An efficient route to thermal rate constants in reduced dimensional quantum scattering simulations: applications to the abstraction of hydrogen from alkanes.

We present an efficient approach to the determination of two-dimensional potential energy surfaces for use in quantum reactive scattering simulations. Our method involves first determining the minimum energy path (MEP) for the reaction by means of an ab initio intrinsic reaction coordinate calculation. This one-dimensional potential is then corrected to take into account the zero point energies of the spectator modes. These are determined from Hessians in curvilinear coordinates after projecting out the modes to be explicitly treated in quantum scattering calculations. The final (1+1)-dimensional potential is constructed by harmonic expansion about each point along the MEP before transforming the whole surface to hyperspherical coordinates for use in the two-dimensional scattering simulations. This new method is applied to H-atom abstraction from methane, ethane and propane. For the latter, both reactive channels (producing i-C(3)H(7) or n-C(3)H(7)) are investigated. For all reactions, electronic structure calculations are performed using an efficient, explicitly correlated, coupled cluster methodology (CCSD(T)-F12). Calculated thermal rate constants are compared to experimental and previous theoretical results.

Predicting catalysis: understanding ammonia synthesis from first-principles calculations.

Here, we give a full account of a large collaborative effort toward an atomic-scale understanding of modern industrial ammonia production over ruthenium catalysts. We show that overall rates of ammonia production can be determined by applying various levels of theory (including transition state theory with or without tunneling corrections, and quantum dynamics) to a range of relevant elementary reaction steps, such as N(2) dissociation, H(2) dissociation, and hydrogenation of the intermediate reactants. A complete kinetic model based on the most relevant elementary steps can be established for any given point along an industrial reactor, and the kinetic results can be integrated over the catalyst bed to determine the industrial reactor yield. We find that, given the present uncertainties, the rate of ammonia production is well-determined directly from our atomic-scale calculations. Furthermore, our studies provide new insight into several related fields, for instance, gas-phase and electrochemical ammonia synthesis. The success of predicting the outcome of a catalytic reaction from first-principles calculations supports our point of view that, in the future, theory will be a fully integrated tool in the search for the next generation of catalysts.

Quantum initial value representation simulation of water trimer far infrared absorption spectrum.

We extend the technique of quantum propagation on a grid of trajectory guided coupled coherent states to simulate experimental absorption spectra. The approach involves calculating the thermally averaged dipole moment autocorrelation function by means of quantum propagation in imaginary time. The method is tested on simulation of the far infrared spectrum of water trimer based on a three-dimensional model potential. Results are in good agreement with experiment and with other calculations.

Diffusion Monte Carlo simulations on uracil-water using an anisotropic atom-atom potential model.

We have developed an anisotropic atom-atom intermolecular potential model for the interaction of uracil with water. The potential consists of a distributed multipole analysis (DMA) model for the electrostatic energy, and a 6-exp potential to represent the repulsion-dispersion term. The repulsion-dispersion potential parameters are adjusted to yield good agreement with accurate ab initio data on the minima and transition states of the uracil-water complex. We have used this potential in diffusion Monte Carlo simulations of uracil-water, uracil-(water)2 and uracil-(water)3. The uracil-water simulations show that the theoretically based potential gives a qualitatively different picture of uracil hydration than that provided by a standard isotropic atom-atom point charge model, which is shown to underestimate the delocalized motion of the water hydrogen atoms. Plots of the vibrational probability density of the hydrogen atoms show the delocalized motion of the water hydrogen atoms that are not involved in hydrogen bonding.

Mechanism of photoinduced changes in the structure and optical properties of amorphous As2S3.

We propose a mechanism of photostructural changes in amorphous As2S3 ( a-As2S3) on the basis of ab initio molecular orbital calculations on clusters of atoms modeling the local structure of the amorphous system. We have found that trigonal AsS3 pyramidal units can be transformed into a fivefold coordinated As site having four As-S bonds and one As-As bond via a photoionization process. This photoinduced coordination defect center exhibits a lower photoabsorption energy as compared with the usual pyramidal structure, explaining the observed photodarkening effect of a-As2S3.

H-densities: a new concept for hydrated molecules.

It is common to represent molecules by "ball-and-stick" models that represent static positions of atoms. However, the vibrational states of water molecules involved in hydrogen bonding have wide amplitudes, even in their ground states. Here we introduce a new representation of this wide-amplitude vibrational motion: H-density plots. These plots represent the delocalized zero-point vibrational motion of terminal hydrogen atoms of water molecules weakly bound to other molecules. They are a vibrational analogy to electron densities. Calculations of the H-densities for complexes of water with water, benzene, phenol, and DNA bases are presented. These are obtained using the quantum diffusion Monte Carlo method. Comparisons of measured and calculated rotational constants provide experimental evidence of the new concept.