Tomoshige Nitta

Basis set and electron correlation effects on the polarizability and second hyperpolarizability of model open-shell π-conjugated systems

The basis set and electron correlation effects on the static polarizability (alpha) and second hyperpolarizability (gamma) are investigated ab initio for two model open-shell pi-conjugated systems, the C(5)H(7) radical and the C(6)H(8) radical cation in their doublet state. Basis set investigations evidence that the linear and nonlinear responses of the radical cation necessitate the use of a less extended basis set than its neutral analog. Indeed, double-zeta-type basis sets supplemented by a set of d polarization functions but no diffuse functions already provide accurate (hyper)polarizabilities for C(6)H(8) whereas diffuse functions are compulsory for C(5)H(7), in particular, p diffuse functions. In addition to the 6-31G(*)+pd basis set, basis sets resulting from removing not necessary diffuse functions from the augmented correlation consistent polarized valence double zeta basis set have been shown to provide (hyper)polarizability values of similar quality as more extended basis sets such as augmented correlation consistent polarized valence triple zeta and doubly augmented correlation consistent polarized valence double zeta. Using the selected atomic basis sets, the (hyper)polarizabilities of these two model compounds are calculated at different levels of approximation in order to assess the impact of including electron correlation. As a function of the method of calculation antiparallel and parallel variations have been demonstrated for alpha and gamma of the two model compounds, respectively. For the polarizability, the unrestricted Hartree-Fock and unrestricted second-order Møller-Plesset methods bracket the reference value obtained at the unrestricted coupled cluster singles and doubles with a perturbative inclusion of the triples level whereas the projected unrestricted second-order Møller-Plesset results are in much closer agreement with the unrestricted coupled cluster singles and doubles with a perturbative inclusion of the triples values than the projected unrestricted Hartree-Fock results. Moreover, the differences between the restricted open-shell Hartree-Fock and restricted open-shell second-order Møller-Plesset methods are small. In what concerns the second hyperpolarizability, the unrestricted Hartree-Fock and unrestricted second-order Møller-Plesset values remain of similar quality while using spin-projected schemes fails for the charged system but performs nicely for the neutral one. The restricted open-shell schemes, and especially the restricted open-shell second-order Møller-Plesset method, provide for both compounds gamma values close to the results obtained at the unrestricted coupled cluster level including singles and doubles with a perturbative inclusion of the triples. Thus, to obtain well-converged alpha and gamma values at low-order electron correlation levels, the removal of spin contamination is a necessary but not a sufficient condition. Density-functional theory calculations of alpha and gamma have also been carried out using several exchange-correlation functionals. Those employing hybrid exchange-correlation functionals have been shown to reproduce fairly well the reference coupled cluster polarizability and second hyperpolarizability values. In addition, inclusion of Hartree-Fock exchange is of major importance for determining accurate polarizability whereas for the second hyperpolarizability the gradient corrections are large.

A quantum chemical approach to the free energy calculations in condensed systems: The QM/MM method combined with the theory of energy representation

A methodology has been proposed to compute the solvation free energy of a molecule described quantum chemically by means of quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical method combined with the theory of energy representation (QM/MM-ER). The present approximate approach is quite simple to implement and requires much less computational cost as compared with the free energy perturbation or thermodynamic integration. Furthermore, the electron distribution can be treated faithfully as a quantum chemical object, and it is no longer needed to employ the artificial interaction site model, a reduced form of the realistic electron distribution, which is commonly used in the conventional solution theory. The point of the present approach is to employ the QM solute with electron density fixed at its average distribution in order to make the solute-solvent interaction pairwise. Then, the solvation free energy can be computed within the standard framework of the energy representation. The remaining minor contribution originating from the many-body effect inherent in the quantum mechanical description can be evaluated separately within a similar framework if necessary. As a test calculation, the method has been applied to a QM water solute solvated by MM water solvent in ambient and supercritical states. The results of the QM/MM-ER simulations have been in excellent agreement with the experimental values.

A hybrid QM/MM method employing real space grids for QM water in the TIP4P water solvents

A novel hybrid quantum mechanical (QM)/molecular mechanical (MM) approach that employs the real‐space grids for the QM subsystem is proposed for investigating chemical reactions in an aqueous condensed phase. All of the Hamiltonian matrix elements including electric fields formed by the point charges on MM waters is represented in the real space. Details of the practical implementations are presented. The solute polarization, solvation structure, and the solvation energy of a water are computed, and the results are compared with those obtained by experiments and other QM/MM approaches that used the LCAO basis. It is shown that the real‐space grid QM/MM method is adequate and superior for the description of the polarization of QM water in a water solution as well as in the gas phase. Solvation structures of classical water solvents are also properly reproduced by this method. Further, parallelization of the code is implemented on a distributed memory architecture, and it is demonstrated that the real‐space grid approach is suitable for the high‐performance parallel computing due to the localization of Hamiltonian operations in the real space.

Ethanol oxidation reactions catalyzed by water molecules: CH3CH2OH+nH2O→CH3CHO+H2+nH2O(n=0,1,2)

Abstract Ab initio density functional theory calculations have been performed to investigate the catalytic role of water molecules in the oxidation reaction of ethanol: CH 3 CH 2 OH +n H 2 O → CH 3 CHO + H 2 +n H 2 O (n=0,1,2) . The results show that the potential energy barrier for the reaction is 88.0 kcal/mol in case of n =0, while it is reduced by ∼34 kcal/mol when two water molecules are involved ( n =2) in the reaction. As a result, the rate constant increases to 3.31×10 −4 s −1 , which shows a significant catalytic role of water molecules in the ethanol oxidation reactions.

A novel quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical approach to the free energy calculation for isomerization of glycine in aqueous solution.

The free energy change associated with the isomerization reaction of glycine in water solution has been studied by a hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) approach combined with the theory of energy representation (QM/MM-ER) recently developed. The solvation free energies for both neutral and zwitterionic form of glycine have been determined by means of the QM/MM-ER simulation. The contributions of the electronic polarization and the fluctuation of the QM solute to the solvation free energy have been investigated. It has been found that the contribution of the density fluctuation of the zwitterionic solute is estimated as -4.2 kcal/mol in the total solvation free energy of -46.1 kcal/mol, while that of the neutral form is computed as -3.0 kcal/mol in the solvation free energy of -15.6 kcal/mol. The resultant free energy change associated with the isomerization of glycine in water has been obtained as -7.8 kcal/mol, in excellent agreement with the experimental data of -7.3 or -7.7 kcal/mol, implying the accuracy of the QM/MM-ER approach. The results have also been compared with those computed by other methodologies such as the polarizable continuum model and the classical molecular simulation. The efficiency and advantage of the QM/MM-ER method has been discussed.

Quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical studies of a novel reaction catalyzed by proton transfers in ambient and supercritical states of water

Real-space grid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) simulations have been carried out to investigate the role of the water solvent on the novel ethanol oxidation reaction catalyzed by two water molecules through proton transfer mechanism. We have considered two thermodynamical conditions of solutions for the calculations; ambient (AW) and supercritical water (SCW). The QM/MM simulations have revealed that the solvation energy for the transition state (TS) is larger than that for the reactant state in the SCW, resulting in the reduction of the activation energy by 3.7 kcal/mol. Meanwhile, in the AW, the energy barrier is raised by 7.2 kcal/mol. Radial distribution functions show that hydrogen bondings between the solvent and the water molecules that participate in the reaction seriously collapse when the complex is changed from the reactant to the TS in AW, suggesting that the closely packed hydrogen bond network attached to the reactant disturbs the proton migration to take place. A reaction m...

An application of the novel quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical method combined with the theory of energy representation: An ionic dissociation of a water molecule in the supercritical water.

A novel quantum chemical approach recently developed has been applied to an ionic dissociation of a water molecule (2H(2)O-->H(3)O(+)+OH(-)) in ambient and supercritical water. The method is based on the quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) simulations combined with the theory of energy representation (QM/MM-ER), where the energy distribution function of MM solvent molecules around a QM solute serves as a fundamental variable to determine the hydration free energy of the solute according to the rigorous framework of the theory of energy representation. The density dependence of the dissociation free energy in the supercritical water has been investigated for the density range from 0.1 to 0.6 g/cm(3) with the temperature fixed at a constant. It has been found that the product ionic species significantly stabilizes in the high density region as compared with the low density. Consequently, the dissociation free energy decreases monotonically as the density increases. The decomposition of the hydration free energy has revealed that the entropic term (-TDeltaS) strongly depends on the density of the solution and dominates the behavior of the dissociation free energy with respect to the variation of the density. The increase in the entropic term in the low density region can be attributed to the decrease in the translational degrees of freedom brought about by the aggregation of solvent water molecules around the ionic solute.

Exciton migration dynamics in a dendritic molecule: Quantum master equation approach using ab initio molecular orbital configuration interaction method

We investigate the exciton migration dynamics in a dendritic molecular model composed of pi-conjugation linear-leg units (acetylenes and diacetylene) and a benzene ring (branching point) using the quantum master equation approach with the ab initio molecular orbital (MO) configuration interaction (CI) method. The efficient migration of exciton from short-length linear legs (acetylenes) to long-length linear leg (diacetylene) via a benzene ring is observed. As predicted in previous studies, the exciton (electron and hole) distributions are relatively well localized in each generation segmented by the meta-branching point (meta-substituted benzene ring) though the electron and hole distributions are delocalized and are somewhat spatially different from each other within each generation. It is found that the excitons localized in the generation composed of short linear legs occupy in higher-lying exciton states, while those in the generation composed of long linear legs do in lower-lying ones. These features suggest the decoupling of pi-conjugation at the meta-branching point. On the other hand, the relaxation effect between exciton states is found to be caused by the exciton-phonon coupling, in which the existence of common configurations (electron-hole pairs) in CI wave functions between adjacent exciton states (having primary distributions on short and long linear-leg regions, respectively) is important for the relaxation between their exciton states. This feature indicates the importance of partial penetration of pi-conjugation through the meta-substituted benzene ring in excited states for such exciton migration.

Hybrid QM/MM molecular dynamics simulations for an ionic SN2 reaction in the supercritical water: OH- + CH3Cl --> CH3OH + Cl-.

A hybrid real space quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (RS‐QM/MM) method has been applied to an ionic SN2 reaction (OH− + CH3Cl → CH3OH + Cl−) in water solution to investigate dynamic solvation effects of the supercritical water (SCW) on the reaction. It has been demonstrated that the approaching process of OH− to methyl group is prevented by water molecules in the ambient water (AW), while the reaction takes place easily in the gas phase. Almost the same solvation effect on the dynamics of OH− is observed in the SCW, though the bulk density of water is substantially reduced compared with that of the AW. It has been shown that the solvation of the SCW around the OH anion is locally identical to that of the AW due to the strong ion‐dipole interactions between OH− and water molecules. At the transition state, the QM/MM simulations have revealed that the excess electron is quite flexible, and the charge volume, as well as the fractional charges on atoms, vary seriously depending on the instantaneous solvent configurations. However, it has been found that the solvation energy in the SCW can be qualitatively related to the HOMO volume of the system by Borns equation.

Hybrid quantum chemical studies for the methanol formation reaction assisted by the proton transfer mechanism in supercritical water: CH3Cl+nH2O→CH3OH+HCl+(n−1)H2O

The proton transfer along the chain of hydrogen bonds is involved in many chemical reactions in aqueous solution and known to play a decisive role. We have performed the hybrid quantum chemical simulations for the methanol formation reaction catalyzed by the proton transfer mechanism [CH3Cl+nH2O→CH3OH+HCl+(n−1)H2O, n=3] in supercritical water (SCW) to investigate the role of water solvent on the reaction. In the simulation, the electronic state of the chemically active solutes (CH3Cl+3H2O) has been determined quantum mechanically, while the static water solvent has been represented by a classical model. The activation free energy for the water–catalytic reaction in SCW has been found to be 9.6 kcal/mol, which is much lower than that in the gas phase (29.2 kcal/mol). The fractional charge analysis has revealed that the notable charge separation in the solute complex takes place at the transition state (TS) and the resulting huge dipole gives rise to the considerable stabilization of the TS as compared to t...