scholarly journals Deterministic Quantum Mechanics: Classical nuclear motion explains chemical reactions and spectra

Author(s):  
Erik Rohloff ◽  
Dominik Rudolph ◽  
Onno Strolka ◽  
Irmgard Frank

Is a classical description of nuclear motion sufficient when describing chemical reactions? The present paper investigates some phenomena that were previously attributed to nuclear quantum effects. The aim is to show that these phenomena can be modelled with traditional Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics, that is, with a method which treats nuclear motion classically. We find that no additional paradigm is needed for describing chemical reactions. The special reactivity observed for carbenes can be attributed to the special environment represented by a noble gas matrix. Also the infrared spectrum of porphycene is perfectly modelled by traditional Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics. If no more convincing examples are produced, one will stick to deterministic quantum mechanics, as it is the simpler theory which, in addition, is free of paradoxa.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 5220
Author(s):  
Jarosław J. Panek ◽  
Joanna Zasada ◽  
Bartłomiej M. Szyja ◽  
Beata Kizior ◽  
Aneta Jezierska

The O-H...N and O-H...O hydrogen bonds were investigated in 10-hydroxybenzo[h]quinoline (HBQ) and benzo[h]quinoline-2-methylresorcinol complex in vacuo, solvent and crystalline phases. The chosen systems contain analogous donor and acceptor moieties but differently coupled (intra- versus intermolecularly). Car–Parrinello molecular dynamics (CPMD) was employed to shed light onto principle components of interactions responsible for the self-assembly. It was applied to study the dynamics of the hydrogen bonds and vibrational features as well as to provide initial geometries for incorporation of quantum effects and electronic structure studies. The vibrational features were revealed using Fourier transformation of the autocorrelation function of atomic velocity and by inclusion of nuclear quantum effects on the O-H stretching solving vibrational Schrödinger equation a posteriori. The potential of mean force (Pmf) was computed for the whole trajectory to derive the probability density distribution and for the O-H stretching mode from the proton vibrational eigenfunctions and eigenvalues incorporating statistical sampling and nuclear quantum effects. The electronic structure changes of the benzo[h]quinoline-2-methylresorcinol dimer and trimers were studied based on Constrained Density Functional Theory (CDFT) whereas the Electron Localization Function (ELF) method was applied for all systems. It was found that the bridged proton is localized on the donor side in both investigated systems in vacuo. The crystalline phase simulations indicated bridged proton-sharing and transfer events in HBQ. These effects are even more pronounced when nuclear quantization is taken into account, and the quantized Pmf allows the proton to sample the acceptor area more efficiently. The CDFT indicated the charge depletion at the bridged proton for the analyzed dimer and trimers in solvent. The ELF analysis showed the presence of the isolated proton (a signature of the strongest hydrogen bonds) only in some parts of the HBQ crystal simulation. The collected data underline the importance of the intramolecular coupling between the donor and acceptor moieties.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (23) ◽  
pp. 7250
Author(s):  
Yukinobu Takahashi ◽  
Yu Hashimoto ◽  
Kohei Saito ◽  
Toshiyuki Takayanagi

The dissociative photodetachment dynamics of the oxalate anion, C2O4H− + hν → CO2 + HOCO + e−, were theoretically studied using the on-the-fly path-integral and ring-polymer molecular dynamics methods, which can account for nuclear quantum effects at the density-functional theory level in order to compare with the recent experimental study using photoelectron–photofragment coincidence spectroscopy. To reduce computational time, the force acting on each bead of ring-polymer was approximately calculated from the first and second derivatives of the potential energy at the centroid position of the nuclei beads. We find that the calculated photoelectron spectrum qualitatively reproduces the experimental spectrum and that nuclear quantum effects are playing a role in determining spectral widths. The calculated coincidence spectrum is found to reasonably reproduce the experimental spectrum, indicating that a relatively large energy is partitioned into the relative kinetic energy between the CO2 and HOCO fragments. This is because photodetachment of the parent anion leads to Franck–Condon transition to the repulsive region of the neutral potential energy surface. We also find that the dissociation dynamics are slightly different between the two isomers of the C2O4H− anion with closed- and open-form structures.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (27) ◽  
pp. 18237-18245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis S. Tikhonov ◽  
Arseniy A. Otlyotov ◽  
Vladimir V. Rybkin

We evaluate the performance of various ab initio molecular dynamics sampling methods for the calculation of observable gas-phase structures and probe the nuclear quantum effects.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Xu ◽  
Zehua Chen ◽  
Yang Yang

Nuclear quantum effects play a crucial role in many chemical and biological systems involving hydrogen atoms yet are difficult to include in practical molecular simulations. In this Letter, we combine our recently developed methods of constrained nuclear-electronic orbital density functional theory (cNEO-DFT) and constrained minimized energy surface molecular dynamics (CMES-MD) to create a new method for accurately and efficiently describing nuclear quantum effects in molecular simulations. Using this new method, dubbed cNEO-MD, the vibrational spectra of a set of small molecules are calculated and compared with those from conventional ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) as well as from experiments. With the same formal scaling, cNEO-MD greatly outperforms AIMD in describing the vibrational modes with significant hydrogen motion characters, demonstrating the promise of cNEO-MD for simulating chemical and biological systems with significant nuclear quantum effects.


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