Vibrational treatment of hydroxylamine in valence coordinates.

A valence coordinate H2NOH ground state potential energy surface accurate for all levels up to 6000 cm-1 relative to trans zero point energy has been generated at the coupled-cluster single double triple-F12/aug-cc-pVTZ level encompassing the trans and cis as well as the N-H2 permutational conformers. All cis and trans fundamentals and a complete set of eigenfunctions up to about 3100 cm-1 have been calculated and assigned using the improved relaxation method of the Heidelberg multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree package and an exact expression for the kinetic energy in valence coordinates generated by the TANA program. The average and maximal error to all observed transitions is about 6.3 and 14.6 cm-1, respectively. Local cis eigenfunctions exist with up to two quanta in the isomerization mode ν9. Although no significant inversion splittings have been found up to the considered 3100 cm-1, they are expected within the fundamental energy range in view of the calculated 4261 cm-1 H2 permutation/inversion barrier height. The cis-NH2 symmetric stretch fundamental shows a Fermi resonance with a splitting of about 10 cm-1.

Calculation of Anharmonic IR and Raman Intensities for Periodic Systems from DFT Calculations: Implementation and Validation.

An extension of the CRYSTAL program is presented allowing for calculations of anharmonic infrared (IR) intensities and Raman activities for periodic systems. This work is a follow-up of two papers devoted to the computation of anharmonic vibrational states of solids from DFT (density functional theory) calculations (Erba et al. J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2019, 15, 3755-3765 and Erba et al. J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2019, 15, 3766-3777). The approach presented here relies on the evaluation of integrals of the dipole moment and polarizability operators over anharmonic wave functions obtained from either VSCF (vibrational self-consistent field) or VCI (vibrational configuration interaction) calculations. With this extension, the program now allows for a more complete characterization of the vibrational spectroscopic features of solids within the density functional theory. In particular, it is able (i) to provide reliable positions and intensities for the most intense spectral features and (ii) to check whether a first overtone or a combination band has a nonvanishing IR intensity or Raman activity. Therefore, it becomes possible to assign the transition(s) corresponding to satellite peak(s) around a fundamental transition or the overtones or combination bands that may be as intense as their corresponding fundamental transitions through the strongest mode-mode couplings, as in so-called Fermi resonances. The present method is assessed on two molecular systems, H2O and H2CO, as well as on two solid state cases, boron hydrides BH4 and their deuterated species BD4 in a crystalline environment of alkali metals (M = Na, K). The solid state cases are particularly insightful as, in the B-H (or B-D) stretching region here considered, they exhibit many spectral features entirely due to anharmonic effects: two out of three in the IR spectrum and four out of six in the Raman spectrum. All IR and Raman active overtones and combination bands experimentally observed are correctly predicted with our approach. The effect of the adopted quantum-chemical model (DFT exchange-correlation functional/basis set) for the electronic structure calculations on the computed spectra is discussed and found to be significant, which suggests some special care is needed for the analysis of subtle spectral features.

Vibrational states of deuterated trans- and cis-formic acid: DCOOH, HCOOD, and DCOOD.

The vibrational eigenenergies of the deuterated forms of formic acid (DCOOD, HCOOD, and DCOOH) have been computed using the block-improved relaxation method, as implemented in the Heidelberg multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree package on a previously published potential energy surface [F. Richter and P. Carbonnière, J. Chem. Phys. 148, 064303 (2018)] generated at the CCSD(T)-F12a/aug-cc-pVTZ-F12 level of theory. Fundamental, combination band, and overtone transition frequencies of the trans isomer were computed up to ∼3000 cm-1 with respect to the zero point energy, and assignments were determined by visualization of the reduced densities. Root mean square deviations of computed fundamental transition frequencies with experimentally available gas-phase measurements are 8, 7, and 3 cm-1 for trans-DCOOD, trans-HCOOD, and trans-DCOOH, respectively. The fundamental transition frequencies are provided for the cis isomer of all deuterated forms; experimental measurements of these frequencies for the deuterated cis isotopologues are not yet available, and the present work may guide their identification.

Vibrational treatment of the formic acid double minimum case in valence coordinates.

One single full dimensional valence coordinate HCOOH ground state potential energy surface accurate for both cis and trans conformers for all levels up to 6000 cm-1 relative to trans zero point energy has been generated at CCSD(T)-F12a/aug-cc-pVTZ level. The fundamentals and a set of eigenfunctions complete up to about 3120 and 2660 cm-1 for trans- and cis-HCOOH, respectively, have been calculated and assigned using the improved relaxation method of the Heidelberg multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree package and an exact expression for the kinetic energy in valence coordinates generated by the TANA program. The calculated trans fundamental transition frequencies agree with experiment to within 5 cm-1. A few reassignments are suggested. Our results discard any cis trans delocalization effects for vibrational eigenfunctions up to 3640 cm-1 relative to trans zero point energy.

Anharmonic Vibrational Treatment Exclusively in Curvilinear Valence Coordinates: The Case of Formamide.

A highly correlated approach using curvilinear valence coordinates is applied to calculate the vibrational fundamentals and some combination modes of the formamide molecule with high accuracy. A series of potential energy surfaces (PESs) has been generated by AGAPES, a program for adaptive generation of adiabatic PESs, at various electronic structure qualities until excellent nonaccidental agreement with the experimentally assigned fundamental transitions was reached at the CCSDT(T)-F12a/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory using the improved relaxation method of the Heidelberg multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree (MCTDH) package in connection with an exact expression for the kinetic energy in valence coordinates generated by the TANA program. By comparison of the overtone series ν1-3ν1 to experiment, we demonstrate that the known problems concerning the floppy ν1 wagging motion are solved within this approach. The potential energy coupling as well as the vibrational coupling in curvilinear coordinates is discussed together with the efficiency of this approach.

Piezoelectric, elastic, structural and dielectric properties of the Si(1-x)Ge(x)O(2) solid solution: a theoretical study.

We apply first principles quantum mechanical techniques to the study of the solid solution Si1-xGexO2 of α-quartz where silicon atoms are progressively substituted with germanium atoms, to different extents, as a function of the substitutional fraction x. For the first time, the whole range of the substitution (x = 0.0, 0.1[Formula: see text], 0.[Formula: see text], 0.5, 0.[Formula: see text], 0.8[Formula: see text], 1.0), including pure end-members α-SiO2 and α-GeO2, is explored. An elongated supercell (doubled along the c crystallographic axis) is built with respect to the unit cell of pure α-quartz and a set of 13 symmetry-independent configurations is considered. Their structural, energetic, dielectric, elastic and piezoelectric properties are computed and analyzed. All the calculations are performed using the CRYSTAL14 program with a Gaussian-type function basis set with pseudopotentials, and the hybrid functional PBE0; all geometries are fully optimized at this level of theory. In particular, for each configuration, fourth-rank elastic and compliance tensors and third-rank direct and converse piezoelectric tensors are computed. It has already been shown that the structural distortion of the solid solution increases, almost linearly, as the substitutional fraction x increases. The piezoelectric properties of the Si1-xGexO2 solid solution are found to increase with x, with a similar quasi-linear behavior. The electromechanical coupling coefficients are enhanced as well and the linear trend recently predicted by Ranieri et al (2011 Inorg. Chem. 50 4632) can be confirmed from first principles calculations. These doped crystals do represent good candidates for technological applications requiring high piezoelectric coupling and high thermal stability.

An adaptive potential energy surface generation method using curvilinear valence coordinates.

An automatic Born-Oppenheimer potential energy surface (PES) generation method AGAPES is presented designed for the calculation of vibrational spectra of large rigid and semi-rigid polyatomic molecules within the mid-infrared energy range. An adaptive approach guided by information from intermediate vibrational calculations in connection with a multi-mode expansion of the PES in internal valence coordinates is used and its versatility is tested for a selection of molecules: HNO, HClCO, and formaldoxime. Significant computational savings are reported. The possibility of linear scaling of the sampling grid size with the molecular size due to decrease of correlation of remote coordinates in large molecules is examined and finally, possible improvements are suggested.

Synthesis and characterization of NaBD3H, a potential structural probe for hydrogen storage materials.

Specifically labeled NaBD(3)H has been synthesized and characterized using X-ray diffraction, NMR, and vibrational spectroscopy. The isotopic purity of the compound, as estimated from NMR spectra, was found to be about 85% with the compound NaBD(2)H(2) as the second product. IR spectra confirm the relatively strong intensity of the single B-H stretching mode predicted from DFT calculations. Anharmonic DFT calculations show that for the BD(3)H(-) ion Fermi resonances with the single B-H stretching mode are very limited, making this mode a promising structural probe for complex borohydrides which can be prepared by metathetical reactions.

Calculations of vibrational energy levels by using a hybrid ab initio and DFT quartic force field: application to acetonitrile.

A hybrid quartic force field with quadratic force constants calculated at the CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ level and cubic and quartic terms determined by a B3LYP/cc-pVTZ treatment is proposed to compute the vibrational energy levels of acetonitrile from a variational method. Fundamentals and overtones calculated in the range of 300-3200 cm(-1) are in fair agreement with the 31 observed data, with an absolute mean deviation of less than 0.8%. These results allow us to explain several Fermi resonances.