A QM/MM and QM/QM/MM study of Kerr, Cotton-Mouton and Jones linear birefringences in liquid acetonitrile.

QM/MM and QM/QM/MM protocols are applied to the ab initio study of the three linear birefringences Kerr, Cotton-Mouton, and Jones, as shown by acetonitrile in the gas and pure liquid phases. The relevant first-order properties as well as linear, quadratic, and cubic frequency-dependent response functions were computed using time-dependent Kohn-Sham density-functional theory with use of the standard CAM-B3LYP functional. In the liquid phase, a series of room temperature (293.15 K) molecular dynamics snapshots were selected, for which averaged values of the observables were obtained at an optical wavelength of 632.8 nm. The birefringences were computed for electric and magnetic induction fields corresponding to the laboratory setup previously employed by T. Roth and G. L. J. A. Rikken in Phys. Rev. Lett., 2000, 85, 4478. Under these conditions, acetonitrile is shown to exhibit a weak Jones response-in fact roughly 6.5 times smaller than the limit of detection of the apparatus employed in the measurements mentioned above. A comparison is made with the corresponding gas-phase results and an assessment is made of the index of measurability, estimating the degree of overlap of the three birefringences in actual measurements. For acetonitrile, it is shown that this index is a factor of 3.6 and 6.7 larger than that of methylcyclopentadienyl-Mn-tricarbonyl and cyclohexadienyl-Fe-tricarbonyl, respectively-two compounds reported in Phys. Rev. Lett., 2000, 85, 4478 to exhibit a strong Jones signal.

Resonant-convergent second-order nonlinear response functions at the levels of Hartree-Fock and Kohn-Sham density functional theory.

The second-order nonlinear (or cubic) response function is derived from the Ehrenfest theorem with inclusion made of the finite lifetimes of the excited states, representing the extension of the derivation of the quadratic response function in the same framework [P. Norman et al., J. Chem. Phys. 123, 194103 (2005)]. The resulting damped response functions are physically sound and converging also in near-resonance and resonance regions of the spectrum. Being an accurate approximation for small complex frequencies (defined as the sum of an optical frequency and an imaginary damping parameter), the polynomial expansion of the complex cubic response function in terms of the said frequencies is presented and used to validate the program implementation. In terms of approximate state theory, the computationally tractable expressions of the damped cubic response function are derived and implemented at the levels of Hartree-Fock and Kohn-Sham density functional theory. Numerical examples are provided in terms of studies of the intensity-dependent refractive index of para-nitroaniline and the two-photon absorption cross section of neon. For the latter property, a numerical comparison is made against calculations of the square of two-photon matrix elements that are identified from a residue analysis of the resonance-divergent quadratic response function.

A Polarization Propagator for Nonlinear X-ray Spectroscopies.

A complex polarization propagator approach has been developed to third order and implemented in density functional theory (DFT), allowing for the direct calculation of nonlinear molecular properties in the X-ray wavelength regime without explicitly addressing the excited-state manifold. We demonstrate the utility of this propagator method for the modeling of coherent near-edge X-ray two-photon absorption using, as an example, DFT as the underlying electronic structure model. Results are compared with the corresponding near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectra, illuminating the differences in the role of symmetry, localization, and correlation between the two spectroscopies. The ramifications of this new technique for nonlinear X-ray research are briefly discussed.

TD-DFT investigation of the magnetic circular dichroism spectra of some purine and pyrimidine bases of nucleic acids.

We present a computational study of the magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectra in the 200-300 nm wavelength region of purine and its derivative hypoxanthine, as well as of the pyrimidine bases of nucleic acids uracil, thymine, and cytosine, using the B3LYP and CAM-B3LYP functionals. Solvent effects are investigated within the polarizable continuum model and by inclusion of explicit water molecules. In general, the computed spectra are found to be in good agreement with the experimental ones, apart from some overall blue shifts. Both the pseudo-A term shape of the MCD spectra of the purines and the B term shape of the spectra of pyrimidine bases are reproduced. Our calculations also correctly reproduce the reversed phase of the MCD bands in purine compared to that of its derivatives present in nucleic acids. Solvent effects are sizable and system specific, but they do not in general alter the qualitative shape of the spectra. The bands are dominated by the bright π → π* transitions, and our calculations in solution nicely reproduce their energy differences, improving the estimates obtained in the gas phase. Shoulders are predicted for purine and uracil due to n → π* excitations, but they are too weak to be observed in the experiment.

Relative Stability of the La and Lb Excited States in Adenine and Guanine: Direct Evidence from TD-DFT Calculations of MCD Spectra.

The relative position of La and Lb ππ* electronic states in purine nucleobases is a much debated topic, since it can strongly affect our understanding of their photoexcited dynamics. To assess this point, we calculated the absorption and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectra of adenine, guanine, and their nucleosides in gas-phase and aqueous solution, exploiting recent developments in MCD computational technology within time-dependent density functional theory. MCD spectroscopy allows us to resolve the intense S0→ La transition from the weak S0→ Lb transition. The spectra obtained in water solution, by using B3LYP and CAM-B3LYP functionals and describing solvent effect by cluster models and by the polarizable continuum model (PCM), are in very good agreement with the experimental counterparts, thus providing direct and unambiguous evidence that the energy ordering predicted by TD-DFT, La < Lb, is the correct one.

A density functional theory study of magneto-electric Jones birefringence of noble gases, furan homologues, and mono-substituted benzenes.

We report on the results of a systematic ab initio study of the Jones birefringence of noble gases, of furan homologues, and of monosubstituted benzenes, in the gas phase, with the aim of analyzing the behavior and the trends within a list of systems of varying size and complexity, and of identifying candidates for a combined experimental/theoretical study of the effect. We resort here to analytic linear and nonlinear response functions in the framework of time-dependent density functional theory. A correlation is made between the observable (the Jones constant) and the atomic radius for noble gases, or the permanent electric dipole and a structure/chemical reactivity descriptor as the para Hammett constant for substituted benzenes.