Carbonyl stretching band in amides as Lorentz oscillator. Insights into anharmonicity and local environment in the liquid phase from NIR and MIR spectra of N-methylformamide and di-N,N-methylformamide.

We investigated the anharmonicity and intermolecular interactions of N-methylformamide (NMF) and di-N,N-methylformamide (DMF) in the neat liquid phase with particular interest in the amide bands. The vibrational spectra, complex refractive index, and complex electric permittivity were determined in in the mid- (MIR) and near-infrared (NIR) regions (11,500-560 cm-1; 870-17857 nm). Dispersion analysis was based on the Classical Damped Harmonic Oscillator (CDHO) and simultaneous modelling of the real and imaginary components of the spectra. This data delivered insights into the vibrational energy dissipation and self-association in liquid amides. Identification of the MIR and NIR bands was based on anharmonic GVPT2//B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) calculations. DMF and NMF follow distinct self-association, evidenced in the MIR fingerprint by the two components of the νCO, the analog of the Amide I band. These conclusions are supported by the structural information derived from the NIR spectra. Furthermore, the contribution of overtones and combination bands in the MIR spectra of amides was examined. The conclusions on molecular interactions and structural dynamics of NMF and DMF contribute to a deeper understanding of the effects of changes in the local environment of the amide group.

Influence of Non-fundamental Modes on Mid-infrared Spectra: Anharmonic DFT Study of Aliphatic Ethers.

Fundamental and non-fundamental vibrational modes, first overtones, and binary combination modes of selected aliphatic ethers (di-n-propylether, di-iso-propylether, n-butylmethyl ether, n-butylethyl ether, di-n-butyl ether, tert-buytlmethyl ether, and tert-amylmethyl ether) were modeled in a fully anharmonic generalized second-order vibrational perturbation theory (GVPT2) approach on the DFT-B2PLYP/SNST level. The modeling procedure of theoretical line shapes took into account conformational isomers of studied molecules. The calculated spectra of the above ethers were compared to the corresponding experimental spectra in the infrared (IR) region (4000-560 cm-1) of the absorption index k(ν) derived from the neat liquid thin-film transmission data. It was found that IR spectra of aliphatic ethers are heavily influenced by the bands originating from non-fundamental modes, particularly from the combination modes in the C-H stretching region (3200-2800 cm-1). Because of the effects of vibrational resonances, the intensities of overtones and combination bands originating from methyl and methylene deformation modes increase sufficiently to influence the experimental line shape in this region. Less significant contributions from non-fundamental vibrational modes were noticed in the lower IR region (1600-560 cm-1), particularly in the vicinity of the C-O stretching band. The 2700-1600 cm-1 region, which is rich in weak bands due to non-fundamental vibrations, was reproduced accurately as well. It was concluded that a fully anharmonic approach allows significantly more accurate reproduction of the complex IR line shapes, particularly in the C-H stretching region of aliphatic ethers. On the basis of the achieved agreement between the experimental and calculated spectra, it may be concluded that the anharmonic GVPT2 method can adequately reproduce the anharmonic effects and vibrational resonances in particular, influencing the IR spectra of aliphatic ethers. The results obtained in this study show that the non-fundamental modes may play a significant role in shaping the IR spectra of aliphatic ethers and similar molecules in the neat liquid phase.