibrational spectra uncertain assignments have been confidently resolved. After a few reassignments, the mean deviations between the experimental and calculated frequencies are below 9 and 18 cm⁻¹ for the non-CH stretching in-plane and the out-of-plane vibrations, respectively. Computed IR intensities are generally in agreement with experiments at a qualitative level.     

The vibrational spectra of amides—II. The force field and isotopic shifts of N,N-dimethyl formamide

The effects of ¹⁶O → ¹⁸O substitution on the vibrational frequencies of N,N-dimethylformamide have been studied. To understand these and the effects of previously measured shift data due to ¹³C, ²H and ¹⁵N ab initio calculations of frequencies and intensities have been carried out at the 3-21G level. Accord between theory and experiment is generally good. A surprising result is the prediction of a weak band near 2000 cm⁻¹ in DMF due to in-plane interaction between the methyl umbrella modes and the anti-symmetric CN stretch. This abnormally high frequency is explained as arising due to the planar trigonal C₃N entity. Previous problems in reproducing isotope shifts are shown to be due to this mode being previously assigned near 1500 cm⁻¹. The effects of suppressing reference to one of a set of internal valence angles involved in a redundancy are explored. It is shown that the principal effect is to add the diagonal quadratic constant for that coordinate to all other quadratic terms involving pairs of the angles involved in the redundancy. This results in large, almost equal, interaction constants amongst this set. Such effects are seen in the present work. The ab initio field is shown to be compatible with ab initio fields of mono N-methyl amides extant in the literature.     

Ab initio and molecular mechanics (MM2 and MM3) calculations of positively charged conjugated nitrogen-containing compounds

Ab initio calculations have been carried out on s-trans-N-vinylmethyleneammonium, pyridinium, and related compounds to obtain rotational barriers, structures, and vibrational frequencies. The restricted Hartree-Fock (RHF) level of theory with 6-31G** basis set was used for these calculations. In addition, the MM2(91) and MM3(94) force fields have been parameterized to calculate these positively charged nitrogen-containing compounds. A bond order term was incorporated in the force field to reproduce accurately the rotational barriers of s-trans-N-vinylmethyleneammonium and related compounds. Molecular mechanics geometries and vibrational frequencies compare well with those calculated by ab initio methods. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Vibrational spectra,scaled quantum-mechanical (SQM) force field and assignments for 4H-pyran-4-one

The gas phase i.r. spectrum of 4H-pyran-4-one (hereafter called γ-pyrone) has been recorded in the 4000-400 cm⁻¹ region by a Nicolet 7199 FTIR spectrometer and interpreted using a general valence force field calculated quantum mechanically at the ab initio level with a split-valence 4–21 basis. Assignment of certain fundamentals was facilitated by information gained from the i.r. and Raman spectra of the melt and from the i.r. spectrum of the saturated solution in CCl₄.To account for systematic computational errors, the theoretical ab initio force field was scaled using a set of constants derived by the empirical fitting of force fields computed for related molecules to their observed spectra. Either the scale factors derived for a family of open-chain molecules or, better, for benzene could be used to yield a scaled force field which gave unequivocal assignments for γ-pyrone. The method promises to be of general applicability for molecules of this complexity.     

Conformational Stability of Propenoyl Bromide from Temperature-Dependent Infrared Spectra of Krypton Solutions,Ab Initio Calculations,and r 0 Structural Parameters of the Propenoyl Halides (F,Cl, Br)

Variable temperature (–100 to –150°C) studies of the infrared spectra (3500–400 cm^–1) of propenoyl bromide, CH₂=CHCBrO, dissolved in liquid krypton, have been carried out. Utilizing six different conformer pairs, an enthalpy difference of 204 ± 20 cm^–1 (2.44 ± 0.24 kJ/mol) was obtained, with the anti conformer (carbonyl bond trans to C=C bond) the more stable form. At ambient temperature, there is approximately 28 ± 2% of the syn conformer present. The anti conformer also remains in the infrared and Raman spectra of the polycrystalline solid. The optimal geometries, conformational stabilities, harmonic force fields, infrared intensities, Raman activities, depolarization ratios, and vibrational frequencies, are reported for both conformers from MP2/6-31G(d) ab initio calculations. The potential function governing the conformational interchange has been obtained from the MP2/6-31G(d) ab initio calculations. The conformational stabilities were calculated from a variety of basis sets and at the highest level of calculations, MP2/6-311 + (2df,2pd), the anti conformer is predicted to be more stable by 178 cm^–1, which is in excellent agreement with the experimental results. The r ₀ adjusted structural parameters have been obtained for propenoyl fluoride and chloride from a combination of the previously reported microwave rotational constants and ab initio predicted parameters. Several of the parameters for the chloride are significantly different than those proposed from an electron diffraction investigation. The results of these spectroscopic, structural, and theoretical studies are discussed and compared to the corresponding results for some similar molecules.     

Equilibrium structure and harmonic force field of the known PH3 and the unknown PH5

The equilibrium geometries and harmonic force fields of PH₃ and PH₅ are calculated in an ab initio way including electron correlation. The results for PH₃ are in very good agreement with experimental values, whereas those for PH₅ have to be regarded as predictions. We find for PH₅ in its equilibrium D _3h structure r _ax = 1.47 Å, r _eq = 1.42 Å and the harmonic vibration frequencies in Table 7 given under the heading “CEPA”. The barrier for Berry inversion is 2 kcal/mol. The ab initio calculation of phosphoranes such as PH₅ not only requires the inclusion of polarization functions (d on P and p on H) but is also very sensitive to the choice of these polarization functions. This problem is taken care of by a detailed comparison of various basis sets. It is confirmed that a (10/6) basis for P in “double zeta contraction” is better balanced than a (12/9) basis in “double zeta contraction” and that the total energy is not a good criterion for the quality of a basis.     

NMR study of some sydnones,isosydnones, and isothiosydnones

Multinuclear¹H,¹³C,¹⁴N,¹⁵N, and¹⁷O NMR data are presented for some sydnones, isosydnones and isothiosydnones. The type of valence tautomerism shown in (Fig. 1) is not observed for the compounds studied. At high pH compounds2 and12 are found to undergo transformations. The more suitable NMR parameters are reported for establishing the structures of mesoionic compounds containing three heteroatoms in the five-membered conjugated ring. Someab initio GIAO calculations on a model structure of sydnones and related compounds have been performed.     

The Raman and IR spectra and normal coordinate analysis of 3-(N-phenylacetylamino)-2,6-piperidinedione,Antineoplaston A10, the new antitumour drug

The Raman and IR spectra of 3-(N-phenylacetylamino)-2,6-piperidinedione, Antineoplaston A10, the new antitumour drug and its N,N-dideuterated derivative have been recorded in the range 4000-30 cm⁻¹. Vibrational assignments are given and are supported by normal coordinate calculations based on a general valence force field. The interaction force constants were transferred intact from the scaled ab initio force fields of structurally related molecules. The calculated frequencies are in very good agreement with the experiment. A striking similarity is noted for frequencies of the corresponding vibrations in Antineoplaston A10 and in uracil derivatives. The results obtained support previous theoretical predictions that the mechanism of action of A10 may be related to its structural and electronic resemblance with pyrimidine bases. The drug may act as their antagonist in the electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding formation with biological molecules.     

An ab initio study of the geometry,harmonic and anharmonic force fields,and fundamental vibrational frequencies of cis- and trans- thiolformic acid

The geometry, harmonic and anharmonic force fields, and fundamental vibrational frequencies of cis- and trans-thiolformic acid are studied ab initio in the 4-31G basis set. An extensive comparison is made between changes in diagonal and off-diagonal quadratic and cubic force constants and diagonal stretching quartic constants in going from the chain to the ring structure in thiolformic acid and formic acid. The changes in the force constants are indicative of a much weaker interaction in the trans conformer between S? H and O?C, compared with O–H and O?C, in keeping with the weaker hydrogenbonding property of the S? H group in general.     

On the use of conformationally dependent geometry trends from ab initio dipeptide studies to refine potentials for the empirical force field CHARMM

Previous 4-21G ab initio geometry optimizations of various conformations of the model dipeptides (N-acetyl N'methyl amides) of glycine (GLY) and the alanine (ALA) have been used to help refine the empirical force constants and equilibrium geometry in the CHARMM force field for peptides. Conformationally dependent geometry trends from ab initio calculations and positions of energy minima on the ab initio energy surfaces have been used as guides in the parameter refinement, leading to modifications in the bond stretch, angle bending, and some torsional parameters. Preliminary results obtained with these refined empirical parameters are presented for the protein Crambin. Results for the cyclic (Ala-Pro-DPhe)₂ are compared with those from other calculations. It seems that the dihedral angle fit achieved by the new parameters is significantly improved compared with results from force fields whose derivation does not include ab initio geometry trends.