Ab initio prediction of the vibrational spectra of the hydrogen‐bonded complexes between CO and HONO2

The vibrational characteristics (vibrational frequencies and infrared intensities) for free and complexed CO and HONO₂ have been predicted using ab initio calculations at SCF and MP2 levels with different basis sets and B3LYP/6?31G(d,p) calculations. The ab initio calculations show that the complexation between HONO₂ and CO leads to two stable structures: CO … HONO₂ (1A) and OC … HONO₂ (1B). The changes in the vibrational characteristics from free monomers to complexes have been estimated. It was established that the most sensitive to the complexation is the stretching O? H vibration. In agreement with the experiment, its vibrational frequency in the complexes is shifted to lower frequency (Δν = ?123 cm^?1). The magnitude of the wave number shift is indicative of relatively strong hydrogen‐bonded interaction. The ab initio calculations at different levels predict an increase of the infrared intensity of the stretching O? H vibration for structure 1A more than five times and for structure 1B more than nine times. The most consistent agreement between the computed values of the frequency shifts for structure 1B and those experimentally observed suggests that this structure is preferred. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2003