Electronic currents and Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics

Born-Oppenheimer variable separation is the mainstay of studies of chemical reactivity and dynamics. A long-standing problem of this ansatz is the absence of electronic currents in a system undergoing dynamics. I analyze the physical origin of the "missing" electronic currents in Born-Oppenheimer wavefunctions. By examining the problem within the multi-state Born-Huang ansatz, I demonstrate that electronic currents arise from the first-order non-adiabatic coupling to electronically excited states. I derive two expressions for the electronic currents induced by nuclear motion. The sum-over-the-states formula, identical to the result of "complete adiabatic" treatment of Nafie [J. Chem. Phys. 79, 4950 (1983)] leads to a transparent and intuitive physical picture of the induced currents, but is unsuitable for practical implementation in all but the simplest systems. The equivalent expression in terms of the electronic energy derivatives is straightforward to implement numerically. I present first applications of this approach to small systems of potential chemical interest.     

Tunneling molecular dynamics in the light of the corpuscular-wave dualism theory

This paper presents the experimental demonstration of the corpuscular-wave dualism theory. The correlation between the de Broglie wavelength related to the thermal motion and the potential barrier width and height is reported. The stochastic jumps of light atoms (hydrogen, deuterium) between two equilibrium sites A and B (identical geometry) occur via different pathways; one pathway is over the barrier (classical dynamics), and the other one is through the barrier (tunneling). On the over-the-barrier pathway, there are no obstacles for the de Broglie waves, and this pathway exists from high to low temperatures up to 0 K because the thermal energy is subjected to the Maxwell distribution and a certain number of particles owns enough energy for the hopping over the barrier. On the tunneling pathway, the particles pass through the barrier, or they are reflected from the barrier. Only particles with the energy lower than barrier heights are able to perform a tunneling hopping. The de Broglie waves related to these energies are longer than the barrier width. The Schr?dinger equation is applied to calculate the rate constant of tunneling dynamics. The Maxwell distribution of the thermal energy has been taken into account to calculate the tunneling rate constant. The equations for the total spectral density of complex motion derived earlier by us together with the expression for the tunneling rate constant, derived in the present paper, are used in analysis of the temperature dependence of deuteron spin-lattice relaxation of the ammonium ion in the deuterated analogue of ammonium hexachloroplumbate ((ND4)2PbCl6). It has been established that the equation CpTtun = EH (thermal energy equals activation energy), where Cp is the molar heat capacity (temperature-dependent, known from literature), determines directly the low temperature Ttun at which the de Broglie wavelength, lambdadeBroglie, related to the thermal energy, CpT, is equal to the potential barrier width, L. Above Ttun, the lambdadeBroglie wavelength related to the CpT energy is shorter than the potential barrier width and not able to overcome the barrier. The activation energy EH equals 7.5 kJ/mol, and therefore, the Ttun temperature for deuterons in ((ND4)2PbCl6 is 55.7 K. The agreement between the potential barrier width following from the simple geometrical calculations (L = 0.722 A) and de Broglie wavelength at Ttun (L = 0.752 A) is good. The temperature plots of the deuteron correlation times for (ND4)2PbCl6 reveal comparable values of the correlation times of the tunneling, (tau(T)), and over-the-barrier jumps (tau(H)) near 34.8 K. Matsuo, on the basis of the molar heat capacity study, found the first-order phase transition at this temperature.     

Tunneling time in driven double-well system using entangled molecular dynamics method

We calculate quantum tunneling time in the double-well system without perturbation and with symmetry-breaking driven force using the entangled trajectory molecular dynamics method in the present article. Without perturbation, quantum tunneling time decreased with the increase of the energy, and the different contributions of the barrier traversal time and the intrinsic decay time have been shown. The tunneling time dependence on the amplitude and frequency of the symmetry-breaking driven force are present. In the case of weak driven force, tunneling time has a minimum value in the resonant frequency. For strong driven force, chaos brings a huge change to quantum dynamics, tunneling time significantly becomes short. Finally, we directly show the enhancement of quantum tunneling process by chaotic behavior of entangled trajectories and indicate that it was caused by quantum effect.     

Tunneling reactions with two reaction paths

The WKB method and Taylor series expansions are used to derive an approximate expression relating the tunneling rates with two reaction paths to the tunneling rates of the individual paths. The two reaction paths originate in the same reactant well, travel over different potential barriers, and finish in the same product well. The validity of the approximate expression and the applicability of the WKB method to this problem are investigated.     

Artificial molecular machines that can perform work

An artificial molecular machine consists of molecule or substituent components jointed together in a specific way so that their mutual displacements could be initiated using appropriate outside stimuli. Such an ability of performing mechanical motions by consuming external energy has endowed these tiny machines with vast fascinating potential applications in areas such as actuators, manipulating atoms/molecules, drug delivery, molecular electronic devices, etc. To date, although vast kinds of molecular machine archetypes have been synthesized in facile ways, they are inclined to be defined as switches but not true machines in most cases because no useful work has been done during a working cycle. More efforts need to be devoted on the utilization and amplification of the nanoscale mechanical motions among synthetic molecular machines to accomplish useful tasks. Here we highlight some of the recent advances relating to molecular machines that can perform work on different length scales, ranging from microscopic levels to macroscopic ones.     

Thermophysical behaviour of solid polymers in simple elongation: A structural and molecular interpretation

Thermodynamic aspects of reversible simple extension of solid polymers have been considered in terms of the conventional equation of state and equations have been obtained for the thermodynamic functions. It is shown that simple deformation of solids is accompanied by inversion of internal energy which is controlled by coefficient of thermal expansion. Work, heat and internal energy as functions of strain have been determined by deformation calorimetry for the typical glass-like and crystalline polymers and it has been found that in uniaxially oriented crystalline polymers at aboveT _g the internal energy undergoes inversion due to the negative coefficient of thermal expansion. It has been demonstrated that the thermoelastic behaviour of two-phase crystalline polymers is controlled by the volume (irrotational) elasticity of amorphous regions rather than by shape elasticity typical of rubber elasticity. From this position, a thermophysical analysis of the deformation of the basic models of oriented crystalline polymers and combined investigation of the thermal phenomena and structural changes in oriented PE and PP have been carried out. It has been shown that the Peterlin-Prevorsek model which implies existence of both intra- and interfibrillar amorphous regions quite adequately account for the thermophysical and structural effect observed in tension of the oriented specimens in the original and annealed state. Thermoelastic properties of super-oriented crystalline polymers have also been discussed in brief.Dedicated to Professor Dr. F. H. Müller     

A molecular receptor that selectively binds dihydrogen phosphate

A dihydrogen phosphate-binding receptor (4) containing both hydrogen bond donors and acceptors has been prepared by incorporating two pyridyl units to a preorganized biindole scaffold. Receptor 4 strongly and selectively binds dihydrogen phosphate via multiple hydrogen bonds with an association constant (K_a) of 1.1 × 10⁵ M⁻¹ in CH₃CN at 22 ± 1 °C. The high selectivity toward the target anion over other anions is proven to be due to two additional hydrogen bonds between the phosphate hydroxyl groups and the pyridyl nitrogens, each of which increases the complex stability by the free energy of 1.6 kcal/mol. This result clearly demonstrates that a selective receptor for a polyprotic anion can be developed by combining both hydrogen bond donors and acceptors.     

Sensitivity increase in molecular recognition by decrease of the sensing particle size and by increase of the receptor binding site--a case with chemomechanical polymers

For the first time it is shown that diminishing the particle size of a chemomechanical polymer leads to a dramatic sensitivity increase, with a large response triggered e.g. by action of external AMP; as illustrated with carbohydrate model complexes in solution, the necessary high binding affinity can be achieved by providing an excess of recognition units in one of the partners.     

BPA transfer rate increase using molecular imprinted polyethersulfone hollow fiber membrane

Bisphenol A (BPA) imprinted polyethersulfone (PES) hollow fiber membrane was spun using a dry–wet spinning method, the membrane was then prepared as a filter with an effective area of 200 cm². The hollow fiber filter was employed to study the BPA transport behavior. The transport ability of the prepared hollow fiber membrane was measured using 100 μmol/l BPA aqueous solutions at a flow flux of 50 and 75 ml/min, respectively. The BPA transfer rate increased for the imprinted hollow fiber membranes due to the larger amount of binding sites, comparing with the non-imprinted one. In the present study, hollow fiber membrane and the molecular imprinting technique were combined for advanced separation and the data suggested that small molecules could transfer in the direction opposite to the concentration gradient due to different pH.     

Tunneling in the reaction of acetone with OH

Based on recent detailed quantum mechanical computations of the mechanism of the title reaction and, this paper presents kinetics analysis of the overall rate constant and its temperature dependence, for which ample experimental data are available for comparison. The analysis confirms that the principal channel is the formation of acetonyl radical + H(2)O, while the channel leading to acetic acid is of negligible importance. It is shown that the unusual temperature dependence of the overall rate constant, as observed experimentally, is well accounted for by standard RRKM treatment that includes tunneling. This treatment is applied at the microcanonical level, with chemically activated distribution of entrance species, i.e. using a stationary rather than a thermal distribution that incorporates collisional energy transfer and competition between the redissociation and exit channel. A similar procedure is applied to the isotopic reaction acetone-d6 + OH with equally satisfying results, so that the experimental temperature dependence of the KIE (kinetic isotope effect) is perfectly reproduced. This very good agreement between calculation and experiment is obtained without any fitting to experimental values and without any adjustment of the parameters of calculation.     

Structure-function studies of modular aromatics that form molecular organogels

Three urea-based aromatics 1-3, each with distinct steric and electronic characteristics, have been synthesized and their ability to undergo hierarchical assembly and gel organic solvents investigated. We have found that compound 1 promotes the sol-gel phase transition in primary alcohols (from CH3OH to C10H21OH; CGC < 15 mg/mL), while 2 and 3 do not. IR spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements show that 1 organizes into "cylinders" in primary alcohols, using three-centered hydrogen bonds and pi-pi aromatic interactions. The cylinders further organize into pairs through interdigitation of the methyl groups of the adjacent aromatic rings. Importantly, the lateral packing of the cylinders is enhanced as the bulk solvent polarity increases providing a mechanism for controlling the material's morphology via the solvophobic effect. Molecular mechanics (Amber) and semiempirical (AM1) calculations suggested similar conformational behavior but distinct electronic properties of 1-3. Thus, pi-deficient 2 without the methyl groups and pi-rich 3 without aromatic nitrogen fail to promote the sol-gel phase transition in alcohols due to their inability to undergo effective hierarchical assembly, which is necessary for the formation of a 3D fibrillar network. In addition, we have found that the ultrasonication of a supersaturated solution of 1 is necessary for the gelation. Presumably, a fast exchange of the aggregates of 1 is assisted with sonic waves to allow for the effective and "error free" assembly wherein an entangled net of fibers capable of encapsulating solvent molecules is formed.     

Biindolyl-based molecular clefts that bind anions by hydrogen-bonding interactions

Molecular clefts were synthesized from 2,2′-biindolyl scaffold that contains good hydrogen bond donors of two indole NHs. The molecular clefts were systematically modified in two different manners to increase binding affinities toward chloride. The association constant dramatically increased when additional hydrogen-bonding sites of two benzamide units were incorporated to the biindolyl scaffold. For example, the association constants of 1a and 1b are 5.1 × 10³ and 1.4 × 10⁴ M⁻¹ in CH₃CN at 22 ± 1 °C, while reference molecule 10 having only two indole NHs showed the association constant of 340 M⁻¹ under the same conditions. When the biindolyl backbone was structurally preorganized, the binding affinities toward anions were further increased with additional stabilization energy (−ΔΔG) of 2.0 ± 0.2 kcal/mol).     

Application of the elongation method to the electronic structure of spin-polarized molecular wire under electric field

The elongation method has been applied to elucidate the spin-dependent behavior of the pyrrole-based spin-polarized molecular wire containing 1-pyrrolylphenyl nitronyl nitroxide with oligothiophene units under the influence of an applied electric field. It was found that the donor pyrrole ring causes the delocalization of electrons over the molecular wire regardless of the spin-orientation. In addition, nitronyl nitroxide as a radical unit shows two important features. First, it changes the spin-distribution of the delocalized electrons from same ratio of α- and β-spins to dominant β-spin. Second, it shifts the distribution of electrons in the same direction as that of the applied electric field.