Quantum mechanics hydrogen bonds

The common density-functional methods are methods for calculating the electronic ground-state properties. There are, however, other systems and/or properties where extensions of these methods could be highly relevant. In Section 8 we saw that a quantum treatment of some fight nuclei (most notably, of protons) could lead to qualitatively different results than when treating these classically. Thus, first of all when studying hydrogen bonds quantum-mechanical effects of the protons could very well be important. 

The origin of a torsional barrier can be studied best in simple cases like ethane. Here, rotation about the central carbon-carbon bond results in three staggered and three eclipsed stationary points on the potential energy surface, at least when symmetry considerations are not taken into account. Quantum mechanically, the barrier of rotation is explained by anti-bonding interactions between the hydrogens attached to different carbon atoms. These interactions are small when the conformation of ethane is staggered, and reach a maximum value when the molecule approaches an eclipsed geometry. 

We shall examine the simplest possible molecular orbital problem, calculation of the bond energy and bond length of the hydrogen molecule ion Hj. Although of no practical significance, is of theoretical importance because the complete quantum mechanical calculation of its bond energy can be canied out by both exact and approximate methods. This pemiits comparison of the exact quantum mechanical solution with the solution obtained by various approximate techniques so that a judgment can be made as to the efficacy of the approximate methods. Exact quantum mechanical calculations cannot be carried out on more complicated molecular systems, hence the importance of the one exact molecular solution we do have. We wish to have a three-way comparison i) exact theoretical, ii) experimental, and iii) approximate theoretical. 

BW Beck, IB Koerner, RB Yelle, T Ichiye. Unusual hydrogen bonding ability of sulfurs m Fe-S redox sites Ah initio quantum and classical mechanical studies. I Phys Chem B, submitted. 

A new parametric quantum mechanical model AMI (Austin model 1), based on the NDDO approximations, is described. In it the major weakness of MNDO, in particular the failure to reproduce hydrogen bonds, have been overcome without any increase in eoraputer time. Results for 167 molecules are reported. Parameters are currently available for C, H, O and N. 

Chapter 9, on entropy and molecular rotation in crystals and liquids, is concerned mostly with statistical mechanics rather than quantum mechanics, but the two appear together in SP 74. Chapter 9 contains one of Pauling s most celebrated papers, SP 73, in which he explains the experimentally measured zero-point entropy of ice as due to water-molecule orientation disorder in the tetrahedrally H-bonded ice structure with asymmetric hydrogen bonds (in which the bonding proton is not at the center of the bond). This concept has proven fully valid, and the disorder phenomenon is now known to affect greatly the physical properties of ice via the... 

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