Theoretical Analysis on the Fundamental and Overtone OH Stretching Spectra of Several Simple Acids and Alcohols

Graphical Transition Moment Decomposition and Conceptual Density Functional Theory Approaches to Study the Fundamental and Lower-Level Overtone Absorption Intensities of Some OH Stretching Vibrations

The investigation of electron density migrations caused by molecular structure changes is of central importance in various fields of chemistry. To address this topic in general and to study absorption intensities of vibrations, we analyze sensitive dipole moment functions (DMFs) of a molecule by combining the linear response function of conceptual DFT and bond dipoles separated by the quantum theory of atoms in molecules with a graphical transition moment decomposition scheme. The fundamental intensities of OH stretching vibrations depend strongly on the substituents but only weakly on the molecular conformations. Interestingly, in some alcohols, completely opposite trends have been observed for the lower-level overtone intensities: a weak substituent dependence but a stronger conformation dependence. It is well known that the formation of a hydrogen-bonded complex increases the OH stretching fundamental intensity, but less well known is the decrease in their overtone intensities. To investigate these characteristics comprehensively, we calculated their intensities (Δv = 1, 2, and 3) for conformers of ethanol and trifluoroethanol (TFE) and hydrogen-bonded phenol (PhOH) systems via the DFT method in the local mode model for the OH stretching coordinate ΔR. Their first and second derivatives of the electron density with respect to ΔR were calculated and interpreted using their bond moments. For ethanol and TFE, the OH, CC, and CH bond moments were found to make an important contribution to the molecular DMF derivatives parallel to the OH bond. The OH bond contributes only to the first derivative of DMF, and its conformational dependence is determined by the magnitude of the charge polarization of each structure. The electron density derivatives in the CC bond region were largely maintained during the internal rotation; thus, their conformation-dependent contributions were expressed by a geometrical factor of the CC bond direction. The CH bond at the antiperiplanar position of the OH bond was found to make a remarkably large contribution to the second derivative of DMF in the gauche conformer. The importance of electron density migration on substituents was also identified in the hydrogen-bonded phenol, in which the π-electron density change on the aromatic ring was clearly shown. This migration creates the DMF derivatives both perpendicular and parallel to the OH bond and strongly affects the absorption intensities. In all the cases, some bond moments on the substituents contribute to the first and second DMF derivatives in a structure-dependent manner, thus explaining their stereoelectronic effects.

Predicting OH stretching fundamental wavenumbers of alcohols for conformational assignment: different correction patterns for density functional and wave-function-based methods

A model is presented for the prediction of OH stretching fundamental wavenumbers of alcohol conformers in the gas phase by application of a small set of empirical anharmonicity corrections to calculations in the harmonic approximation. In contrast to the popular application of a uniform scaling factor, the local chemical structure of the alcohol is taken into account to greatly improve accuracy. Interestingly, different correction patterns emerge for results of hybrid density functional (B3LYP-D3 and PBE0-D3) and wave-function-based methods (SCS-LMP2, LCCSD(T*)-F12a and CCSD(T)-F12a 1D). This raises questions about electronic structure deficiencies in these methods and differences in anharmonicity between alcohols. After its initial construction on the basis of literature assignments the model is tested with Raman jet spectroscopy of propargyl alcohol, cyclohexanol, borneol, isopinocampheol and 2-methylbutan-2-ol. For propargyl alcohol a spectral splitting attributed to tunneling is resolved. PBE0-D3 is identified as a well performing and broadly affordable electronic structure method for this model. A mean absolute error of 1.3 cm-1 and a maximum absolute error of 3 cm-1 result for 46 conformers of 24 alcohols in a 60 cm-1 range, when a single parameter is adjusted separately for each alcohol substitution class (methanol, primary, secondary, tertiary).

Absolute fundamental and overtone OH and OD stretching intensities of alcohols

Absolute intensities of the Δv_OH = 1 - 2 and Δv_OD = 1 - 3 transitions were determined for a range of alcohols (methanol, ethanol, 2-propanol, 1-propanol and tert-butanol) using conventional Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The intensities of the OH stretching transitions are stronger than the corresponding OD stretching transitions and become increasingly stronger with higher overtone transitions as expected from the reduced masses of the oscillators. Furthermore, accurate absolute intensities of the third and fourth OH stretching overtone transitions were determined using our newly constructed integrated cavity ring down (CRD) and FTIR spectrometer with experimental uncertainties generally less than 10%. The experiments were complemented by local mode calculations, with the potential energy surfaces and the dipole moment functions determined at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory. The calculated oscillator strengths of the Δv_OH = 4 - 5 transitions are within 25% of the experimental results.

A spectroscopic and theoretical study in the near-infrared region of low concentration aliphatic alcohols

The near-infrared (NIR) spectra of low-concentration (5 × 10⁻³ M) solutions in CCl₄ of basic aliphatic alcohols, methanol, ethanol, and 1-propanol were, for the first time, calculated by second-order vibrational perturbation theory computations and were compared with the corresponding experimental data.

Absorption intensity changes and frequency shifts of fundamental and first overtone bands for OH stretching vibration of methanol upon methanol–pyridine complex formation in CCl4: analysis by NIR/IR spectroscopy and DFT calculations

The first overtone of the OH stretching mode of the OH–N hydrogen bond of the methanol–pyridine complex was observed.

Interpretation of semiclassical transition moments through wave function expansion of dipole moment functions with applications to the OH stretching spectra of simple acids and alcohols

Semiclassical description of molecular vibrations has provided us with various computational approximations and enhanced our conceptual understanding of quantum mechanics. In this study, the transition moments of the OH stretching fundamental and overtone intensities (Δv = 1-6) of some alcohols and acids are calculated by three kinds of semiclassical methods, correspondence-principle (CP) approximation, quasiclassical approximation, and uniform WKB approximation, and their respective transition moments are compared to those by the quantum theory. On the basis of the local mode picture, the one-dimensional potential energy curves and the dipole moment functions (DMFs) were obtained by density functional theory calculations and then fitted to Morse functions and sixth-order polynomials, respectively. It was shown that both the transition energies and the absorption intensities derived in the semiclassical methods reproduced their respective quantum values. In particular, the CP approximation reproduces the quantum transition moments if the formula given by Naccache is used for the action integral value. On the basis of these semiclassical results, we present a picture to understand the small variance in the overtone intensities of these acids and alcohols. Another important result is the ratios of semiclassical-to-quantum transition moment are almost independent of the applied molecules even with a great molecular variance of the DMFs, and they depend only on the nature of the semiclassical approximations and the quantum number. The difference between the semiclassical and quantum transition moments was analyzed in terms of a hitherto unrecognized concept that the Fourier expansion of the time dependent DMF in the CP treatment is a kind of the wave function expansion method using trigonometric functions as the quotient functions. For a Morse oscillator, we derive the analytic and approximate expressions of the quotient functions in terms of the bond displace coordinate in both the CP and the quantum mechanical frameworks and discuss the methodological dependence of the calculated transition moments. As a byproduct, we have found a simple derivation of the DMF expression first derived by Timm and Mecke long time ago.

Theoretical analysis of weak adjacent substituent effect on the overtone intensities of XH (X = C, O) stretching vibrations

It is known that the overtone intensities of some set of OH and CH stretching vibrations show only a weak dependence on the adjacent substituent, in sharp contrast to the much stronger dependence of their fundamental intensities. To understand this characteristic, we calculated the fundamental and overtone intensities of the Δv = 1-6 transitions for the OH stretching of alcohols and acids and the CH stretching of hydrocarbons with different types of hybridization. Based on the local-mode model, from the three components of the dipole moment function (DMF) of each molecule, a one-component effective DMF that recovered about 95% of the total intensity for the Δv = 1-6 transitions was constructed and expressed as a sixth-order polynomial of the bond displacement ΔR, with the leading expansion coefficients M1, M2, and M3 for the linear, quadratic, and cubic terms, respectively. When these coefficients for each molecule were represented as points in the coordinate system O-M1M2M3, the points for some set of molecules were found to lie on a straight line. Interestingly, the line had a direction cosine such that the resultant transition moments exhibited a small substituent dependence of the overtone intensities. Moreover, the slope of the line could be well approximated by the Morse exponential parameter and the bond distance. These characteristics of the DMFs can be rationalized by using the calculated transition moments and the wave function expansion method with the eigenfunction of the Morse potential. It was also verified by the quasiclassical method of Medvedev that these characteristics of the DMFs are the intrinsic reason for the weak substituent dependence of the overtone intensities. It is emphasized that the graphical representation of the DMF parameters provides a comprehensive tool for discussing various aspects of vibrational intensities.

Theoretical calculation of the OH vibrational overtone spectra of 1,5-pentanediol and 1,6-hexanediol

It is well-known that intramolecular hydrogen bonding affects the relative energetics of conformers, as well as the OH stretching peak positions, intensities, and width. In this study we simulated the Δv(OH) = 3, 4 overtone spectra of 1,5-pentanediol (PeD) and 1,6-hexanediol (HD) using the peak positions, intensities, and width calculated from the B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) method. Furthermore, room temperature free energy calculations were performed using B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) MP2/6-31+G(d,p), and MP2/6-311++G(3df,3pd) to obtain the relative population of the conformers. From the calculation of 109 and 381 distinct conformers for PeD and HD, respectively, we find that for these long chain diols the intramolecular hydrogen bonded conformers are not the most dominant conformation at room temperature. This is in stark contrast with shorter chain diols such as ethylene glycol for which the hydrogen bonded conformer dominates the population at room temperature. On the other hand, we found that the correlation between the hydrogen bonded OH red shift versus the homogeneous width, Γ = 0.0155(Δω)(1.36), which was derived for shorter chain diols, is valid even for these longer chain diols. We also showed that the intramolecular hydrogen bonded OH initially decays through the CCOH torsion and COH bending mode no matter how long the alkanediol chain length is for 1,n-alkanediols for n up to 6.

Theoretical Study of Vibrationally Averaged Dipole Moments for the Ground and Excited C═O Stretching States of trans-Formic Acid

Recent experimental studies of trans-formic acid (FA) in solid para-hydrogen (pH2) highlighted the importance of vibrationally averaged dipole moments for the interpretation of the high-resolution infrared (IR) spectra, in particular for the C═O stretch (ν3) mode. In this report, dipole moments for the ν3 ground (v = 0) and excited (v = 1, 2, 3, and 4) anharmonic vibrational states in trans-FA are investigated using two different approaches: a single mode approximation, where the vibrational states are obtained from the solution of the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation for the harmonic normal coordinate, and a limited vibrational configuration interaction (VCI) approximation. Density functional theory (B3LYP, BPW91) and correlated ab initio (MP2 and CCSD(T)) electronic methods were employed with a number of double- and triple-ζ and correlation consistent basis sets. Both single mode and VCI approaches show comparable agreement with experimental data, which is more dependent on the level of theory used. In particular, the BPW91/cc-pVDZ level appears to perform remarkably well. Effects of solvation of FA in solid state Ar and pH2 matrices were simulated at the BPW91/cc-pVDZ level using a conductor-like polarized continuum model (CPCM). The Ar and pH2 solid-state matrices cause quite a substantial increase in the FA dipole moments. Compared to gas-phase calculations, the CPCM model for pH2 better reproduces the experimental FA spectral shifts caused by interaction with traces of ortho-hydrogen (oH2) species in solid pH2. The validity of the single mode approach is tested against the multidimensional VCI results, suggesting that the isolated (noninteracting) mode approximation is valid up to the third vibrationally excited state (v = 3). Finally, the contribution of the ground anharmonic vibrational states of the remaining modes to the resulting ν3 single mode dipole moments is examined and discussed.

Fundamental and overtone vibrational spectra of gas-phase pyruvic acid

Pyruvic acid (CH(3)COCOOH) is an important keto acid present in the atmosphere. In this study, the vibrational spectroscopy of gas-phase pyruvic acid has been investigated with special emphasis on the overtone transitions of the OH-stretch, with Delta v(OH) = 2, 4, 5. Assignments were made to fundamental and combination bands in the mid-IR. The two lowest energy rotational conformers of pyruvic acid are clearly observed in the spectrum. The lowest energy conformer possesses an intramolecular hydrogen bond, while the next lowest rotational conformer does not. This difference is clearly seen in the spectra of the OH vibrational overtone transitions, and it is reflected in the anharmonicities of the OH-stretching modes for each conformer. The spectra of the OH-stretching vibration for both conformers were investigated to establish the effect of the hydrogen bond on frequency, intensity, and line width.

Characterization of the unimolecular water elimination reaction from 1-propanol, 3,3,3-propan-1-ol-d3, 3,3,3-trifluoropropan-1-ol, and 3-chloropropan-1-ol

The unimolecular reactions of 1-propanol, 3,3,3-propan-1-ol-d3, 3,3,3-trifluoropropan-1-ol, and 3-chloropropan-1-ol have been studied by the chemical activation technique. The recombination of CH3, CD3, CF3, and CH2Cl radicals with CH2CH2OH radicals at room temperature was used to generate vibrationally excited CH3CH2CH2OH, CD3CH2CH2OH, CF3CH2CH2OH, and CH2ClCH2CH2OH molecules. The principal unimolecular reaction for propanol and propanol-d3 with 90 kcal mol(-1) of vibrational energy is 1,2-H2O elimination with rate constants of 3.4 x 10(5) and 1.4 x 10(5) s(-1), respectively. For CH2ClCH2CH2OH also with 90 kcal mol(-1) of energy, 2,3-HCl elimination with a rate constant of 3.0 x 10(7) s(-1) is more important than 1,2-H2O elimination; the branching fractions are 0.95 and 0.05. For CF3CH2CH2OH with an energy of 102 kcal mol(-1), 1,2-H2O elimination has a rate constant of 7.9 x 10(5) and 2,3-HF elimination has a rate constant of 2.6 x 10(5) s(-1). Density functional theory was used to obtain models for the molecules and their transition states. The frequencies and moments of inertia from these models were used to calculate RRKM rate constants, which were used to assign threshold energies by comparing calculated and experimental rate constants. This comparison gives the threshold energy for H2O elimination from 1-propanol as 64 kcal mol(-1). The threshold energies for 1,2-H2O and 2,3-HCl elimination from CH2ClCH2CH2OH were 59 and 54 kcal mol(-1), respectively. The threshold energies for H2O and HF elimination from CF3CH2CH2OH are 62 and 70 kcal mol(-1), respectively. The structures of the transition states for elimination of HF, HCl, and H2O are compared.

A peptide co-solvent under scrutiny: self-aggregation of 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol

Trifluoroethanol (TFE) and its aggregates are studied via supersonic jet FTIR and Raman spectroscopy as well as by quantum chemistry and simple force field approaches. A multi-slit nozzle is introduced to study collisionally excited clusters. Efforts are made to extract harmonic frequencies from experiment for better comparison to theory. Based on deuteration, the OH stretching anharmonicity changes weakly upon dimerization, but increases for trimers. Among the possible dimer conformations, only an all-gauche, homoconfigurational, compact, OH-F connected structure is observed in an extreme case of chiral discrimination. Quantum tunneling assisted pathways for this surprising helicity synchronization are postulated. The oscillator coupling in hydrogen-bonded trimers is analyzed. Trans conformations of TFE start to become important for trimers and probably persist in the liquid state. Simple force fields can be refined to capture some molecular recognition features of TFE dimer, but their limitations are emphasized.

Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Vibrational Overtones of Glycolic Acid and Its Hydrogen Bonding Interactions with Water

The present work reports observations of the 4nu(1) and 4nu(2) O-H stretching transitions in glycolic acid, CH(2)OHCOOH, using a highly sensitive cavity ring-down spectrometer. Experimental and theoretical values for the harmonic frequencies and anharmonic constants of both O-H stretching transitions were extracted and are compared with theoretical calculations in the literature. Calculations of anharmonic frequencies, intensities, and relative energies have been performed and are presented for three conformers of glycolic acid. In the presence of water, an interesting broad spectral feature appeared underneath 4nu(1) and 4nu(2). New calculations for harmonic frequencies, intensities, and relative energies of four CH(2)OHCOOH-H(2)O complexes are reported to aid in understanding the observed spectrum. This work suggests that the perturbations are caused by intermolecular hydrogen bonding of glycolic acid with one or more water molecules.

CH-stretching overtone spectroscopy of 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane

We have recorded the vibrational absorption spectrum of 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (HFC-134a) in the fundamental and first five CH-stretching overtone regions with the use of Fourier transform infrared, dispersive long-path, intracavity laser photoacoustic, and cavity ringdown spectroscopies. We compare our measured total oscillator strengths in each region with intensities calculated using an anharmonic oscillator local mode model. We calculate intensities with 1D, 2D, and 3D Hamiltonians, including one or two CH stretches and two CH stretches with the HCH bending mode, respectively. The dipole moment function is calculated ab initio with self-consistent-field Hartree-Fock and density functional theories combined with double- and triple-zeta-quality basis sets. We find that the basis set choice affects the total intensity more than the choice of the Hamiltonian. We achieve agreement between the calculated and measured total intensities of approximately a factor of 2 or better for the fundamental and first five overtones.

Effective One-Dimensional Dipole Moment Function for the OH Stretching Overtone Spectra of Simple Acids and Alcohols

To gain insight on the absorption intensities, as well as the direction of the transition moment for the OH stretching vibration in alcohols and acids, we performed detailed analyses for nitric acid, acetic acid, methanol, tert-butyl alcohol, water, and OH radical. We obtained both the potential energy surface and the dipole moment function (DMF) by the B3LYP method and performed quantum mechanical vibrational calculation using the grid variational method based on the local mode model. In this work, we employed the sum rule of the absorption intensities for the one-dimensional (1-D) vibrational Hamiltonian to construct an effective 1-D DMF, which is responsible for the total sum of the overtone intensities. The direction of this effective DMF was found to be tilted away from the OH bond by about 30 degrees for the polyatomic molecules. The nonlinearity of the DMFs in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the OH bond is discussed to rationalize the tilting. Furthermore, we analyzed the effective 1-D DMFs with the vibrational wave function expansion method and derived the effective portion of the 1-D DMF that is responsible for the overtone transition moment.

Absolute Intensities of CH Stretching Overtones in Alkenes

We have measured the CH stretching vibrational spectrum of ethene gas in the regions corresponding to 1-5 quanta in the CH stretching vibration with Fourier transform infrared and conventional absorption spectroscopy and have determined the corresponding oscillator strengths. We have calculated the CH stretching vibrational oscillator strengths for a series of alkenes: ethene, propene, 1,3-butadiene, cis-2-butene, and trans-2-butene. The CH stretching intensities are calculated with a simple Morse oscillator local mode model for CH groups and with the harmonically coupled anharmonic oscillator local mode model for CH2 and CH3 groups. The local mode parameters, frequencies, and anharmonicities are obtained from experiments. The harmonic coupling coefficients and the dipole moment functions are calculated with a range of ab initio methods. These include self-consistent-field Hartree-Fock, density functional, correlated, and multireference theories, combined with basis sets ranging from double- to quadruple-zeta quality augmented with polarization and diffuse functions. Variation in calculated oscillator strengths with the choice of ab initio method is systematically studied and compared with observed intensities. From this comparison between the calculated and observed values, we can quantitatively understand the relative usefulness of various ab initio dipole moment functions in calculations of vibrational oscillator strength for alkenes.