Force field models, empirical bond stretching

A potentially much more adaptable technique is force-field vibrational modeling. In this method, the effective force constants related to distortions of a molecule (such as bond stretching) are used to estimate unknown vibrahonal frequencies. The great advantage of this approach is that it can be applied to any material, provided a suitable set of force constants is known. For small molecules and complexes, approximate force constants can often be determined using known (if incomplete) vibrational specha. These empirical force-field models, in effect, represent a more sophisticated way of exhapolating known frequencies than the rule-based method. A simple type of empirical molecular force field, the modified Urey-Bradley force field (MUBFF), is introduced below. 

In this study the authors develop simplified equations relating equilibrium fractionations to mass-scaling factors and molecular force constants. Equilibrium isotopic fractionations of heavy elements (Si and Sn) are predicted to be small, based on highly simplified, one-parameter empirical force-field models (bond-stretching only) of Sip4, [SiFJ, SnCl4, and [SnCl,] -. 

Fractionation factors are calculated using measured vibrational spectra supplemented by simplified empirical force-field modeling (bond-stretching and bond-angle bending force constants only). 

Figure 4. Schematic illustration of force-constant parameters used in Modified Urey-Bradley Force-Field (MUBFF) vibrational modeling (Simanouti (Shimanouchi) 1949). The MUBFF is a simplified empirical force field that has been used to estimate unknown vibrational frequencies of molecules and molecule-like aqueous and crystalline substances. Here, three force constants (K, H, and describe distortions of a tetrahedral XY molecule, [Cr04] due to bond stretching (Cr-O), bond-angle bending (Z O-Cr-O), and repulsion between adjacent non-bonded atoms (0..0). Less symmetric molecules with more than one type of bond or unequal bond angles require more parameters, but they will belong to the same basic types.

EFF (Empirical force field) [186] has been designed just for modeling hydrocarbons. It uses the quartic anharmonic potential for the bond stretching, and the cubic anharmonic for the valence angle bending. No out of plane or electrostatic terms are involved, although the cross terms, except torsion-torsion and bend-torsion ones, are included. 

It is generally accepted that SnI solvolysis rates for a series of similar compounds under similar conditions reflect directly the stability of their carbocationoid intermediates. However, the lack of reliable experimental data for stabilities of carbenium ions prevented verification of this hypothesis for a long time. Several approaches at various levels of sophistication were advanced to estimate these ion stabilities their strain was estimated via empirical correlations with IR-stretching frequencies of the respective carbonyl groups, and non-bonded interactions from molecular models or, subsequently, by empirical force-field calculations. " ... 

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