Quantum vibrational analysis and infrared spectra of microhydrated sodium ions using an ab initio potential

We present a full-dimensional potential energy surface and a dipole moment surface (DMS) for hydrated sodium ion. These surfaces are based on an n-body expansion for both the potential energy and the dipole moment, truncated at the two-body level for the H(2)O-Na(+) interaction and also for the DMS. The water-water interaction is truncated at the three-body level. The new full-dimensional two-body H(2)O-Na(+) potential is a fit to roughly 20,000 coupled-cluster single double (triple)/aug-cc-pVTZ energies. Properties of this two-body potential and the potential describing (H(2)O)(n)Na(+) clusters, with n up to 4 are given. We then report anharmonic, coupled vibrational calculations with the "local-monomer model" to obtain infrared spectra and also 0 K radial distribution functions for these clusters. Some comparisons are made with the recent infrared predissociation spectroscopy experiments of Miller and Lisy [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 15381 (2008).].     

Quantum calculations of vibrational energies of H3O2- on an ab initio potential

We report a full-dimensional potential energy surface for H3O2-, based on fitting 66,965 ab initio electronic energies. A major feature of this potential is a barrier of roughly 200 cm-1 to internal rotation of the two hydroxyl groups about a line connecting the two oxygen atoms and the bridging hydrogen atom. The potential is used in calculations of vibrational energies, performed with the "Reaction Path" version of the code "MULTIMODE". The results are compared to recent infrared messenger experiments and are used to propose interpretations of the experimental results.     

Full-dimensional vibrational calculations for H5O2+ using an ab initio potential energy surface

We report quantum diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) and variational calculations in full dimensionality for selected vibrational states of H(5)O(2) (+) using a new ab initio potential energy surface [X. Huang, B. Braams, and J. M. Bowman, J. Chem. Phys. 122, 044308 (2005)]. The energy and properties of the zero-point state are focused on in the rigorous DMC calculations. OH-stretch fundamentals are also calculated using "fixed-node" DMC calculations and variationally using two versions of the code MULTIMODE. These results are compared with infrared multiphoton dissociation measurements of Yeh et al. [L. I. Yeh, M. Okumura, J. D. Myers, J. M. Price, and Y. T. Lee, J. Chem. Phys. 91, 7319 (1989)]. Some preliminary results for the energies of several modes of the shared hydrogen are also reported.     

Torsional potential of 4,4'-bipyridine: ab initio analysis of dispersion and vibrational effects

Ab initio calculations using restricted Hartree-Fock, second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2), density-functional theory (DFT), and coupled-cluster methods have been done to obtain the torsional potential-energy profile of the aza-aromatic molecule 4,4'-bipyridine. The torsional potential is evaluated adiabatically by fixing the normalized sum of the dihedral angles through the C-C inter-ring bond at several values along the torsional path and relaxing the remaining degrees of freedom. Previous discrepancies between MP2 and DFT internal rotation barrier heights are removed, and seen to be mostly due to the underestimation of the dispersion energy in the coplanar conformer by MP2 when using relatively small basis sets. The calculations indicate that the barrier height between the twisted global minimum and the 0 degrees conformer is around 1.5-1.8 kcal mol-1 while that corresponding to the 90 degrees one is about 2.0-2.2 kcal mol-1. This same relative energy ordering of the coplanar and perpendicular conformers was experimentally derived from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements of 1H dipolar couplings on 4,4'-bipyridine solutions in a nematic liquid crystal, although the barrier heights are much lower than those estimated from NMR experiments in the gas phase. The DFT infrared spectrum and zero-point vibrational energy corrections to the torsional energy profile have also been calculated, the latter having a small influence on the torsional potential-energy profiles.     

Converged quantum dynamics calculations of vibrational energies of CH4 and CH3D using an ab initio potential

Exact variational calculations of vibrational energies of CH4 and CH3D are carried out using a two-layer Lanczos algorithm based on the ab initio potential energy surface of D. W. Schwenke and H. Partridge, Spectrochim. Acta, Part A 57, 887 (2001). The convergence of the calculated vibrational energies is discussed in detail. In addition, we report all well converged vibrational energy levels up to 6600 cm(-1) for CH4, and those up to 5000 cm(-1) for CH3D, respectively. These results clearly outperform previous theoretical calculations. And a comparison with experimental results available is also made.     

Analysis of the HO2 vibrational spectrum on an accurate ab initio potential energy surface

The complete vibrational spectrum of the HO2(X(2)A' ') radical, up to the H + O2 dissociation limit, has been determined quantum mechanically on an accurate potential energy surface (PES), based on approximately 15000 ab initio points at the icMRCI+Q/aug-cc-pVQZ level of theory. The vibrational states are found to be assignable at low energies but become more irregular as the energy approaches the dissociation limit. However, even at very high energies, regularity still exists, in sharp contrast to earlier results based on the double many-body expansion (DMBE) IV potential. Several Fermi resonances have been identified, and the spectrum is fit with a spectroscopic Hamiltonian. In addition, the vibrational dynamics is analyzed using a periodic orbit approach.     

An ab initio study of the hydrated positron

Ab initio calculations are presented for the hydration energy of the positron. Tetrahedral molecular-dipole-oriented clusters e⁺(H₂O)₄ are considered. In performing these calculations, the Hartree—Fock MO LCAO SCF approximation with the 4-31G split-valence basis set is used. The method was modified to treat the positron problem. It is shown that e⁺ in liquid water, like an electron, can be strongly solvated, with the hydration energy 0.2–0.3 eV greater than that of e⁺.     

In-plane vibrational modes of cytosine from an ab initio MO calculation

Harmonic force constants, in-plane vibrational frequencies, and in-plane vibrational modes of cytosine were calculated by an ab initio Hartree—Fock SCF MO method. The force contants were calculated by the use of an energy gardient method with the STO-3G basis set, and then they were corrected into “4-31G force constants” by the scaling factors given by us previously for the case of uracil. The corrected set of force constants can produce a calculated vibrational spectra of cytosine and cytosine-1,amino-d₃, that can be well corrected with the observed Raman and infrared spectra of these compounds, with little ambiguity. Thus, the assignments of all the in-plane vibrations are now practically established. The calculated vibrational modes, in addition, can account for the recently published resonance Raman effects of cytosine residue.     

An ab initio potential energy surface and vibrational energy levels of ZnH2

A three‐dimensional potential energy surface of the electronic ground state of ZnH₂ (${X}^1\sum _g^ +$ ) molecule is constructed from more than 7500 ab initio points calculated at the internally contracted multireference configuration interaction with the Davidson correction (icMRCI+Q) level employing large basis sets. The calculated relative energies of various dissociation reactions are in good agreement with the previous theoretical/experimental values. Low‐lying vibrational energy levels of ZnH₂, ZnD₂, and HZnD are calculated on the three‐dimensional potential energy surface using the Lanczos algorithm, and found to be in good agreement with the available experimental band origins and the previous theoretical values. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010     

High-level ab initio potential energy surfaces and vibrational energies of H2CS

Six-dimensional (6D) potential energy surfaces (PESs) of H(2)CS have been generated ab initio using the recently proposed explicitly correlated (F12) singles and doubles coupled cluster method including a perturbational estimate of connected triple excitations, CCSD(T)-F12b [T. B. Adler, G. Knizia, and H.-J. Werner, J. Chem. Phys. 127, 221106 (2007)] in conjunction with F12-optimized correlation consistent basis sets. Core-electron correlation, high-order correlation, scalar relativistic, and diagonal Born-Oppenheimer terms were included as additive high-level (HL) corrections. The resulting 6D PESs were represented by analytical functions which were used in variational calculations of the vibrational term values below 5000 cm(-1). The best PESs obtained with and without the HL corrections, VQZ-F12(*HL) and VQZ-F12?, reproduce the fundamental vibrational wavenumbers with mean absolute deviations of 1.13 and 1.22 cm(-1), respectively. A detailed analysis of the effects of the HL corrections shows how the VQZ-F12 results benefit from error cancellation. The present purely ab initio PESs will be useful as starting points for empirical refinements towards an accurate "spectroscopic" PES of H(2)CS.     

Conformational studies on L-serine phosphate and hydrated L-serine phosphate using ab initio SCF calculations

Ab initio MO -LCAO -SCF calculations using an STO -3G basis set were performed to find the most stable conformations of L -serine phosphate and hydrated L -serine phosphate. The most favorable conformation of L -serine phosphate is found to be one where the bond sequence O? C? C? C is trans and P? O? C? C gauche, and a very short hydrogen bond is formed between an oxygen atom of the phosphate group and a hydrogen atom of the ammonium group. For hydrated L -serine phosphate, a bridge-type hydration in which a water molecule links a phosphate oxygen and an ammonium hydrogen displays particularly low energy. In the four-hydrated L -serine phosphate anion, the most favorable conformation is such a bridged one having a rather extended configuration with regard to the bond sequences O? C? C? C and P? O? C? C.     

FT-IR, FT-Raman spectra and ab initio DFT vibrational analysis of p-bromophenoxyacetic acid

The Fourier transform Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectra of p-bromophenoxyacetic acid were recorded in the solid phase. The equilibrium geometry, harmonic vibrational frequencies, infrared intensities and Raman scattering activities were calculated by HF and DFT (B3LYP) method with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set. The scaled theoretical wavenumbers showed very good agreement with the experimental ones. A detailed interpretation of the infrared and Raman spectra of p-bromophenoxyacetic acid is reported on the basis of the calculated potential energy distribution. The theoretical spectrograms for the IR spectrum of the title molecule have been constructed.     

Quantum wavepacket ab initio molecular dynamics: an approach for computing dynamically averaged vibrational spectra including critical nuclear quantum effects

We have introduced a computational methodology to study vibrational spectroscopy in clusters inclusive of critical nuclear quantum effects. This approach is based on the recently developed quantum wavepacket ab initio molecular dynamics method that combines quantum wavepacket dynamics with ab initio molecular dynamics. The computational efficiency of the dynamical procedure is drastically improved (by several orders of magnitude) through the utilization of wavelet-based techniques combined with the previously introduced time-dependent deterministic sampling procedure measure to achieve stable, picosecond length, quantum-classical dynamics of electrons and nuclei in clusters. The dynamical information is employed to construct a novel cumulative flux/velocity correlation function, where the wavepacket flux from the quantized particle is combined with classical nuclear velocities to obtain the vibrational density of states. The approach is demonstrated by computing the vibrational density of states of [Cl-H-Cl]-, inclusive of critical quantum nuclear effects, and our results are in good agreement with experiment. A general hierarchical procedure is also provided, based on electronic structure harmonic frequencies, classical ab initio molecular dynamics, computation of nuclear quantum-mechanical eigenstates, and employing quantum wavepacket ab initio dynamics to understand vibrational spectroscopy in hydrogen-bonded clusters that display large degrees of anharmonicities.     

Torsion-wagging tunneling and vibrational states in hydrazine determined from its ab initio potential energy surface

Geometries, anharmonic vibrations, and torsion-wagging (TW) multiplets of hydrazine and its deuterated species are studied using high-level ab initio methods employing the second-order Mo?ller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) as well as the coupled cluster singles and doubles model including connected triple corrections, CCSD(T), in conjunction with extended basis sets containing diffuse and core functions. To describe the splitting patterns caused by tunneling in TW states, the 3D potential energy surface (PES) for the large-amplitude TW modes is constructed. Stationary points in the 3D PES, including equivalent local minima and saddle points are characterized. Using this 3D PES, a flexible Hamiltonian is built numerically and then employed to solve the vibrational problem for TW coupled motion. The calculated ground state r(av) structure is expected to be more reliable than the experimental one that has been determined using a simplified structural model. The calculated fundamental frequencies allowed resolution of the assignment problems discussed earlier in the literature. The determined energy barriers, including the contributions from the small-amplitude vibrations, to the tunneling of the symmetric and antisymmetric wagging mode of 1997 cm(-1) and 3454 cm(-1), respectively, are in reasonable agreement with the empirical estimates of 2072 cm(-1) and 3312 cm(-1), respectively [W. ?odyga et al. J. Mol. Spectrosc. 183, 374 (1997)]. However, the empirical torsion barrier of 934 cm(-1) appears to be overestimated. The ab initio calculations yield two torsion barriers: cis and trans of 744 cm(-1) and 2706 cm(-1), respectively. The multiplets of the excited torsion states are predicted from the refined 3D PES.     

Uncertainties in scaling factors for ab initio vibrational frequencies

Vibrational frequencies determined from ab initio calculations are often scaled by empirical factors. An empirical scaling factor partially compensates for the errors arising from vibrational anharmonicity and incomplete treatment of electron correlation. These errors are not random but are systematic biases. We report scaling factors for 40 combinations of theory and basis set, intended for predicting the fundamental frequencies from computed harmonic frequencies. An empirical scaling factor carries uncertainty. We quantify and report, for the first time, the uncertainties associated with the scaling factors. The uncertainties are larger than generally acknowledged; the scaling factors have only two significant digits. For example, the scaling factor for HF/6-31G(d) is 0.8982 +/- 0.0230 (standard uncertainty). The uncertainties in the scaling factors lead to corresponding uncertainties in predicted vibrational frequencies. The proposed method for quantifying the uncertainties associated with scaling factors is based on the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement, published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The data used are from the Computational Chemistry Comparison and Benchmark Database (CCCBDB), maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which includes more than 3939 independent vibrations for 358 molecules.     

A chemometric analysis of ab initio vibrational frequencies and infrared intensities of methyl fluoride

Factorial design and principal component analyses are applied to CH₃F infrared frequencies and intensities calculated from ab initio wave functions. In the factorial analysis, the quantitative effects of changing from a 6–31G to a 6–311G basis, of including polarization and diffuse orbitals, and of correcting for electron correlation using the second-order Møller-Plesset procedure are determined for all frequencies and intensities. The most significant main effect observed for the frequencies corresponds to the shift from Hartree-Fock to MP2 calculations, which tends to lower all frequency values by approximately 100 cm⁻¹. For the intensities, the main effects are larger for the CF stretching and the CH₃ asymmetric stretching modes. Interaction effects between two or more of the four factors are found to be of minor importance, except for the interaction between correlation and polarization. The principal component analysis indicates that wave functions with polarization and diffuse orbitals at the second-order Møller-Plesset level provide the best estimates for the harmonic frequencies, but not for the intensities. For the frequencies, the first principal component distinguishes between MP2 and Hartree-Fock calculations, while the second component separates the wave functions with polarization orbitals from those without these orbitals. For the intensities, the separation is similar but less well defined. This analysis also shows that wave function optimization to calculate accurate intensities is more difficult than an optimization for frequencies. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Comparison of ab initio and density functional methods for vibrational analysis of TeCl4

Vibrational analysis of tellurium tetrachloride, TeCl₄, was performed with Hartree–Fock (HF), MP2, and generalized gradient approximation density functional theory (DFT) methods supplemented with polarized double-zeta split valence (DZVP) basis sets and relativistic effective core potentials (RECP) of Hay and Wadt. The molecular geometry is best reproduced at the HF and MP2/RECP+DZVP [polarized Hay and Wadt RECP for Te and 6–31G(d) basis set for Cl] levels of theory. The DFT methods gave rise to poorer results, especially those using Becke's 1988 exchange functional. Generally, the vibrational frequencies calculated by the MP2 and B3-type DFT methods with the all electron and RECP+DZVP basis sets as well as at the HF/RECP level were in satisfactory accord with the experimental data. The agreement was good enough to assist the assignment of the measured vibrational spectra. The best agreement with the experimental vibrational frequencies was achieved with the scaled HF/RECP force field. Consistent results were obtained for the unobserved A₂ (ν₄) fundamental, where the results of the best methods were within 4 cm⁻¹. The best force fields were obtained with the following methods: Becke3–Lee–Yang–Parr and Becke3–Perdew/all electron basis, MP2 and Becke3-Perdew/RECP+DZVP, and HF/RECP. The methods using RECPs are advantageous for large-scale computations. The RECP basis set effectively compensates the errors of the HF method for TeCl₄; however, it provides poor results with correlated methods. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 19: 308–318, 1998     

Many-body optimization using an ab initio monte carlo method

Advances in computing power have made it possible to study solvated molecules using ab initio quantum chemistry. Inclusion of discrete solvent molecules is required to determine geometric information about solute/solvent clusters. Monte Carlo methods are well suited to finding minima in many-body systems, and ab initio methods are applicable to the widest range of systems. A first principles Monte Carlo (FPMC) method was developed to find minima in many-body systems, and emphasis was placed on implementing moves that increase the likelihood of finding minimum energy structures. Partial optimization and molecular interchange moves aid in finding minima and overcome the incomplete sampling that is unavoidable when using ab initio methods. FPMC was validated by studying the boron trifluoride-water system, and then the method was used to examine the methyl carbenium ion in water to demonstrate its application to solvation problems.     

FTIR, FT-Raman spectra and ab initio, DFT vibrational analysis of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine

The FTIR and FT-Raman spectra of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (2,4-DNPH) has been recorded in the region 4000-400 and 3500-50cm-1, respectively. The optimized geometry, frequency and intensity of the vibrational bands of 2,4-DNPH were obtained by the ab initio and density functional theory (DFT) levels of theory with complete relaxation in the potential energy surface using 6-31G(d,p) and 6-311G(d,p) basis sets. The harmonic vibrational frequencies were calculated and the scaled values have been compared with experimental FTIR and FT-Raman spectra. The observed and the calculated frequencies are found to be in good agreement. The experimental spectra also coincide satisfactorily with those of theoretically constructed bar type spectrograms.