Anharmonic Vibrational Motions In C<Subscript>60</Subscript>: A Potential Energy Surface Derived From Vibrational Self-Consistent Field Calculations

A potential energy surface (PES) is developed for C₆₀ designed to describe vibrational motions valid in the anharmonic limit. The PES is based on a previously existing one that is fit to the harmonic fundamentals and is then modified to generate anharmonicity of all orders and in all terms, but without additional fitted parameters. The resulting Cartesian vibrational motions are decomposed into normal modes, and the anharmonic expansion coefficients are calculated including 2-mode couplings and up to 4th order. The resulting PES is used in a vibrational self-consistent field (VSCF) algorithm to calculate the anharmonically corrected fundamental frequencies. The parameters are then fit to fundamental infrared and Raman frequencies. While it is not possible to assign combination and overtone transitions with sufficient experimental accuracy, conclusions about the effects of anharmonic vibrational coupling in C₆₀ are described.     

The impact of approximate VSCF schemes and curvilinear coordinates on the anharmonic vibrational frequencies of formamide and thioformamide

The accuracy of the vibrational self-consistent field (VSCF) method for the computation of anharmonic vibrational frequencies in the infrared (IR) spectrum of formamide and thioformamide is investigated. The importance of triple potentials in the commonly used hierarchical expansion of the potential energy surface (PES) is studied in detail. The PES is expanded in terms of Cartesian as well as internal coordinate normal mode displacements. It is found that triples play an important role when using rectilinear coordinates. A VSCF computation based on rectilinear displacements exhibits serious shortcomings which are only remedied by a large vibrational configuration interaction (VCI) treatment including triple potentials. These limitations are partially removed when using curvilinear coordinates. The merits and disadvantages of either type of displacements for the generation of the PES are discussed.     

Asymptotic Functional Form Preservation Method for the Perturbation Theory: Application to Anharmonic Oscillators

The asymptotic functional form preservation method is developed for the perturbation theory to obtain the energy eigenvalues of anharmonic oscillators. The conventional energy perturbative series expansion for the anharmonic oscillator is strongly divergent even if the anharmonicity is small. Employing a transformation containing an unphysical parameter, we analytically continue this series expansion into a new series expansion applicable to all the range of the perturbation parameter. The unphysical parameter is determined by the principle of minimal sensitivity. This new series expansion is reduced to the conventional energy perturbative series expansion for small anharmonicity, and it preserves the correct asymptotic functional form when the perturbation parameter tends to infinity. Then, we use the full‐range energy series expansion to calculate the energy eigenvalues of the anharmonic oscillator. In addition to excellent energy eigenvalues obtained for the oscillator with small and strong anharmonicity, accurate energy eigenvalues can be obtained using the full‐range energy series expansion when the perturbation parameter tends to infinity.     

A sensitivity analysis of a diatomics-in-molecules model of the 1A′ states of H2O

A method for computing the sensitivity of diatomics-in-molecules (DIM) potential energy surfaces (PES) to variations in the parameters characterizing the diatomic fragment matrices is applied to the ¹A′ states of H₂O. The analysis, presented explicitly for 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 fragment matrices, identifies those parameters having the largest influence on local features of the PES. Estimates of the parameter alterations necessary to effect specific changes in the PES are easily provided, allowing manipulation of the DIM model so as to obtain a good overall representation of the PES. Local regions of the PES turn out to be sensitive to only a few parameters and are largely unaffected by the rest. This supports the notion, customary in reaction dynamics, that processes may be discussed qualitatively in terms of the local properties of a PES such as the position of a barrier or the type of energy release.     

Vibrational energy levels for CH4 from an ab initio potential

Many areas of astronomy and astrophysics require an accurate high temperature spectrum of methane (CH4). The goal of the present research is to determine an accurate ab initio potential energy surface (PES) for CH4. As a first step towards this goal, we have determined a PES including up to octic terms. We compare our results with experiment and to a PES based on a quartic expansion. Our octic PES gives good agreement with experiment for all levels, while the quartic PES only for the lower levels.     

Theoretical study of the C3S molecule

For the most stable linear isomer of C₃S in its X¹Σ⁺ state a six-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) has been calculated ab initio by coupled cluster – connected triples (CCSD(T)) method. The analytic form of the PES has been transformed in a quartic force field in dimensionless normal coordinates and employed in calculations of spectroscopic constants using second-order perturbation theory. The PES and the full kinetic energy operator in internal coordinates have been used to calculate variationally the anharmonic ro-vibrational energies for J=0 and J=1. The two experimental band origins of C₃S observed in the gas phase, ν₁ and ν₁+ν₅−ν₅, agree very well with the theoretical values. The anharmonic ro-vibrational levels, including the bending modes up to 2200 cm⁻¹, are reported. The singlet ground state PES has a saddle point at about 1.25 eV above the linear minimum and two other higher lying cyclic local minima. The only dipole- and spin-allowed electronic transition between 0 and 5 eV is calculated to be the ¹Π−X¹Σ⁺ transition with a vertical transition energy of 353.2 nm in good agreement with the matrix value of 378 nm. The dissociative paths C + C₂S, C₂ + CS and C₃ + S of low lying singlet and triplet states have been investigated. Electronic Supplementary Material: Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00214-005-0683-7 Dedicated to Professor H. Stoll.     

Finite vibrational displacements in the Eckart—Sayvetz basis

Curvilinear internal coordinates are considered in terms of cartesian displacements in a molecule-fixed basis determined by the Eckart-Sayvetz conditions. The latter are interpreted as a set of restrictions on the metrics of the space and define cartesian displacements of “pure” vibrational character expanded to any order in terms of internal coordinates. Explicit expressions for expansion coefficients are given as a function of contravariant components of the metric tensor taken from existing table. A compact notation is proposed for anharmonic force constants, expansion coefficients of redundancies and coupling terms of the rotation—vibration hamiltonian.     

Vibrational motion in isotopomers of the HeH+ molecular ion: An application of the electron nuclear dynamics method

The importance of isotopic substitution as a tool for elucidation of chemical reaction events originates in the fact that the Coulombic Hamiltonian is isotopically invariant except for the nuclear kinetic energy term. Thus, in theories of isotope effects based on the Born-Oppenheimer scheme, the basic presumption is the invariance of the potential energy surface (PES). We use, however, a fully dynamic approach, called Electron Nuclear Dynamics (END), which does not require a preconstructed PES. Since the END formalism is rather different from commonly used procedures, we study the anharmonic nuclear vibration in isotopic species of the HeH⁺ molecular ion as a model problem. A single time-dependent complex parametrized determinantal wave function is used for the electrons and the nuclei are treated classically. The time evolution of the nuclear and electronic dynamical variables obtained by integration of equations of motion are reported as bond length, nuclear kinetic energy, and Mulliken populations. The molecule vibrates as a classical object. The product of the reduced mass and the square of the vibrational frequency is isotopomer invariant for any common total energy. The difference between the total energy and the nuclear kinetic energy as a function of the internuclear distance is interpreted as the average dynamic potential. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Anharmonic frequencies of CX2Y2 (X, Y = O, N, F, H, D) isomers and related systems obtained from vibrational multiconfiguration self-consistent field theory

Accurate anharmonic frequencies are provided for molecules of current research, i.e., diazirines, diazomethane, the corresponding fluorinated and deuterated compounds, their dioxygen analogs, and others. Vibrational-state energies were obtained from state-specific vibrational multiconfiguration self-consistent field theory (VMCSCF) based on multilevel potential energy surfaces (PES) generated from explicitly correlated coupled cluster, CCSD(T)-F12a, and double-hybrid density functional calculations, B2PLYP. To accelerate the vibrational structure calculations, a configuration selection scheme as well as a polynomial representation of the PES have been exploited. Because experimental data are scarce for these systems, many calculated frequencies of this study are predictions and may guide experiments to come.     

Infrared Spectra of Cyanoacetaldehyde (NCCH2CHO): A Potential Prebiotic Compound of Astrochemical Interest

Cyanoacetaldehyde (NC? CH₂CH?O) and its isomer, cyanovinylalcohol (NC? CH?CH? OH), as possible components of the interstellar medium, comets, or planetary atmospheres, exist in equilibrium in the gas phase, although the latter compound is very much in the minority (2 %). The recording and analysis of the gas‐phase infrared spectrum of the former compound within the 4000–500 cm^?1 spectroscopic range and the potential presence of the latter isomer, which could be vital for their detection in these media, are reported. CCSD(T) and G4 high‐level ab initio methods, as well as density functional theory calculations, predict the existence of two stable rotamers of cyanoacetaldehyde. The global minimum has a structure with an unusual O‐C‐C‐C dihedral angle (150°) that falls between the antiperiplanar (180°) and anticlinal forms (120°). The second rotamer, which is about 4.0 kJ mol^?1 less stable in terms of free energy, has a planar structure that corresponds to the synperiplanar form (O‐C‐C‐C dihedral angle: 0°). The absorption vibrational bands of the two aldehyde rotamers that are present in the mixture lead to a spectrum with a very complex structure in the region of deformation movements, in which several low‐intensity bands overlap. A complete and unambiguous assignment of the experimental spectrum has been achieved by using the calculated harmonic and anharmonic vibrational frequencies.     

Semiclassical calculation of energy transfer in polyatomic molecules. III. Rate constants for energy transfer in Ne + CO2

A semiclassical method has been used to calculate rate constants for energy transfer in CO₂ colliding with Ne. The Coriolis and anharmonic coupling terms are included in the model. The sensitivity of the results to changes in the intermolecular potential is investigated. The deactivation at the 001 state of CO₂ is found to be due to the 001 → 110 transition. This transition is induced by the cubic term of the intermolecular potential in a normal mode expansion.     

Anharmonic vibrational spectroscopy and investigation of intramolecular mode couplings in adenine

Vibrational frequencies for the nucleobase adenine are calculated by the vibrational self-consistent field (VSCF) and correlation corrected vibrational self-consistent field (CC-VSCF) methods using Hartree-Fock (HF), density functional theory (DFT) and second order Møller-Plesset (MP2) theories. A large number of potential energy surface (PES) points were computed in the anharmonic calculations corresponding to each method. The quartic force field (QFF) approximation was used to generate the full grid of points for the VSCF solver. We have implemented our new procedure for computing the mode-mode coupling integrals in the 2-mode coupling representations of the quartic force field (2MR-QFF) for prediction of coupling magnitudes. Calculations were performed using the 6-31G(d,p) basis set. Comparison of the calculated ab initio anharmonic spectra with Ar matrix experimental data of adenine reported in the literature reveals that, the CC-VSCF (DFT) wavenumbers show the best agreement. The experimental geometric parameters of adenine are compared with the theoretically optimized molecular structural parameters. These are found to be in good agreement. Vibrational assignments are based on the calculated potential energy distribution (PED) values.     

Time-Dependent Density Matrix Renormalization Group Coupled with n-Mode Representation Potentials for the Excited State Radiationless Decay Rate: Formalism and Application to Azulene?

We propose a method for calculating the nonradiative decay rates for polyatomic molecules including anharmonic effects of the potential energy surface (PES) in the Franck-Condon region. The method combines the n-mode representation method to construct the ab initio PES and the nearly exact time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method (TD-DMRG) to simulate quantum dynamics. In addition, in the framework of TD-DMRG, we further develop an algorithm to calculate the final-state-resolved rate coefficient which is very useful to analyze the contribution from each vibrational mode to the transition process. We use this method to study the internal conversion (IC) process of azulene after taking into account the anharmonicity of the ground state PES. The results show that even for this semi-rigid molecule, the intramode anharmonicity enhances the IC rate significantly, and after considering the two-mode coupling effect, the rate increases even further. The reason is that the anharmonicity enables the C-H vibrations to receive electronic energy while C-H vibrations do not contribute on the harmonic PES as the Huang-Rhys factor is close to 0.     

Density functional study of indole–pyrrole heterodimer potential energy hypersurface

A density‐functional study of indole–pyrrole heterodimer potential energy hypersurface (PES) was performed. Eight stationary points were located on the B3LYP/6‐31++G(d,p) PES, three of which correspond to real minima, all of them being characterized with an N? H … π type hydrogen bonding. In two of these minima (the local ones), pyrrole subunit acts as a hydrogen bond proton donor, while the global minimum corresponds to indole–H … π(‐pyrrole) arrangement. Besides the interaction and dissociation energies corrected for BSSE and the monomer relaxation energies and the relevant structural parameters, anharmonic N? H and N? H … π vibrational frequencies were calculated for various N? H oscillators involved in this interaction from the 1‐D DFT vibrational potentials. On the basis of anharmonic vibrational frequency analysis, it was concluded that the two types of N? H … π hydrogen bonded dimers (indole vs. pyrrole being a proton donor) should be distinguishable with spectroscopic methods. Various contributions to the overall anharmonic frequency shifts upon hydrogen bonding were calculated and discussed as well. The charge field perturbation (CFP) technique was employed to study the electrostatic + polarization influence of the proton accepting unit on the N? H(… π) vibrational potential. The second‐order perturbation theory analysis (SOPT) of the Fock matrix (i.e., its Kohn–Sham analog) within the natural bond orbital (NBO) basis, as well as various NBO deletion analyses revealed an essentially one‐directional charge transfer (CT) of a π(C? C) → σ*(N? H) type in the case of all three minima. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2003     

Ab initio global potential-energy surface for H5(+) --> H3(+) + H2

An accurate global potential-energy surface (PES) is reported for H5(+) based on more than 100,000 CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ ab initio energies. This PES has full permutational symmetry with respect to interchange of H atoms and dissociates to H3(+) and H2. Ten known stationary points of H5(+) are characterized and compared to previous ab initio calculations. Quantum diffusion Monte Carlo calculations are performed on the PES to obtain the zero-point energy of H5(+) and the anharmonic dissociation energy (D0) of H5(+) --> H3(+) + H2. The rigorous zero-point state of H4D+ is also calculated and discussed within the context of a strictly classical approach to obtain the branching ratio of the reaction H4D+ --> H3(+) + HD and H2D+ + H2. Such an approach is taken using the PES and critiqued based on the properties of the quantum zero-point state. Finally, a simple procedure for adding the long range-interaction energy is described.     

Efficiency considerations in the construction of interpolated potential energy surfaces for the calculation of quantum observables by diffusion Monte Carlo

A modified Shepard interpolation scheme is used to construct global potential energy surfaces (PES) in order to calculate quantum observables--vibrationally averaged internal coordinates, fully anharmonic zero-point energies and nuclear radial distribution functions--for a prototypical loosely bound molecular system, the water dimer. The efficiency of PES construction is examined with respect to (a) the method used to sample configurational space, (b) the method used to choose which points to add to the PES data set, and (c) the use of either a one- or two-part weight function. The most efficient method for constructing the PES is found to require a quantum sampling regime, a combination of both h-weight and rms methods for choosing data points and use of the two-part weight function in the interpolation. Using this regime, the quantum diffusion Monte Carlo zero-point energy converges to the exact result within addition of 50 data points. The vibrationally averaged O-O distance and O-O radial distribution function, however, converge more slowly and require addition of over 500 data points. The methods presented here are expected to be applicable to both other loosely bound complexes as well as tightly bound molecular species. When combined with high quality ab initio calculations, these methods should be able to accurately characterize the PES of such species.     

A global potential energy surface and time‐dependent quantum wave packet calculation of Au + H2 reaction

A global potential energy surface (PES) corresponding to the ground state of AuH₂ system has been constructed based on 22 853 ab initio energies calculated by the multireference configuration interaction method with a Davidson correction. The neural network method is used to fit the PES, and the root mean square error is only 1.87 meV. The topographical features of the novel global PES are compared with previous PES which is constructed by Zanchet et al. (Zanchet PES). The global minimum energy reaction paths on the two PESs both have a well and a barrier. Relative to the Au + H₂ reactants, the energy of well is 0.316 eV on the new PES, which is 0.421 eV deeper than Zanchet PES. The calculation of Au(²S) + H₂(X¹Σ_g⁺) → AuH(X¹Σ⁺) + H(²S) dynamical reaction is carried out on new PES, by the time‐dependent quantum wave packet method (TDWP) with second order split operator. The reaction probabilities, integral cross‐sections (ICSs) and differential cross‐sections are obtained from the dynamics calculation. The threshold in the reaction is about 1.46 eV, which is 0.07 eV smaller than Zanchet PES due to the different endothermic energies on the two PESs. At low collision energy (<2.3 eV), the total ICS is larger than the result obtained on Zanchet PES, which can be attributed to the difference of the wells and endothermic energies.     

Vibrations of H+(D+) in stoichiometric LiNbO3 single crystal

A first principles quantum mechanical calculation of the vibrational energy levels and transition frequencies associated with protons in stoichiometric LiNbO(3) single crystal has been carried out. The hydrogen contaminated crystal has been approximated by a model one obtains by translating a supercell, i.e., a cluster of LiNbO(3) unit cells containing a single H(+) and a Li(+) vacancy. Based on the supercell model an approximate Hamiltonian operator describing vibrations of the proton sublattice embedded in the host crystal has been derived. It is further simplified to a sum of uncoupled Hamiltonian operators corresponding to different wave vectors (ks) and each describing vibrations of a quasi-particle (quasi-proton). The three dimensional (3D) Hamiltonian operator of k=0 has been employed to calculate vibrational levels and transition frequencies. The potential energy surface (PES) entering this Hamiltonian operator has been calculated point wise on a large set of grid points by using density functional theory, and an analytical approximation to the PES has been constructed by non-parametric approximation. Then, the nuclear motion Schro?dinger equation has been solved by employing the method of discrete variable representation. It has been found that the (quasi-)H(+) vibrates in a strongly anharmonic PES. Its vibrations can be described approximately as a stretching, and two orthogonal bending vibrations. The theoretically calculated transition frequencies agree within 1% with those experimentally determined, and they have allowed the assignment of one of the hitherto unassigned bands as a combination of the stretching and the bending of lower fundamental frequency.     

Calculation of anharmonic force constants

Non-linear transformations from internal to cartesian displacements are considered for anharmonic calculation of vibrational frequencies. Force constants in normal coordinates, up to quartic terms, are related to Christoffel symbols. The latter are tabulated for valence angles or, for torsion and wagging out of plane, evaluated through expressions which avoid differentiation of explicit functional forms for each type of internal coordinate. The same symbols are used for cartesian tensors and redundancy coefficients up to the third order.