Potential-energy surface for the electronic ground state of NH3 up to 20,000 cm-1 above equilibrium

Ab initio coupled cluster calculations with single and double substitutions and a perturbative treatment of connected triple excitations [CCSD(T)] with the augmented correlation-consistent polarized valence triple-zeta aug-cc-pVTZ basis at 51 816 geometries provide a six-dimensional potential-energy surface for the electronic ground state of NH3. At 3814 selected geometries, CBS+ energies are obtained by extrapolating the CCSD(T) results for the aug-cc-pVXZ(X=T,Q,5) basis sets to the complete basis set (CBS) limit and adding corrections for core-valence correlation and relativistic effects. CBS** ab initio energies are generated at 51,816 geometries by an empirical extrapolation of the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ results to the CBS+ limit. They cover the energy region up to 20,000 cm-1 above equilibrium. Parametrized analytical functions are fitted through the ab initio points. For these analytical surfaces, vibrational term values and transition moments are calculated by means of a variational program employing a kinetic-energy operator expressed in the Eckart-Sayvetz frame. Comparisons against experiment are used to assess the quality of the generated potential-energy surfaces. A "spectroscopic" potential-energy surface of NH3 is determined by a slight empirical adjustment of the ab initio potential to the experimental vibrational term values. Variational calculations on this refined surface yield rms deviations from experiment of 0.8 cm-1 for 24 inversion splittings and 0.4 (3.0) cm-1 for 34 (51) vibrational term values up to 6100 (10,300) cm-1.     

FTIR and FT-Raman spectra, molecular geometry, vibrational assignments, first-order hyperpolarizability, ab initio and DFT calculations for 3,4-dimethoxybenzonitrile

Quantum chemical calculations of energies, geometrical structure and vibrational wave numbers of 3,4-dimethoxybenzonitrile (DMBN) were carried out by the ab initio Hartree-Fock (HF) and density functional theory (DFT) with complete relaxation in the potential energy surface using 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. The computed values of frequencies are scaled using a suitable scale factor to yield good coherence with the observed values. Making use of the recorded data, the complete vibrational assignments are made and analysis of the observed fundamental bands of molecule is carried out. The geometries and normal modes of vibrations obtained from ab initio HF and B3LYP calculations are in good agreement with the experimentally observed data. The electric dipole moment (μ) and the first hyperpolarizability (β) values of the investigated molecule have been computed using ab initio quantum mechanical calculations. The calculated HOMO and LUMO energies show that charge transfer occur within the molecule. The theoretical FTIR and FT-Raman spectra for the title molecule have been constructed.     

Theoretical investigation of the He-I2(E3Πg) ion-pair state: ab initio intermolecular potential and vibrational levels

We present a theoretical study on the potential energy surface and vibrational bound states of the E electronic excited state of the HeI(2) van der Waals system. The interaction energies are computed using accurate ab initio methods and large basis sets. Relativistic small-core effective core potentials in conjunction with a quintuple-zeta quality basis set are employed for the heavy iodine atoms in multireference configuration interaction calculations for the (3)A' and (3)A" states. For the representation of the potential energy surface we used a general interpolation technique for constructing potential surfaces from ab initio data based on the reproducing kernel Hilbert space method. The surface presents global and local minima for T-shaped configurations with well-depths of 33.2 and 4.6 cm(-1), respectively. Vibrational energies and states are computed through variational quantum mechanical calculations. We found that the binding energy of the HeI(2)(E) T-shaped isomer is 16.85 cm(-1), in excellent agreement with recent experimental measurements. In lieu of more experimental data we also report our predictions on higher vibrational levels and we analyze the influence of the underlying surface on them. This is the first attempt to represent the potential surface of such a highly excited electronic state of a van der Waals complex, and it demonstrates the capability of the ab initio technology to provide accurate results for carrying out reliable studies to model experimental data.     

Density functional theory study on molecular structure and vibrational IR spectra of isocytosine

Density functional theory with the combined Becke3-LYP exchange-correlation energy functional [DFT(B3-LYP) method] using the 6-31G(d, p) basis set is applied to predict molecular parameters (geometries, rotational constants, dipole moments) and vibrational IR spectra (harmonic wavenumbers, absolute intensities) of six tautomers of the isocytosine molecule. The results are compared with the corresponding data calculated at the conventional ab initio Hartree-Fock (HF) level using the same basis set and with available experimental data. Calculations show that (a) three amino tautomers are slightly nonplanar species with, evidently, a distorted amino group, (b) the DFT (B3-LYP)/6-31G(d, p) method predicts better molecular parameters, than do the HF calculations, and (c) the DFT(B3-LYP)-calculated vibrational IR spectra of isocytosine agree well with the available recorded IR spectra, and they show marked improvement over the IR spectra predicted at the HF/6-31G(d, p) level. Tautomeric stabilities of isocytosine are discussed on the basis of computed electronic energies by the DFT(B3-LYP) and ab initio approaches [including the MP2 and MP4(SDQ) calculations of electronic energies] and predicted zero-point vibrational energies by DFT(B3-LYP) and HF methods. This relative energies at 0 K of the tautomeric forms of isocytosine predicted by both conventional ab initio and DFT(B3-LYP) methods correlate well with the experimental data, showing the predominance of the aminohydroxy tautomer of isocytosine for an isolated molecule. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Calculation of standard electrode potential of half reaction for benzoquinone and hydroquinone

Geometric parameters, the vibrational frequencies and thermochemical values of benzoquinone and hydroquinone were computed using ab initio molecular orbital calculations (HF) and density function theory (B3LYP) methods with the 6-31G(d) basis set, respectively. The calculated frequencies for benzoquinone and hydroquinone were used for the assignment of the IR frequencies observed in the experimental IR spectrum. Cyclic voltammetry with a glassy carbon electrode of hydroquinone solutions in phosphate buffers at pH 7.0 showed that standard electrode potential of half reaction for benzoquinone and hydroquinone is 0.714V. Standard electrode potential of half reaction for benzoquinone and hydroquinone was calculated using the sum of electronic and thermal free energies, enthalpies of sublimation and energies of solvation for benzoquinone and hydroquinone.     

CVRQD ab initio ground-state adiabatic potential energy surfaces for the water molecule

The high accuracy ab initio adiabatic potential energy surfaces (PESs) of the ground electronic state of the water molecule, determined originally by Polyansky et al. [Science 299, 539 (2003)] and called CVRQD, are extended and carefully characterized and analyzed. The CVRQD potential energy surfaces are obtained from extrapolation to the complete basis set of nearly full configuration interaction valence-only electronic structure computations, augmented by core, relativistic, quantum electrodynamics, and diagonal Born-Oppenheimer corrections. We also report ab initio calculations of several quantities characterizing the CVRQD PESs, including equilibrium and vibrationally averaged (0 K) structures, harmonic and anharmonic force fields, harmonic vibrational frequencies, vibrational fundamentals, and zero-point energies. They can be considered as the best ab initio estimates of these quantities available today. Results of first-principles computations on the rovibrational energy levels of several isotopologues of the water molecule are also presented, based on the CVRQD PESs and the use of variational nuclear motion calculations employing an exact kinetic energy operator given in orthogonal internal coordinates. The variational nuclear motion calculations also include a simplified treatment of nonadiabatic effects. This sophisticated procedure to compute rovibrational energy levels reproduces all the known rovibrational levels of the water isotopologues considered, H(2) (16)O, H(2) (17)O, H(2) (18)O, and D(2) (16)O, to better than 1 cm(-1) on average. Finally, prospects for further improvement of the ground-state adiabatic ab initio PESs of water are discussed.     

Towards accurate ab initio predictions of the vibrational spectrum of methane

We have carried out extensive ab initio calculations of the electronic structure of methane, and these results are used to compute vibrational energy levels. We include basis set extrapolations, core-valence correlation, relativistic effects, and Born-Oppenheimer breakdown terms in our calculations. Our ab initio predictions of the lowest lying levels are superb.     

Theoretical investigation of the dissociation dynamics of vibrationally excited vinyl bromide on an ab initio potential-energy surface obtained using modified novelty sampling and feed-forward neural networks

The reaction dynamics of vibrationally excited vinyl bromide have been investigated using classical trajectory methods on a neural network potential surface that is fitted to an ab initio database of 12 122 configuration energies obtained from electronic structure calculations conducted at the MP4(SDQ) level of theory using a 6-31G(d,p) basis set for the carbon and hydrogen atoms and Huzinaga's (43334334) basis set augmented with split outer s and p orbitals (4332143214) and a polarization f orbital with an exponent of 0.5 for the bromine atom. The sampling of the 12-dimensional configuration hyperspace of vinyl bromide prior to execution of the electronic structure calculations is accomplished by combining novelty-sampling methods, chemical intuition, and trajectory sampling on empirical and neural network surfaces. The final potential is obtained using a two-layer feed-forward neural network comprising 38 and 1 neurons, respectively, with hyperbolic tangent sigmoid and linear transfer functions in the hidden and output layers, respectively. The fitting is accomplished using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm with early stopping and Bayesian regularization methods to avoid overfitting. The interpolated potentials have a standard deviation from the ab initio results of 0.0578 eV, which is within the range generally regarded as "chemical accuracy" for the purposes of electronic structure calculations. It is shown that the potential surface may be easily and conveniently transferred from one research group to another. The files required for transfer of the vinyl bromide surface can be obtained from the Electronic Physics Auxiliary Publication Service. Total dissociation rate coefficients for vinyl bromide are obtained at five different excitation energies between 4.50 and 6.44 eV. Branching ratios into each of the six open reaction channels are computed at 24 vibrational energies in the range between 4.00 and 6.44 eV. The distribution of vibrational energies in HBr formed via three-center dissociation from vinyl bromide is determined and compared with previous theoretical and experimental results. It is concluded that the combination of ab initio electronic structure calculations, novelty sampling with chemical intuition and trajectories on empirical analytic surfaces, and feed-forward neural networks provides a viable framework in which to execute purely ab initio molecular-dynamics studies on complex systems with multiple open reaction channels.     

Vibrational spectroscopic, first-order hyperpolarizability and HOMO, LUMO studies of 1,2-dichloro-4-nitrobenzene based on Hartree-Fock and DFT calculations

The Fourier-transform infrared spectrum of 1,2-dichloro-4-nitrobenzene (DCNB) was recorded in the region 4000-400cm(-1). The Fourier-transform Raman spectrum of DCNB was also recorded in the region 3500-50cm(-1). Quantum chemical calculations of energies, geometrical structure and vibrational wavenumbers of DCNB were carried out by ab initio HF and density functional theory (DFT/B3LYP) method with 6-31+G(d,p) basis set. The difference between the observed and scaled wavenumber values of most of the fundamentals is very small. The values of the total dipole moment (μ) and the first-order hyperpolarizability (β) of the investigated compound were computed using ab initio quantum mechanical calculations. The calculated results also show that the DCNB might have microscopic nonlinear optical (NLO) behavior with non-zero values. A detailed interpretation of the infrared and Raman spectra of DCNB is also reported based on total energy distribution (TED). The calculated HOMO and LUMO energies shows that charge transfer occur within the molecule. The theoretical FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra for the title compound have also been constructed.     

Quantum and classical studies of vibrational motion of CH5+ on a global potential energy surface obtained from a novel ab initio direct dynamics approach

We report a full dimensional, ab initio based potential energy surface for CH(5) (+). The ab initio electronic energies and gradients are obtained in direct-dynamics calculations using second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory with the correlation consistent polarized valence triple zeta basis. The potential energy and the dipole moment surfaces are fit using novel procedures that ensure the full permutational symmetry of the system. The fitted potential energy surface is tested by comparing it against additional electronic energy calculations and by comparing normal mode frequencies at the three lowest-lying stationary points obtained from the fit against ab initio ones. Well-converged diffusion Monte Carlo zero-point energies, rotational constants, and projections along the CH and HH bond lengths and the tunneling coordinates are presented and compared with the corresponding harmonic oscillator and standard classical molecular dynamics ones. The delocalization of the wave function is analyzed through comparison of the CH(5) (+) distributions with those obtained when all of the hydrogen atoms are replaced by (2)H and (3)H. The classical dipole correlation function is examined as a function of the total energy. This provides a further probe of the delocalization of CH(5) (+).     

Complete basis set ab initio computational study of ionization potential, electron affinity and the C-F bond dissociation energy for perfluorinated methane derivatives

A computational study of perfluorinated methane derivatives was performed with complete basis set ab initio methods. The total energies for their neutral, cation, and anionic states were computed. From these values, the energy gaps between different electronic states, ionization potentials, electron affinities, and C-F bond dissociation energies were calculated. The computed values are compared with experimental data and the reliability of complete basis set ab initio methods is discussed. New values for C-F bond dissociation energies are suggested. Received: 12 January 1998 / Accepted: 2 April 1998 / Published online: 29 July 1998     

Molecular structures and vibrational frequencies of 2-, 3- and 4-pyridine carboxaldehydes by ab initio Hartree-Fock and density functional theory calculations

The optimised molecular structures, vibrational frequencies and corresponding vibrational assignments of the cis and trans conformers of 2-, 3- and 4-pyridine carboxaldehydes have been calculated using ab initio Hartree-Fock (HF) and density functional theory (B3LYP) methods with 6-311++G(d, p) basis set. The calculations were adapted to the C(S) symmetries of all the molecules. The mean vibrational deviations between the vibrational frequency values of the two conformers of all the compounds have been seen to increase while the relative energies increase and it was concluded the more different the molecular structure of the two conformers is the higher the relative energy is between them, and thus a bigger mean vibrational deviation.     

Ab initio based potential energy surfaces and Franck-Condon analysis of ionization thresholds of cyclic-C3H and linear-C3H

We report a Franck-Condon analysis in reduced dimensionality of the ionization thresholds of linear(l)-C3H and cyclic(c)-C3H using MP2-based potential energy surfaces and CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ calculations of electronic energies at selected geometries. The potential energy surfaces are fits to tens of thousands of MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ energies for the neutral and cation systems. These fits properly describe the invariance of the potential with respect to all permutations of the three C atoms. The realism of the potential surfaces is assessed by comparing stationary-point structures, energies, and normal-mode frequencies with previous high-level ab initio calculations. Several key vibrational modes in this ionization process are located at saddle points and so a numerical approach to obtain the Franck-Condon factors for those modes is done. On the basis of this analysis combined with a simple harmonic treatment of the energies of the remaining modes and key electronic energy differences obtained with CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ calculations, we find the threshold ionization energy of l-C3H to be 9.06 eV and for c-C3H we estimate the threshold to be in the range 9.70-9.76 eV. We estimate these values are accurate to within +/-0.05 eV.     

Vibrational frequencies and infrared intensities of the hydrogen-bonded complexes of nitrous acid with ethers: ab initio and DFT studies

The vibrational spectra of the binary complexes formed by HONO-trans and HONO-cis with dimethyl and diethyl ethers have been investigated using ab initio calculations at the SCF and MP2 levels with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set and B3LYP calculations with 6-31G(d,p) and 6-31+G(d,p) basis sets. Full geometry optimisation was made for the complexes studied. The accuracy of the ab initio calculations have been estimated by comparison between the predicted values of the vibrational characteristics (vibrational frequencies and infrared intensities) and the available experimental data. It was established, that the methods, used in this study are well adapted to the problem under examination. The predicted values with the B3LYP calculations are very near to the results, obtained with 6-311++G(d,p)/MP2. The ab initio and DFT calculations show that the changes in the vibrational characteristics (vibrational frequencies and infrared intensities) upon hydrogen bonding for the hydrogen-bonded complex (CH3)2O...HONO-trans are larger than for the complex (CH3)2O...HONO-cis.     

Theory of the photodissociation of ozone in the Hartley continuum: potential energy surfaces, conical intersections, and photodissociation dynamics

Ab initio potential energy and transition dipole moment surfaces are presented for the five lowest singlet even symmetry electronic states of ozone. The surfaces are calculated using the complete active space self consistent field method followed by contracted multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) calculations. A slightly reduced augmented correlation consistent valence triple-zeta orbital basis set is used. The ground and excited state energies of the molecule have been computed at 9282 separate nuclear geometries. Cuts through the potential energy surfaces, which pass through the geometry of the minimum of the ground electronic state, show several closely avoided crossings. Close examination, and higher level calculations, very strongly suggests that some of these seemingly avoided crossings are in fact associated with non-symmetry related conical intersections. Diabatic potential energy and transition dipole moment surfaces are created from the computed ab initio adiabatic MRCI energies and transition dipole moments. The transition dipole moment connecting the ground electronic state to the diabatic B state surface is by far the strongest. Vibrational-rotational wavefunctions and energies are computed using the ground electronic state. The energy level separations compare well with experimentally determined values. The ground vibrational state wavefunction is then used, together with the diabatic B<--X transition dipole moment surface, to form an initial wavepacket. The analysis of the time-dependent quantum dynamics of this wavepacket provides the total and partial photodissociation cross sections for the system. Both the total absorption cross section and the predicted product quantum state distributions compare well with experimental observations. A discussion is also given as to how the observed alternation in product diatom rotational state populations might be explained.     

Dipole moment and rovibrational intensities in the electronic ground state of NH3: bridging the gap between ab initio theory and spectroscopic experiment

We report theoretical values for the transition moments of an extensive set of vibrational bands in the electronic ground state of (14)NH(3). For selected bands, we have further made detailed simulations of the rotational structure. The calculations are carried out by means of recently developed computational procedures for describing the nuclear motion and are based on a high-level ab initio potential energy surface, and high-level dipole moment surfaces, for the electronic ground state of NH(3). The reported theoretical intensity values are compared to, and found to agree very well with, corresponding experimental results. It is believed that the computational method, in conjunction with high-quality ab initio potential energy and dipole moment surfaces, can simulate rotation-vibration spectra of XY(3) pyramidal molecules prior to observation with sufficient accuracy to facilitate the observation of these spectra. By degrading the accuracy of selected elements of the calculations, we have also investigated the influence of customary approximations on the computed intensity values.     

Time-dependent Wave Packet Quantum Scattering Study of Reaction S(3P)+H2→HS+H on a New ab initio Potential Energy Surface 3A'

A new potential energy surface is presented for the triplet state ³A' of the chemical reaction S(³P)+H₂ from a set of accurate ab initio data. The single point energies are computed using highly correlated complete active space self-consistent-field and multi-reference config-uration interaction wave functions with a basis set of aug-cc-pV5Z. We have fitted the full set of energy values using many-body expansion method with an Aguado-Paniagua function. Based on the new potential energy surface, we carry out the time-dependent wave packet scattering calculations over the collision energy range of 0.8～2.2 eV. Both the centrifugal-sudden approximation and Coriolis Coupling cross sections are obtained. In addition, the total reaction probabilities are calculated for the reactant H₂ initially in the vibrational states v=0～3 (j=0). It is found that initial vibrational excitation enhances the title reaction.     

Theoretical investigation of the dissociation dynamics of vibrationally excited vinyl bromide on an ab initio potential-energy surface obtained using modified novelty sampling and feedforward neural networks. II. Numerical application of the method

A previously reported method for conducting molecular dynamics simulations of gas-phase chemical dynamics on ab initio potential-energy surfaces using modified novelty sampling and feedforward neural networks is applied to the investigation of the unimolecular dissociation of vinyl bromide. The neural network is fitted to a database comprising the MP4(SDQ) energies computed for 71 969 nuclear configurations using an extended basis set. Dissociation rate coefficients and branching ratios at an internal excitation energy of 6.44 eV for all six open reaction channels are reported. The distribution of vibrational energy in HBr formed in three-center dissociation is computed and found to be in excellent accord with experimental measurements. Computational requirements for the electronic structure calculations, neural network training, and trajectory calculations are given. The weight and bias matrices required for implementation of the neural network potential are made available through the Supplementary Material.