Light Olefin Diffusion during the MTO Process on H-SAPO-34: A Complex Interplay of Molecular Factors.

The methanol-to-olefins process over H-SAPO-34 is characterized by its high shape selectivity toward light olefins. The catalyst is a supramolecular system consisting of nanometer-sized inorganic cages, decorated by Brønsted acid sites, in which organic compounds, mostly methylated benzene species, are trapped. These hydrocarbon pool species are essential to catalyze the methanol conversion but may also clog the pores. As such, diffusion of ethene and propene plays an essential role in determining the ultimate product selectivity. Enhanced sampling molecular dynamics simulations based on either force fields or density functional theory are used to determine how molecular factors influence the diffusion of light olefins through the 8-ring windows of H-SAPO-34. Our simulations show that diffusion through the 8-ring in general is a hindered process, corresponding to a hopping event of the diffusing molecule between neighboring cages. The loading of different methanol, alkene, and aromatic species in the cages may substantially slow down or facilitate the diffusion process. The presence of Brønsted acid sites in the 8-ring enhances the diffusion process due to the formation of a favorable π-complex host-guest interaction. Aromatic hydrocarbon pool species severely hinder the diffusion and their spatial distribution in the zeolite crystal may have a significant effect on the product selectivity. Herein, we unveil how molecular factors influence the diffusion of light olefins in a complex environment with confined hydrocarbon pool species, high olefin loadings, and the presence of acid sites by means of enhanced molecular dynamics simulations under operating conditions.

Evidence for a Grotthuss-like mechanism in the formation of the rhamnose alkoxy radical based on periodic DFT calculations.

Pauwels, E., Declerck, R., Van Speybroeck, V. and Waroquier, M. Evidence for a Grotthuss-Like Mechanism in the Formation of the Rhamnose Alkoxy Radical Based on Periodic DFT Calculations. Radiat. Res. 169, 8-18 (2008). Molecular modeling adopting a periodic approach based on density functional theory (DFT) indicates that a Grotthuss-like mechanism is active in the formation of the radiation-induced alkoxy radical in alpha-l-rhamnose. Starting from an oxidized crystal structure, a hydroxyl proton is transferred along an infinite hydrogen bond chain pervading the entire crystal. The result of this proton shuttling mechanism is a stable radical species dubbed RHop. Only after several reorientations of crystal waters and hydroxyl groups, the more stable radical form RO4 is obtained, which differs in structure from the former by the absence of only one hydrogen bond. Calculations of the energetics associated with the mechanism as well as simulated spectroscopic properties reveal that different variants of the rhamnose alkoxy radical can be observed depending on the temperature of irradiation and consecutive EPR measurement. Cluster calculations on both radical variants provide hyperfine coupling and g tensors that are in good agreement with two independent experimental measurements at different temperatures.

The Monomer Electron Density Force Field (MEDFF): A Physically Inspired Model for Noncovalent Interactions.

We propose a methodology to derive pairwise-additive noncovalent force fields from monomer electron densities without any empirical input. Energy expressions are based on the symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) decomposition of interaction energies. This ensures a physically motivated force field featuring an electrostatic, exchange-repulsion, dispersion, and induction contribution, which contains two types of parameters. First, each contribution depends on several fixed atomic parameters, resulting from a partitioning of the monomer electron density. Second, each of the last three contributions (exchange-repulsion, dispersion, and induction) contains exactly one linear fitting parameter. These three so-called interaction parameters in the model are initially estimated separately using SAPT reference calculations for the S66x8 database of noncovalent dimers. In a second step, the three interaction parameters are further refined simultaneously to reproduce CCSD(T)/CBS interaction energies for the same database. The limited number of parameters that are fitted to dimer interaction energies (only three) avoids ill-conditioned fits that plague conventional parameter optimizations. For the exchange-repulsion and dispersion component, good results are obtained for all dimers in the S66x8 database using one single value for the associated interaction parameters. The values of those parameters can be considered universal and can also be used for dimers not present in the original database used for fitting. For the induction component such an approach is only viable for the dispersion-dominated dimers in the S66x8 database. For other dimers (such as hydrogen-bonded complexes), we show that our methodology remains applicable. However, the interaction parameter needs to be determined on a case-specific basis. As an external validation, the force field predicts interaction energies in good agreement with CCSD(T)/CBS values for dispersion-dominated dimers extracted from an HIV-II protease crystal structure with a bound ligand (indinavir). Furthermore, experimental second virial coefficients of small alkanes and alkenes are well reproduced.

Efficient Calculation of QM/MM Frequencies with the Mobile Block Hessian.

The calculation of the analytical second derivative matrix (Hessian) is the bottleneck for vibrational analysis in QM/MM systems when an electrostatic embedding scheme is employed. Even with a small number of QM atoms in the system, the presence of MM atoms increases the computational cost dramatically: the long-range Coulomb interactions require that additional coupled perturbed self-consistent field (CPSCF) equations need to be solved for each MM atom displacement. This paper presents an extension to the Mobile Block Hessian (MBH) formalism for QM/MM calculations with blocks in the MM region and its implementation in a parallel version of the Q-Chem/CHARMM interface. MBH reduces both the CPU time and the memory requirements compared to the standard full Hessian QM/MM analysis, without the need to use a cutoff distance for the electrostatic interactions. Special attention is given to the treatment of link atoms which are usually present when the QM/MM border cuts through a covalent bond. Computational efficiency improvements are highlighted using a reduced chorismate mutase enzyme system, consisting of 24 QM atoms and 306 MM atoms, as a test example. In addition, the drug bortezomib, used for cancer treatment of myeloma, has been studied as a test case with multiple MBH block choices and both a QM and QM/MM description. The accuracy of the calculated Hessians is quantified by imposing Eckart constraints, which allows for the assessment of numerical errors in second derivative procedures. The results show that MBH within the QM/MM description not only is a computationally attractive method but also produces accurate results.