A calculation of the relative protonation energies of amines in solution

Relative protonation energies in the primary, secondary and tertiary aliphatic series of amines are calculated by a semiempirical method employing the virtual charge model. The method accounts quite well for the observed differences between the gas-phase protonation affinities and the protonation enthalpies in solution, but when allowance is made for steric shielding from the bulk solvent for “non-edge” atoms, some anomalies in the uncorrected model are removed. The calculated solute-solvent interactions are related to experimental enthalpies of solution and to trends expected from the Born model.     

Using the local elevation method to construct optimized umbrella sampling potentials: Calculation of the relative free energies and interconversion barriers of glucopyranose ring conformers in water

A method is proposed to combine the local elevation (LE) conformational searching and the umbrella sampling (US) conformational sampling approaches into a single local elevation umbrella sampling (LEUS) scheme for (explicit‐solvent) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In this approach, an initial (relatively short) LE build‐up (searching) phase is used to construct an optimized biasing potential within a subspace of conformationally relevant degrees of freedom, that is then used in a (comparatively longer) US sampling phase. This scheme dramatically enhances (in comparison with plain MD) the sampling power of MD simulations, taking advantage of the fact that the preoptimized biasing potential represents a reasonable approximation to the negative of the free energy surface in the considered conformational subspace. The method is applied to the calculation of the relative free energies of β‐D ‐glucopyranose ring conformers in water (within the GROMOS 45A4 force field). Different schemes to assign sampled conformational regions to distinct states are also compared. This approach, which bears some analogies with adaptive umbrella sampling and metadynamics (but within a very distinct implementation), is shown to be: (i) efficient (nearly all the computational effort is invested in the actual sampling phase rather than in searching and equilibration); (ii) robust (the method is only weakly sensitive to the details of the build‐up protocol, even for relatively short build‐up times); (iii) versatile (a LEUS biasing potential database could easily be preoptimized for small molecules and assembled on a fragment basis for larger ones). © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 2010     

Calculation of the relative activation energies for reactions forming metal sulfides

Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry -     

Coexistence of 1,3-butadiene conformers in ionization energies and Dyson orbitals

The minimum-energy structures on the torsional potential-energy surface of 1,3-butadiene have been studied quantum mechanically using a range of models including ab initio Hartree-Fock and second-order M?ller-Plesset theories, outer valence Green's function, and density-functional theory with a hybrid functional and statistical average orbital potential model in order to understand the binding-energy (ionization energy) spectra and orbital cross sections observed by experiments. The unique full geometry optimization process locates the s-trans-1,3-butadiene as the global minimum structure and the s-gauche-1,3-butadiene as the local minimum structure. The latter possesses the dihedral angle of the central carbon bond of 32.81 degrees in agreement with the range of 30 degrees-41 degrees obtained by other theoretical models. Ionization energies in the outer valence space of the conformer pair have been obtained using Hartree-Fock, outer valence Green's function, and density-functional (statistical average orbital potentials) models, respectively. The Hartree-Fock results indicate that electron correlation (and orbital relaxation) effects become more significant towards the inner shell. The spectroscopic pole strengths calculated in the Green's function model are in the range of 0.85-0.91, suggesting that the independent particle picture is a good approximation in the present study. The binding energies from the density-functional (statisticaly averaged orbital potential) model are in good agreement with photoelectron spectroscopy, and the simulated Dyson orbitals in momentum space approximated by the density-functional orbitals using plane-wave impulse approximation agree well with those from experimental electron momentum spectroscopy. The coexistence of the conformer pair under the experimental conditions is supported by the approximated experimental binding-energy spectra due to the split conformer orbital energies, as well as the orbital momentum distributions of the mixed conformer pair observed in the orbital cross sections of electron momentum spectroscopy.     

Theoretical study of the relative stability of rotational conformers of alpha and beta-D-glucopyranose in gas phase and aqueous solution

The alpha-beta anomer energy difference and the stability of 10 rotamers of counterclockwise D-glucopyranose were studied in vacuo and in aqueous solution at the B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level. To obtain the solute charge distribution and the solvent structure around it, we used the averaged solvent electrostatic potential from molecular dynamics method, ASEP/MD, which alternates molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics calculations in an iterative procedure. The main characteristics of the anomeric equilibrium, both in vacuo and in solution, are well reproduced. The relative stability of the different anomers is related to the availability of the free pairs of electrons in the anomeric oxygen to interact with the water molecules. The influence of solvation in the conformer equilibrium is also analyzed.     

A reoptimized GROMOS force field for hexopyranose-based carbohydrates accounting for the relative free energies of ring conformers, anomers, epimers, hydroxymethyl rotamers, and glycosidic linkage conformers

This article presents a reoptimization of the GROMOS 53A6 force field for hexopyranose-based carbohydrates (nearly equivalent to 45A4 for pure carbohydrate systems) into a new version 56A(CARBO) (nearly equivalent to 53A6 for non-carbohydrate systems). This reoptimization was found necessary to repair a number of shortcomings of the 53A6 (45A4) parameter set and to extend the scope of the force field to properties that had not been included previously into the parameterization procedure. The new 56A(CARBO) force field is characterized by: (i) the formulation of systematic build-up rules for the automatic generation of force-field topologies over a large class of compounds including (but not restricted to) unfunctionalized polyhexopyranoses with arbritrary connectivities; (ii) the systematic use of enhanced sampling methods for inclusion of experimental thermodynamic data concerning slow or unphysical processes into the parameterization procedure; and (iii) an extensive validation against available experimental data in solution and, to a limited extent, theoretical (quantum-mechanical) data in the gas phase. At present, the 56A(CARBO) force field is restricted to compounds of the elements C, O, and H presenting single bonds only, no oxygen functions other than alcohol, ether, hemiacetal, or acetal, and no cyclic segments other than six-membered rings (separated by at least one intermediate atom). After calibration, this force field is shown to reproduce well the relative free energies of ring conformers, anomers, epimers, hydroxymethyl rotamers, and glycosidic linkage conformers. As a result, the 56A(CARBO) force field should be suitable for: (i) the characterization of the dynamics of pyranose ring conformational transitions (in simulations on the microsecond timescale); (ii) the investigation of systems where alternative ring conformations become significantly populated; (iii) the investigation of anomerization or epimerization in terms of free-energy differences; and (iv) the design of simulation approaches accelerating the anomerization process along an unphysical pathway.     

Ab Initio computed molecular structures and energies of the conformers of glucose

Ab initio computations indicate the existence of several stable and some unstable conformers in isolated α and β glucose molecules. All of the lower-energy conformers exhibit a strikingly regular pattern of internal hydrogen bonding. Five such stable structures have been identified for each of the α and β anomers, differing primarily in the orientation of the CH₂OH group. In each conformer, the α anomer is predicted to be lower in energy than the corresponding conformers of β anomer. The difference is about 2 kcal/mol in the 4-31G basis but only 0.4 kcal/mol in the 6-31G* basis. It is found that the electronic contributions to the free energy difference stabilize the α anomer while the nuclear motion contributions stabilize the β anomer. The implications of these predictions and the future investigations required to understand the relative stabilities of the two anomers are pointed out. © 1992 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Rules for generating conformers and their relative energies in n-alkanes with a heteroelement O or S: ethers and alcohols, or sulfides and thiols

With the aid of density functional theory calculations, all conformers of several single-chain alcohols, thiols, ethers, and sulfides are investigated. Starting from earlier computational works on n-alkanes, we construct an extended set of general rules for predicting the number and occurrence of conformers in these oxygen- or sulfur-containing compounds. In alcohols and thiols, it is found that only the conformers generated by internal rotations in the HXCH(2)CH(2)CH(2) (X = O or S) top are distinctive from those in n-alkanes. In ethers and sulfides, the primary influence of the heteroelement also extends up to three internal rotations, but many more conformers are possible. However, a number of double gauche sequences are forbidden, and therefore, several conformers can be eliminated. These exclusions in particular make up a set of rules for eventually deducing all possible conformers. Furthermore, on the basis of only an exact calculation of these gg conformations in addition to single gauche conformers, it is possible to make an accurate estimate of the relative energy. This two-dimensional approximation scheme constitutes an effective tool for adequately describing the relative energies of all possible conformers at a minimal computational cost.     

Structures and relative energies of polylithiated benzenes

The geometries of dilithiobenzene, trilithiobenzene, tetralithiobenzene, pentalithiobenzene, and hexalithiobenzene were optimized at the B3LYP/6-311+G** level. The lowest energy structures can be understood in terms of maximizing the electrostatic interactions between carbanions and lithium cations. In particular, in-plane lithium cations bridging ortho dianions is a geometric arrangement that is repeatedly found, as epitomized in the star-shaped D6h hexalithiobenzene structure 11a. Disproportionation reactions involving phenyllithium leading to polylithiated benzenes are exothermic, suggesting that it may be posible to prepare highly lithiated aromatic species.     

Calculation of triplet energies in azanaphthalenes

Calculated energies of several low-lying triplet states of quinoline, isoquinoline and a series of diazanaphthalenes are reported for comparison with a recent determination of the nature of the lowest triplet. The calculations were made both by the CNDO/S CI method and by direct SCF calculation of the appropriate states by a variant of the CNDO/S method. Phosphorescence lifetimes are also given.     

Calculation of bond energies in diatomic molecules

Theoretical Chemistry Accounts - An extrapolation method is proposed for an approximative evaluation of covalent bonding powers of some elements from their electronegativity values. Using these...     

Ab initio studies of aspartic acid conformers in gas phase and in solution

Systematic and extensive conformational searches of aspartic acid in gas phase and in solution have been performed. For the gaseous aspartic acid, a total of 1296 trial canonical structures and 216 trial zwitterionic structures were generated by allowing for all combinations of internal single-bond rotamers. All the trial structures were optimized at the B3LYP/6-311G* level and then subjected to further optimization at the B3LYP/6-311++G** level. A total of 139 canonical conformers were found, but no stable zwitterionic structure was found. The rotational constants, dipole moments, zero-point vibrational energies, harmonic frequencies, and vertical ionization energies of the canonical conformers were determined. Single-point energies were also calculated at the MP2/6-311++G** and CCSD/6-311++G** levels. The equilibrium distributions of the gaseous conformers at various temperatures were calculated. The proton affinity and gas phase basicity were calculated and the results are in excellent agreement with the experiments. The conformations in the solution were studied with different solvation models. The 216 trial zwitterionic structures were first optimized at the B3LYP/6-311G* level using the Onsager self-consistent reaction field model (SCRF) and then optimized at the B3LYP/6-311++G** level using the conductorlike polarized continuum model (CPCM) SCRF theory. A total of 22 zwitterions conformers were found. The gaseous canonical conformers were combined with the CPCM model and optimized at the B3LYP/6-311++G** level. The solvated zwitterionic and canonical structures were further examined by the discrete/SCRF model with one and two water molecules. The incremental solvation of the canonical and zwitterionic structures with up to six water molecules in gas phase was systematically examined. The studies show that combining aspartic acid with at least six water molecules in the gas phase or two water molecules and a SCRF solution model is required to provide qualitatively correct results in the solution.     

Structure of the boronic acid dimer and the relative stabilities of its conformers

Despite the widespread use of boronic acids in materials science and as pharmaceutical agents, many aspects of their structure and reactivity are not well understood. In this research the boronic acid dimer, [HB(OH)(2)](2), was studied by second-order M?ller-Plesset (MP2) perturbation theory and coupled cluster methodology with single and double excitations (CCSD). Pople split-valence 6-31+G*, 6-311G**, and 6-311++G** and Dunning-Woon correlation-consistent cc-pVDZ, aug-cc-pVDZ, cc-pVTZ, and aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets were employed for the calculations. A doubly hydrogen-bonded conformer (1) of the dimer was consistently found to be lowest in energy; the structure of 1 was planar (C(2h)) at most computational levels employed but was significantly nonplanar (C(2)) at the MP2/6-311++G** and CCSD/6-311++G** levels, the result of an intrinsic problem with Pople-type sp-diffuse basis functions on heavy atoms. The dimerization energy, enthalpy, and free energy for the formation of (1) from the exo-endo conformer of the monomer were -10.8, -9.2, and +1.2 kcal/mol, respectively, at the MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ level. Several other hydrogen-bonded conformers of the dimer were local minima on the potential energy surface (PES) and ranged from 2 to 5 kcal/mol higher in energy than 1. Nine doubly OH-bridged conformers, in which the boron atoms were tetracoordinated, were also local minima on the PES, but they were all greater than 13 kcal/mol higher in energy than 1; doubly H-bridged structures proved to be transition states. MP2 and CCSD results were compared to those from the BLYP, B3LYP, OLYP, O3LYP, PBE1PBE, and TPSS functionals with the 6-311++G** and aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets; the PBE1PBE functional performed best relative to the MP2 and CCSD results. Self-consistent reaction field (SCRF) calculations predict that boronic acid dimerization is less favorable in solution than in vacuo.     

Structures and energies of D-galactose and galabiose conformers as calculated by ab initio and semiempirical methods

Optimized geometries and total energies of some conformers of alpha- and beta-D-galactose have been calculated using the RHF/6-31G* ab initio method. Vibrational frequencies were computed at the 6-31G* level for the conformers that favor internal hydrogen bonding, in order to evaluate their enthalpies, entropies, Gibbs free energies, and then their structural stabilities. The semiempirical AM1, PM3, MNDO methods have also been performed on the conformers GG, GT, and TG of alpha- and beta-D-galactose. In order to test the reliability of each semiempirical method, the obtained structures and energies from the AM1, PM3, and MNDO methods have been compared to those achieved using the RHF/6-31G* ab initio method. The MNDO method has not been investigated further, because of the large deviation in the structural parameters compared with those obtained by the ab initio method for the galactose. The semiempirical method that has yielded the best results is AM1, and it has been chosen to perform structural and energy calculations on the galabiose molecule (the disaccharides constituted by two galactose units alpha 1,4 linked). The goal of such calculations is to draw the energy surface maps for this disaccharide. To realize each map, 144 different possible conformations resulting from the rotations of the two torsional angles psi and phi of the glycosidic linkage are considered. In each calculation, at each increment of psi and phi, using a step of 30 degrees from 0 to 330 degrees, the energy optimization is employed. In this article, we report also calculations concerning the galabiose molecule using different ab initio levels such as RHF/6-31G*, RHF/6-31G**, and B3Lyp/6-31G*.     

Systematic errors in computed alkane energies using B3LYP and other popular DFT functionals

[structure: see text] Energies computed by B3LYP and other popular DFT functionals are flawed by systematic errors, which can become considerable for larger molecules. These errors, predominately due to inadequacies in assessing longer-range nonbonded attractive effects (dispersion), are illustrated by the isodesmic stabilization energies of n-alkanes (based on methane and ethane, which have no stabilizing 1,3-alkyl group interactions). Newer functionals, designed to describe weak interactions, give somewhat better agreement with experiment, but are not fully satisfactory.     

In-situ X-ray reflectivity study of alkane films grown from the vapor phase

We carried out in-situ X-ray reflectivity study of nine n-alkane chains (CnH2n+2) on Si substrate, n in the range of 17-30. These films formed under vacuum at equilibrium vapor pressure of the respective alkane molecule. For all the alkanes studied we found a bilayer structure on the substrate, a higher density vertical layer at the air-film interface with the layer thickness equal to the all-trans length of the respective molecule, and a lower density layer below it with the molecules lying horizontal on the substrate. This model was earlier proposed for C32 films on Si by Volkmann et al.11 We observe that this model can fit the entire range of data from C17 to C30 in our experiments.     

Local measures of intermolecular free energies in solution

Proton spin-lattice relaxation rate changes induced by freely diffusing oxygen in aqueous and mixed solvents are reported for representative amino acids and glucose. The local oxygen concentration at each spectrally resolved proton was deduced from the paramagnetic contribution to the relaxation rate. The measured relaxation increment is compared to that of the force-free diffusion relaxation model, and the differences are related to a free energy for the oxygen association with different portions of the solute molecules. The free energy differences are small, on the order of -800 to -2000 J/mol, but are uniformly negative for all proton positions measured on the amino acids in water and reflect the energetic benefit of weak association of hydrophobic cosolutes. For glucose, CH proton positions report negative free energies for oxygen association, the magnitude of which depends on the solvent; however, the hydroxyl positions report positive free energy differences relative to the force-free diffusion model, which is consistent with partial occupancy in the OH region by a solvent hydrogen bond.     

An algebraic solution for the numbers of staggered conformers of alkanes

The staggered conformers of alkanes are counted by using a tree-counting method. Some numerical results are tabulated.The solution of the open problem in J. Math. Chem. 17 (1995), see ref. [5].