Potential energy Morse functions

Figure 7-9. Variation of the potential energy of the bonded interaction of two atoms with the distance between them. The solid line comes close to the experimental situation by using a Morse function the broken line represents the approximation by a harmonic potential.

For each pair of interacting atoms (/r is their reduced mass), three parameters are needed D, (depth of the potential energy minimum, k (force constant of the par-tictilar bond), and l(, (reference bond length). The Morse ftinction will correctly allow the bond to dissociate, but has the disadvantage that it is computationally very expensive. Moreover, force fields arc normally not parameterized to handle bond dissociation. To circumvent these disadvantages, the Morse function is replaced by a simple harmonic potential, which describes bond stretching by Hooke s law (Eq. (20)). 

Compared with the Morse potential, Hooke s law performs reasonably well in the equilibrium area near If, where the shape of the Morse function is more or less quadratic (see Figure 7-9 in the minimum-energy region). To improve the performance of the harmonic potential for non-equilibrium bond lengths also, higher-order terms can be added to the potential according to Eq. (21). 

The Morse function rises more steeply ihan ihe harmonic potential at short bonding distances. This difference can be important especially during molecular dynamics simulations, where thermal energy takes a molecule away from a potential minimum. ... 

The hot bond fracture stress Morse potential energy function by [1]... 

The semiempirical methods combine experimental data with theory as a way to circumvent the calculational difficulties of pure theory. The first of these methods leads to what are called London-Eyring-Polanyi (LEP) potential energy surfaces. Consider the triatomic ABC system. For any pair of atoms the energy as a function of intermolecular distance r is represented by the Morse equation, Eq. (5-16),... 

For small systems, where accurate interaction energy profiles are available, it has been shown that the Morse function actually gives a slightly better description than an Exp.-6, which again performs significantly better than a Lennard-Jones 12-6 potential. This is illustrated for the H2-He interaction in Figure 2.9. 

In the absence of stress, the potential energy for the bond is usually approximated with the Morse function (Fig. 18) [87] ... 

A semi-classical treatment171-175 of the model depicted in Fig. 15, based on the Morse curve theory of thermal dissociative electron transfer described earlier, allows the prediction of the quantum yield as a function of the electronic matrix coupling element, H.54 The various states to be considered in the region where the zero-order potential energy curves cross each other are shown in the insert of Fig. 15. The treatment of the whole kinetics leads to the expression of the complete quenching fragmentation quantum yield, oc, given in equation (61)... 

During initialization and final analysis of the QCT calculations, the numerical values of the Morse potential parameters that we have used are given as De = 4.580 eV, re = 0.7416 A, and (3 = 1.974 A-1. Moreover, the potential energy as a function of internuclear distances obtained from the analytical expression (with the above parameters) and the LSTH [75,76] surface asymptotically agreed very well. 

The three parameters in the Morse function D, B, re are positive and are usually chosen to fit the bond dissociation energy, the harmonic vibrational frequency and the equilibrium bond length. At r = re, the Morse function V = 0. As r — D, V approaches D. For r re, V is large and positive, corresponding to short range repulsion. Although the Morse function has been used extensively, its representation of the potential away from re is not satisfactory. Several modifications have been proposed in Morse function. 

Since all photochemical reactions require the absorption of a photon, the result is that the reactant molecule is raised to a higher energy level. The outcome of this process depends on the nature of the upper and lower electronic states of the molecule. Four types of absorption behaviour are possible and we will first illustrate these by referring to Morse curves for the simple, diatomic, molecules. Although the potential energy of a complex molecule as a function of its molecular geometry is not a simple two-dimensional curve but a complex multidimensional surface, the conclusions arrived at by the use of Morse curves are instructive. 

For comparison with our results in table 3, which presents values of 20 adjusted parameters with 15 parameters constrained to define the rotational g factor, Dulick et alii [115] required also 20 adjusted parameters, with a constrained parameter T> for the equilibrium binding energy for a function of potential energy having a modified Morse form. The latter parameter is specified as... 

FIGURE 3.2 (a) Vibration of diatomic molecule, HC1, (b) potential energy of an ideal harmonic oscillator, and (c) an anharmonic oscillator described by the Morse function. 

These potential energy terms and their attendant empirical parameters define the force field (FF). More complicated FFs which use different and/or more complex functional forms are also possible. For example, the simple harmonic oscillator expression for bond stretching can be replaced by a Morse function, Euorse (3), or additional FF terms may be added such as the stretch-bend cross terms, Estb, (4) used in the Merck molecular force field (MMFF) (7-10) which may be useful for better describing vibrations and conformational energies. 

The potential energy curves for the states of most diatomics are generally known with high accuracy from the analysis of spectroscopic or scattering data. Many analytical functions have been proposed which reproduce the main features of attractive and repulsive potentials and we have already mentioned the Morse potentials of equations (32) and (33) as typical of these. Comprehensive reviews of other functions have been given by Varshni 121) and Goodisman 122). 

It is possible to set up a. similar empirical model based on a Morse function. However the Morse function gives a poor correlation of bond length with vibrational frequency and dissociation energy whereas the internuelear potential function used here gives a much better correlation of these quantities, which I feel is the reason for the usefulness of the function in describing hydrogen bond properties,... 

The shapes of the absorption band associated with the intensities of vibrational transitions, are sensitive functions of the equilibrium bond length, about which approximately harmonic vibrational oscillations occur. Potential energy curves for a diatomic molecule (Figure 4.2), are commonly represented by Morse equation,... 

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