Dependence of the rate constants on the treatment of internal rotation modes: the reaction OH + CH3SH --> CH3S + H2O as an example

The title reaction has been used as an example to test the importance of using a hindered rotor treatment instead of a harmonic oscillator model for calculating vibrational partition functions corresponding to low-frequency internal rotation modes. First, a normal-mode analysis according to the Ayala and Schlegel's algorithm has been used to identify the internal rotation modes of methanethiol and the transition state structure. Then, after calculation of the energy barrier for each internal rotation, the corresponding hindered rotor partition functions have been calculated following the CW scheme of Chuang and Truhlar. The results show that the anharmonic treatment produces a rather modest improvement of the rate constants at room temperature or below.     

Analytical potential from ab initio calculations for the Fe+-H2O and Feo-H2O systems

Analytical intermolecular potentials for the Fe⁺?H₂O and Fe^o?H₂O systems have been determined from ab initio calculations. Interaction energies for a lot of points along the two potential energy surfaces were calculated using Huzinga's MINI ?2 basis set. The results obtained were fitted to an analytical function containing 11 adjustable parameters that we have already used with success for the Fe²⁺?H₂O system. The goodness of the generated intermolecular potentials is discussed.     

Applicability of the WKB method in asymmetric double wells with degenerate and nondegenerate minima

To test the applicability of the WKB semiclassical approximation to correctly describe the tunneling frequencies and energy levels in asymmetric double wells, we have considered the cases where the asymmetry comes from the nondegeneracy of the two minima and when it comes from the asymmetry in the shape of the barrier between both minima. To do this, we compare the tunneling frequencies and energy levels obtained through the WKB method for symmetric and asymmetric cases with exact results obtained by a basis set procedure. Our results show that the semiclassical WKB approximation has to be used with caution for asymmetric double wells. © 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.