Rigid Rotor Harmonic Oscillator Research Articles

Thermodynamics of gaseous strontium and calcium cerates studied by Knudsen effusion mass spectrometry and estimation of relative electron ionization cross-section for CeO2(g).

Ceria-based systems are of great interest because of their unique properties. Such systems may be used as anode materials for SOFCs or in oxygen sensors. Theexploitation of these materials often requires high temperatures. In such conditions, the partial or complete evaporation of materials is possible. Therefore, knowledge of the values of partial pressures and thermodynamic properties is essential to predict and/or prevent possible consequences and accidents. Knudsen effusion mass spectrometry was used to determine partial pressures of vapor species over the SrO-CeO2 and CaO-CeO2 systems. Measurements of partial pressures were performed with a MS-1301 mass spectrometer. Vaporization was carried out using molybdenum or tungsten effusion cells. A theoretical study of gaseous strontium and calcium cerates was performed by several quantum chemical methods: density functional theory (DFT) M06, DFT PBE0, and MP2. The minimum value of relative electron ionization cross-section for CeO2 was estimated. In the temperature range of 2218-2249 K above the SrO-CeO2 system and of 2128-2208 K above the CaO-CeO2 system, gaseous M, MO, MO, CeO2, O, O2 and MCeO3 (M = Sr, Ca) were found. Energetically favorable structures of gaseous SrCeO3 and CaCeO3 were found, and vibrational frequencies were evaluated in the "rigid rotor-harmonic oscillator" approximation. On the basis of the equilibrium constants of gaseous reaction MO + CeO2 = MCeO3, the standard formation enthalpy of gaseous SrCeO3 (-913 ± 26 kJ/mol) and of gaseous CaCeO3 (-917 ± 26 kJ/mol) at 298 K were determined. The estimated value of relative electron ionization cross-section for CeO2 is in agreement with the general rule applicable for dioxides. The stability of SrCeO3 and CaCeO3 gaseous species was confirmed by KEMS. Gas-phase reactions involving gaseous SrO (CaO) and CeO2 with gaseous SrCeO3(CaCeO3) were studied. Enthalpy of formation reaction of gaseous SrCeO3(CaCeO3) from gaseous SrO (CaO) were evaluated theoretically, and the obtained value is in agreement with the experimental one.

On Analytical Corrections for Restraints in Absolute Binding Free Energy Calculations.

Double decoupling absolute binding free energy simulations require an intermediate state at which the ligand is held solely by restraints in a position and orientation resembling the bound state. One possible choice consists of one distance, two angle, and three dihedral angle restraints. Here, I demonstrate that in practically all cases the analytical correction derived under the rigid rotator harmonic oscillator approximation is sufficient to account for the free energy of the restraints.

Thermophysical Properties for Alkylphosphonate and Alkylphosphate Compounds

Organophosphorus compounds have a wide range of applications; they are commonly used as drugs or pesticides or in the production of ion batteries. However, some organophosphorus compounds, which were developed as warfare nerve agents, are neurotoxic and potentially lethal to living organisms. On the basis of the literature search, certain properties of these compounds are not well known. Knowledge of thermodynamic properties and the availability of reliable data are fundamental in the development of methods for detecting, treating, and safely analyzing decontamination. For research purposes, substitutes, called simulants, which have similar molecular structures and properties but are less toxic, are often employed. This work presents a thermodynamic study of four organophosphorus nerve agent simulants: trimethyl phosphate, triethyl phosphate, dimethyl methylphosphonate, and diethyl methylphosphonate. Differential scanning calorimeter and a Tian–Calvet type calorimeter were used to analyze their phase behavior and measure the liquid heat capacities, respectively. Vapor pressures were experimentally determined with the static method. Ideal-gas heat capacities were calculated using the R1SM approach, which combines the rigid rotor–harmonic oscillator model, the one-dimensional hindered rotor model, and the mixing model. The results obtained were compared with the data from the literature and simultaneously correlated to obtain a highly reliable thermodynamic description.Graphical

Ab Initio Conformational Analysis of 3,7-Diacetyl-3,7-Diazabicyclo[3.3.1]Nonanes

Introduction: The importance of the conformational behavior comprehension for proper prediction of properties for a certain compound or for a class of compounds is indisputable. For 3,7-diacylbispidines (3,7-diacyl-3,7-diazabicyclo[3.3.1]nonanes), only “double chair” (CC) conformers were prior found experimentally in the condensed phase, which differ only in the acyl groups relative orientation, “parallel,” pa or “antiparallel,” ap. However, 2 other conformer families, “boat-chair,” BC and “double twist,” TT, are known for other bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane derivatives. Features of these conformers would be useful for the accurate prediction of properties and activities of the compounds. Methods: Second-order perturbation theory ab initio techniques (MP2) in the triple-zeta correlation-consistent orbital basis set cc-pVTZ was employed to optimize the electronic energy for structures, to characterize the optimized structures as potential energy surface minima by energy hessian eigenvalue calculations and to calculate zero-point energy corrections for the minima using the “rigid rotor-harmonic oscillator” approximation to model the molecular ensemble thermodynamics. Additionally, the computational chemical thermodynamics benefits much from the concept of the molecular strain and its energy assessed successfully through the bond separation energy formalism. We combine both approaches in our investigation to find and consistently characterize the conformers previously unknown for the compounds under the studies. Results: Six possible conformers were found for the investigated 3,7-diacetyl-3,7-diazabicyclo[3.3.1]nonanes 1-4, formed by combining the skeletal conformation changes with the internal rotation of acyl substituents. The conformational behavior is quite similar for all investigated molecules. In all cases, the CC conformation is optimal for the bicyclic skeleton and ap orientation prevails over pa for 2 acetyl groups. This prevalence is 4-5 kcal mol−1 in CC and less than 1 kcal mol−1 in other skeletal forms, making rotation of 2 acyl groups in BC and TT almost independent. Concerning the skeletal conformations, the common energy sequence CC < BC < TT is found. While the relative BC energy is 6-7 kcal mol−1 over the optimal CC structure, TT forms are all strained by more than 12 kcal mol−1. Conclusions: For the first time, both BC and TT conformers of 3,7-diacetylbispidines were characterized by their strain and conformation energies together with known less strained CC forms. On the basis of our calculations, the relative energies of BC conformers are expected to be close to those of the CC acetyl amide bond rotamers found previously in experiment, therefore, their exclusion from the conformational behavior would look unjustified. On the contrary, TT conformers are found to be much more strained enough to be neglected in the conformational ensemble modeling.

Monohalogenated methyl- and methoxy-benzoic acids: A combined experimental and quantum chemical theoretical study on their structure, vibrational analysis and molecular parameters

In this paper, the molecules 3-fluoro-2-methylbenzoic acid; 3-chloro-2-methoxybenzoic acid; and 3-bromo-2-methylbenzoic were investigated using experimental and quantum chemical theoretical approach for vibrational and electronic properties from the optimized structure. Becke three parameter Lee–Yang–Parr density functionals along with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set were employed to compute their geometric optimization, fundamental frequencies and molecular parameters. The detected FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra were compared with their simulated spectra and the rms error between the detected and simulated vibrational frequencies was found at 6.17, 7.22 and 6.76 cm−1 for FMA, CMA and BMA, respectively. All the vibrational fundamentals were assigned unequivocally using potential energy distribution (PED) obtained in the computations. 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts were evaluated by integrating the gauge-independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method with DFT and compared with corresponding experimental values. TD-DFT approach was followed to compare the simulated absorption maxima (λmax) in DMSO-d6 solvent with observed values and interpreted in terms of HOMO and LUMO. The global reactive descriptors were estimated from the associated energies of HOMO and LUMO which describe the reactivity and stability of the molecules. Molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) surface has been determined using the charge density distributions to demonstrate electrophilic and nucleophilic nature of the molecules. DFT computations also ascertained the applicability of the titled molecules as NLO materials from the computed values of dipole moment and hyperpolarizability. Thermodynamic parameters and rotational constants were also evaluated employing rigid rotor harmonic oscillator approximation. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis confirmed the charge delocalization due to intra-molecular interactions.

High-order methods for hypersonic flows with strong shocks and real chemistry

We compare high-order methods including spectral difference (SD), flux reconstruction (FR), the entropy-stable discontinuous Galerkin spectral element method (ES-DGSEM), modal discontinuous Galerkin methods, and WENO to select the best candidate to simulate strong shock waves characteristic of hypersonic flows. We consider several benchmarks, including the Leblanc and modified shock-density wave interaction problems that require robust stabilization and positivity-preserving properties for a successful flow realization. We also perform simulations of the three-species Sod problem with simplified chemistry with the chemical reaction source terms introduced in the Euler equations. The ES-DGSEM scheme exhibits the highest stability, negligible numerical oscillations, and requires the least computational effort in resolving reactive flow regimes with strong shock waves. Therefore, we extend the ES-DGSEM to hypersonic Euler equations by deriving a new set of two-point entropy conservative fluxes for a five-species gas model. In this paper, hypersonic Euler equations refer to the multi-species Euler equations for which the internal energy and thermodynamic properties are computed using the Rigid-Rotor Harmonic-Oscillator model. Stabilization for capturing strong shock waves occurs by blending high-order entropy conservative fluxes with low-order finite volume fluxes constructed using the HLLC Riemann solver. The hypersonic Euler solver is verified using the non-equilibrium chemistry Sod problem. To this end, we adopt the Mutation++ library to compute the reaction source terms, thermodynamic properties, and transport coefficients. We also investigate the effect of real chemistry versus ideal chemistry, and the results demonstrate that the ideal chemistry assumption fails at high temperatures, hence real chemistry must be employed for accurate predictions. Finally, we consider a viscous hypersonic flow problem to verify the transport coefficients and reaction source terms determined by the Mutation++ library.

A Free Energy Decomposition Analysis: Insight into Binding Thermodynamics from Absolutely Localized Molecular Orbitals.

Traditional energy decomposition analysis (EDA) methods can provide an interpretive decomposition of non-covalent electronic binding energies. However, by definition, they neglect entropic effects and nuclear contributions to the enthalpy. With the objective of revealing the chemical origins of trends in free energies of binding, we introduce the concept of a Gibbs decomposition analysis (GDA) by coupling the absolutely localized molecular orbital treatment of electrons in non-covalent interactions with the simplest possible quantum rigid rotor-harmonic oscillator treatment of nuclear motion at finite temperature. The resulting pilot GDA is employed to decompose enthalpic and entropic contributions to the free energy of association of the water dimer, fluoride-water dimer, and water binding to an open metal site in the metal-organic framework Cu(I)-MFU-4l. The results show enthalpic trends that generally track the electronic binding energy and entropic trends that reveal the increasing price of loss of translational and rotational degrees freedom with temperature.

Thermodynamic properties of crystalline and gaseous lower niobium chlorides

Thermodynamic functions of crystalline and gaseous niobium chlorides in lower state of oxidation are presented. The thermodynamic properties of solid niobium chlorides including their clusters Nb3Cl8 (NbCl2.67) and Nb6Cl14 (NbCl2.33) in the temperature range from 298 to 1300 K were calculated using experimental low temperature isobaric heat capacity measurements, thermogravimetric and tensimetric data on the process of their thermal decomposition and mass-spectrometric determination of vapor phase composition during this process.The thermodynamic properties of gaseous lower niobium chlorides in the temperature range 298-2000 K were calculated using vibration frequencies of these molecules. The latter were obtained using suggested molecular structures by a method involving the application of the force constants estimated on the basis of vibration frequencies of vapors of titanium, zirconium and vanadium tetrachlorides in terms of modified valence force field.The vibration frequencies were used to calculate the thermodynamic functions of gaseous niobium lower chlorides in terms of the rigid rotator-harmonic oscillator approximation.The obtained thermodynamic data allowed us to calculate the composition of the vapor phase in the system Nb=NbCl5 (vapor) in the temperature range from 700 to 2000 K for pressures 10−6 and 1 atm. The mechanism of thermal decomposition of niobium cluster Nb6Cl14 (NbCl2.33) was determined under pressure of 1 atm and in vacuum.

The Ionic Product of Water in the Eye of the Quantum Cluster Equilibrium.

The theoretical description of water properties continues to be a challenge. Using quantum cluster equilibrium (QCE) theory, we combine state-of-the-art quantum chemistry and statistical thermodynamic methods with the almost historical Clausius–Clapeyron relation to study water self-dissociation and the thermodynamics of vaporization. We pay particular attention to the treatment of internal rotations and their impact on the investigated properties by employing the modified rigid-rotor–harmonic-oscillator (mRRHO) approach. We also study a novel QCE parameter-optimization procedure. Both the ionic product and the vaporization enthalpy yield an astonishing agreement with experimental reference data. A significant influence of the mRRHO approach is observed for cluster populations and, consequently, for the ionic product. Thermodynamic properties are less affected by the treatment of these low-frequency modes.

Isotope shift in optical spectra of MoO

Four absorption bands of the jet-cooled molybdenum monoxide (MoO) molecule involving seven natural Mo isotopes have been investigated using laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy. All bands have large isotope shifts in rotational resolution, and are assigned to the transitions from the ground X5Π−1 (v′′ = 0) state to the upper [14.11]2, [14.15]2, [14.24]2 and [15.04]2 states, respectively. The accurate rotational constants of seven isotopologues in the ground and excited states are obtained. In addition, the vibrational constants of the ground electronic state are obtained by the isotopically resolved single-vibrational-level emission spectra. The isotope effect in the rovibronic structure of the ground electronic state follows the rigid rotor model and harmonic oscillator model. Strong homogeneous perturbations in the upper states are found resulting in unexpected Franck-Condon factors and irregular dependences of the vibrational isotope shifts and bond lengths with reduced mass.

Entanglement Effect and Angular Momentum Conservation in a Nonseparable Tunneling Treatment.

The important, and often dominant, role of tunneling in low temperature kinetics has resulted in numerous theoretical explorations into the methodology for predicting it. Nevertheless, there are still key aspects of the derivations that are lacking, particularly for nonseparable systems in the low temperature regime, and further explorations of the physical factors affecting the tunneling rate are warranted. In this work we obtain a closed-form rate expression for the tunneling rate constant that is a direct analog of the rigid-rotor-harmonic-oscillator expression. This expression introduces a novel "entanglement factor" that modulates the reaction rate. Furthermore, we are able to extend this expression, which is valid for nonseparable systems at low temperatures, to properly account for the conservation of angular momentum. In contrast, previous calculations have considered only vibrational transverse modes and so effectively employ a decoupled rotational partition function for the orientational modes. We also suggest a simple theoretical model to describe the tunneling effects in the vicinity of the crossover temperature (the temperature where tunneling becomes the dominating mechanism). This model allows one to naturally classify, interpret, and predict experimental data. Among other things, it quantitatively explains in simple terms the so-called "quantum bobsled" effect, also known as the negative centrifugal effect, which is related to curvature of the reaction path. Taken together, the expressions obtained here allow one to predict the thermal and E-resolved rate constants over broad ranges of temperatures and energies.

Fitting quantum machine learning potentials to experimental free energy data: predicting tautomer ratios in solution.

The computation of tautomer ratios of druglike molecules is enormously important in computer-aided drug discovery, as over a quarter of all approved drugs can populate multiple tautomeric species in solution. Unfortunately, accurate calculations of aqueous tautomer ratios—the degree to which these species must be penalized in order to correctly account for tautomers in modeling binding for computer-aided drug discovery—is surprisingly difficult. While quantum chemical approaches to computing aqueous tautomer ratios using continuum solvent models and rigid-rotor harmonic-oscillator thermochemistry are currently state of the art, these methods are still surprisingly inaccurate despite their enormous computational expense. Here, we show that a major source of this inaccuracy lies in the breakdown of the standard approach to accounting for quantum chemical thermochemistry using rigid rotor harmonic oscillator (RRHO) approximations, which are frustrated by the complex conformational landscape introduced by the migration of double bonds, creation of stereocenters, and introduction of multiple conformations separated by low energetic barriers induced by migration of a single proton. Using quantum machine learning (QML) methods that allow us to compute potential energies with quantum chemical accuracy at a fraction of the cost, we show how rigorous relative alchemical free energy calculations can be used to compute tautomer ratios in vacuum free from the limitations introduced by RRHO approximations. Furthermore, since the parameters of QML methods are tunable, we show how we can train these models to correct limitations in the underlying learned quantum chemical potential energy surface using free energies, enabling these methods to learn to generalize tautomer free energies across a broader range of predictions.

Heat Capacity and Bond Dissociation Energy Calculations of Some Fluorinated Ethanol’s and its Radicals: CH<sub>3-x</sub>CH<sub>2</sub>F<sub>x</sub>OH, CH<sub>3</sub>CH<sub>2-x</sub>F<sub>x</sub>OH

Structures and thermochemical properties of these species were determined by the gaussian M-062x/6-31 + g (d, p) calculation enthalpies of formation for 19 fluorinated ethanol and some radicals were calculated with a popular Ab initio and density functional theory methods: The gaussian M-062x/6-31 + g (d, p) via several series of isodesmic reactions. Entropies (S298°K in Cal·Mol-1 K-1) were estimated using the M-062x/6-31 + g (d, p) computed frequencies and geometries. Contributions of entropy, S298°K, and heat capacities, Cp(T) due to vibration, translation, and external rotation of the molecules were calculated based on the vibration frequencies and structures obtained from the M-062x/6-31 + g (d, p) Density Functional Method. Potential barriers are calculated using M-062x/6-31 + g (d, p) density functional method and are used to calculate rotor contributions to entropy and heat capacity using integration over energy levels of rotational potential. Rotational barriers were determined and hindered internal rotational contributions for S298° - 1500°K, and Cp (T) were calculated using the rigid rotor harmonic oscillator approximation, with direct integration over energy levels of the intramolecular rotation potential energy curves. Thermochemical properties of fluorinated alcohols are needed for understanding their stability and reactions in the environment and in thermal process

GoodVibes: automated thermochemistry for heterogeneous computational chemistry data

GoodVibes is an open-source Python toolkit for processing the results of quantum chemical calculations. Thermochemical data are not simply parsed, but evaluated by evaluation of translational, rotational, vibrational and electronic partition functions. Changes in concentration, pressure, and temperature can be applied, and deficiencies in the rigid rotor harmonic oscillator treatment can be corrected. Vibrational scaling factors can also be applied by automatic detection of the level of theory and basis set. Absolute and relative thermochemical values are output to text and graphical plots in seconds. GoodVibes provides a transparent and reproducible way to process raw computational data into publication-quality tables and figures without the use of spreadsheets.

Correcting Rate Constants from Anharmonic Molecular Dynamics for Quantum Effects.

Anharmonicity can greatly affect rate constants. One or even several orders of magnitude of deviation are found for obtaining rate constants using the standard rigid-rotor harmonic-oscillator model. In turn, reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are a powerful way to explore chemical reaction networks and calculate rate constants from the fully anharmonic potential energy surface. However, the classical nature of the dynamics and the required numerical efficiency of the force field limit the accuracy of the resulting kinetics. We combine the best of both worlds by presenting an approximation that pairs anharmonic information intrinsic to classical MD with high-accuracy energies and frequencies from quantum-mechanical electronic structure calculations. The proposed scheme is applied to hydrogen abstractions in the methane system, which allows for the benchmarking of rate constants corrected by our approach against experimental rate constants. This comparison reveals a standard deviation of factor 2.6. Two archetypes of possible failure are identified in the course of a detailed investigation of the CH3• + H• → CH22• + H2 reaction. From this follows the application range of the method, within which the method shows a standard deviation of factor 2.1. The computational efficiency and beneficial scaling of the method allow for application to larger systems, as shown for hydrogen abstraction from 2-butanone by HO2•.

Thermodynamic Functions of 1, 2, 3- tri-meth-oxy-benzene and m-methyl-meth-oxy benzene

The statistical computation of an ideal gas state thermodynamic functions namely enthalpy, entropy, free energy, heat capacity of 1,2,3 – Trimethoxy benzene, m-methyl methoxybenzene have been performed. These calculations have been made at a pressure of 1 atmosphere in the temperature range 100°K to 1500°K under rigid rotor harmonic oscillator approximation for 1 mole of perfect gas and on the basis of vibrational frequencies obtained from FTIR and Raman spectra and also with the help of moment of inertia.

Gaussian M-062x/6-31+g (d,p) Calculation of Standard Enthalpy, Entropy and Heat Capacity of Some Fluorinated Alcohol’s and Its Radicals at Different Temperatures

Thermochemical properties of fluorinated alcohols are needed for understanding their stability and reactions in the environment and in thermal process. Structures and thermochemical properties of these species were determined by the Gaussian M-062x/6-31+g (d,p) calculation. Contributions of entropy, S°298, and heat capacities, Cp(T) due to vibration, translation, and external rotation of the molecules were calculated based on the vibration frequencies and structures obtained from the M-062x/6-31+g (d,p) density functional method. Potential barriers are calculated using M-062x/6-31+g (d,p) density functional method and are used to calculate rotor contributions to entropy and heat capacity using integration over energy levels of rotational potential. Enthalpies of formation for 19 fluorinated ethanol and some radicals were calculated with a popular ab initio and density functional theory methods: the Gaussian M-062x/6-31+g (d,p) via several series of isodesmic reactions. The recommended ideal gas phase ΔHf298 ° (kcal mol−1) values calculated in this study are the following: -101.74 ± 0.72 for CH2FCH2OH; -113.51 ±1.39 for CH3CHFOH; -50.66 ± 0.75 for C•HFCH2OH; -56.05±0.62 for CH2FCH•OH; -45.00±1.31 for CH2FCH2O•; -59.61±1.20 for CH2•CHFOH; -67.99± 1.29 for CH3CF•OH; -58.76±1.20 for CH3CHFO•; -154.12±1.72 for CH2FCHFOH; -155.26±1.67 for CF2HCH2OH; -174.53±1.54 for CH3CF2OH; -104.07 ± 1.45 for CH2FC•FOH; -105.63±1.74 for C•HFCFHOH; -99.08±1.57 for CH2FCHFO•; -102.34±1.74 for CHF2C•HOH; -102.23±1.57 for C•F2CH2OH; -98.86±1.57 for CHF2CH2O•; -119.41±1.74 for CH2•CF2OH; -110.56±1.62 for CH3CF2O•. Entropies (S298° in cal mol−1 K−1) were estimated using the M-062x/6-31+g (d,p) computed frequencies and geometries. Rotational barriers were determined and hindered internal rotational contributions for S298°- 1500°, and Cp(T) were calculated using the rigid rotor harmonic oscillator approximation, with direct integration over energy levels of the intramolecular rotation potential energy curves.

Cohesive Properties of Ionic Liquids Calculated from First Principles.

Low volatility of ionic liquids (ILs), being one of their most valuable properties, is also the principal factor making reliable measurements of vapor pressures and vaporization (or sublimation) enthalpies of ILs extremely difficult. Alternatively, vaporization enthalpies at the temperature of the triple point can be obtained from the enthalpies of sublimation and fusion. While the latter can be obtained calorimetrically with a fair accuracy, the former is in principle accessible through ab initio computations. This work assesses the performance of the first-principles calculations of sublimation properties of ILs. Namely, 3 compounds, coupling the 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium cation [emIm] with either tetrafluoroborate [BF4], hexafluorophosphate [PF6], or bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide [NTf2] anions were selected for a case study. A computational methodology, originally developed for molecular crystals, is adopted for crystals of ILs. It exploits periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the unit-cell geometries and quasi-harmonic phonons and many-body expansion schemes for ab initio refinements of the lattice energies of crystalline ILs. The vapor phase is treated as the ideal gas whose properties are obtained combining the rigid rotor-harmonic oscillator model with corrections from the one-dimensional hindered rotors and molecular-dynamics simulations capturing the contributions from the interionic interaction modes. Although the given computational approach enables one to reach the chemical accuracy (4 kJ mol-1) of calculated sublimation enthalpies of simple molecular crystals, reaching the same level of accuracy for ionic liquids proves challenging as crystals of ionic liquids are bound appreciably stronger than common molecular crystals, the underlying cohesive energies of solid ionic liquids is up to 1 order of magnitude larger. Still, combination of the mentioned computational and experimental frameworks results in a novel promising scheme that is expected to generate reliable and accurate temperature-dependent data on sublimation (and vaporization) of ILs.

First-principles calculation of ideal-gas thermodynamic properties of long-chain molecules by R1SM approach-Application to n-alkanes.

First-principles calculations, coupled with statistical thermodynamics, can provide ideal-gas thermodynamic properties but get complicated and less reliable with an increasing number of conformers. An approach designed for calculation of ideal-gas thermodynamic properties of long-chain molecules, R1SM, and its simplified version, sR1SM, is tested in this work by calculation of ideal-gas heat capacities and entropies for a homologous series of n-alkanes up to n-tetradecane. The R1SM approach incorporates the rigid rotor-harmonic oscillator approximation in combination with a correction for internal rotations of methyl tops using the one-dimensional hindered rotor scheme and the mixing model accounting for the population of conformers based on the Boltzmann distribution. The R1SM approach is applicable for compounds with up to hundreds of conformers, while the simplified sR1SM approach can be used for molecules with up to 105 conformers when coupled with rules for enumeration of stable conformers and estimation scheme for their energies. The obtained results for n-alkanes are compared with experimental values and previously employed computational schemes. As the conformational behavior and conformer energies are inherent parts of the proposed approaches, a thorough conformational study of n-alkanes is performed and compared with experiments and the Tasi rules for enumeration of n-alkane conformers. Finally, the standard uncertainty of the R1SM-calculated ideal-gas thermodynamic properties is estimated based on the error propagation from the used input quantities and approximations as well as on comparison to experimental values and amounts to less than 1% for both ideal-gas heat capacity and standard ideal-gas entropy.

Active Thermochemical Tables: The Partition Function of Hydroxymethyl (CH2OH) Revisited.

The best currently available set of temperature-dependent nonrigid rotor anharmonic oscillator (NRRAO) thermochemical and thermophysical properties of hydroxymethyl radical is presented. The underlying partition function relies on a critically evaluated complement of accurate experimental and theoretical data and is constructed using a two-pronged strategy that combines contributions from large amplitude motions obtained from direct counts, with contributions from the other internal modes of motion obtained from analytic NRRAO expressions. The contributions from the two strongly coupled large-amplitude motions of CH2OH, OH torsion and CH2 wag, are based on energy levels obtained by solving the appropriate two-dimensional projection of a fully dimensional potential energy surface that was recently obtained at the CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ level of theory. The contributions of the remaining seven, more rigid, vibrational modes and of the external rotations are captured by NRRAO corrections to the standard rigid rotor harmonic oscillator (RRHO) treatment, which include corrections for vibrational anharmonicities, rotation-vibration interaction, Coriolis effects, and low temperature. The basic spectroscopic constants needed for the construction of the initial RRHO partition function rely on experimental ground-state rotational constants and the best available experimental fundamentals, additionally complemented by fundamentals obtained from the variational solution of the full-dimensional potential energy surface using a recently developed two-component multilayer Lanczos algorithm. The higher-order spectroscopic constants necessary for the NRRAO corrections are extracted from a second-order variational perturbation treatment (VPT2) of the same potential energy surface. The Lanczos solutions of the fully dimensional surface are validated against available experimental data, and the VPT2 results and the solutions of the reduced dimensionality surface are validated both against the Lanczos solutions and available experiments. The NRRAO thermophysical and thermochemical properties, given both in tabular form and as seven- and nine-coefficient NASA polynomials, are compared to previous results. In addition, the latest ATcT values for the enthalpy of formation of CH2OH at 298.15 K (0 K), -16.75 ± 0.27 kJ/mol (-10.45 ± 0.27 kJ/mol), and of other related CH nO m species ( n = 0-4, m = 0,1) are reported, together with a plethora of related bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs), such as the C-H, O-H, and C-O bond dissociation enthalpies of methanol, 402.16 ± 0.26 kJ/mol (395.61 ± 0.26 kJ/mol), 440.34 ± 0.26 kJ/mol (434.86 ± 0.26 kJ/mol), and 384.85 ± 0.15 kJ/mol (377.14 ± 0.15 kJ/mol), respectively, and analogous BDEs for hydroxymethyl, 343.67 ± 0.37 kJ/mol (339.16 ± 0.37 kJ/mol), 125.54 ± 0.28 kJ/mol (121.11 ± 0.28 kJ/mol), and 445.86 ± 0.29 kJ/mol (438.76 ± 0.29 kJ/mol), respectively. The reasons governing the alternation between strong and weak sequential H atom BDEs of methanol are also discussed.