Molecular-dynamics evaluation of fluid-phase equilibrium properties by a novel free-energy perturbation approach: Application to gas solubility and vapor pressure of liquid hexane

Abstract

A novel free-energy perturbation method is developed for the computation of the free energy of transferring a molecule between fluid phases. The methodology consists in drawing a free-energy profile of the target molecule moving across a binary-phase structure built in the computer. The novelty of the method lies in the difference of the definition of the free-energy profile from the common definition. As an important element of the method, the process of making a correction to the transfer free energy with respect to the cutoff of intermolecular forces is elucidated. In order to examine the performance of the method in the application to fluid-phase equilibrium properties, molecular-dynamics computations are carried out for the evaluation of gas solubility and vapor pressure of liquid n-hexane at 298.15 K. The gas species treated are methane, ethane, propane, and n-butane, with the gas solubility expressed as Henry's constant. It is shown that the method works fine and calculated results are generally in good agreement with experiments. It is found that the cutoff correction is strikingly large, constituting a dominant part of the calculated transfer free energy at the cutoff of 8 A.