Reaction dynamics quantum-mechanical description

The molecular beam and laser teclmiques described in this section, especially in combination with theoretical treatments using accurate PESs and a quantum mechanical description of the collisional event, have revealed considerable detail about the dynamics of chemical reactions. Several aspects of reactive scattering are currently drawing special attention. The measurement of vector correlations, for example as described in section B2.3.3.5. continue to be of particular interest, especially the interplay between the product angular distribution and rotational polarization. 

The Car-Parrinello quantum molecular dynamics technique, introduced by Car and Parrinello in 1985 [1], has been applied to a variety of problems, mainly in physics. The apparent efficiency of the technique, and the fact that it combines a description at the quantum mechanical level with explicit molecular dynamics, suggests that this technique might be ideally suited to study chemical reactions. The bond breaking and formation phenomena characteristic of chemical reactions require a quantum mechanical description, and these phenomena inherently involve molecular dynamics. In 1994 it was shown for the first time that this technique may indeed be applied efficiently to the study of, in that particular application catalytic, chemical reactions [2]. We will discuss the results from this and related studies we have performed. 

For a pulse-type NMR experiment, the assumption has a straightforward interpretation, since the pulse applied at the moment zero breaks down the dynamic history of the spin system involved. The reasoning presented here, which leads to the equation of motion in the form of equation (72), bears some resemblance to Kaplan and Fraenkel s approach to the quantum-mechanical description of continuous-wave NMR. (39) The crucial point in our treatment is the introduction of the probabilities izUa which are expressed in terms of pseudo-first-order rate constants. This makes possible a definition of the mean density matrix pf of a molecule at the moment of its creation, even for complicated multi-reaction systems. The definition of the pf matrix makes unnecessary the distinction between intra- and inter-molecular spin exchange which has so far been employed in the literature. 

An often-overlooked aspect of standard reaction mechanistic thought is that it really addresses only half of the picture. We talk about the positions of the atoms during the course of the reaction and the relative energies of points along the reaction path, but no mention is made of the time evolution of this process. In classical mechanics, description of a reactive system requires not just the particle positions but their momenta as well. The same is true for a quantum mechanical description, though one must keep in mind the limits imposed by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. A complete description of a molecular reaction requires knowledge of both the position and the momenrnm of every atom for the entire time it takes for reactants to convert into products. This kind of description falls under the term molecular dynamics (MD). 

Although there are many ways to describe a zeolite system, models are based either on classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, or a mixture of classical and quantum mechanics. Classical models employ parameterized interatomic potentials, so-called force fields, to describe the energies and forces acting in a system. Classical models have been shownto be able to describe accurately the structure and dynamics of zeolites, and they have also been employed to study aspects of adsorption in zeolites, including the interaction between adsorbates and the zeolite framework, adsorption sites, and diffusion of adsorbates. The forming and breaking of bonds, however, cannot be studied with classical models. In studies on zeolite-catalyzed chemical reactions, therefore, a quantum mechanical description is typically employed where the electronic structure of the atoms in the system is taken into account explicitly. 

This same tactic was applied to the analysis of chemical reaction dynamics. Lacking a complete quantum mechanical description of molecules, chemists recognized that they could alter the electronic structure of a molecule by functionalizing it with nonparticipating substituents. The degree to which the substituents perturbed a molecule s electronic structure could be assessed via spectroscopy and made quantitative in the form of a so-called substituent parameter (cf. Hammett, 1970). The prineipal requirement of the chosen spectroscopic parameter is that it be... 

Another aspect of dynamics was evaluated by Niv, Bargheer, and Gerber who studied the photodissociation dynamics of F2 in an At54 cluser. Modeling condensed-phase reaction dynamics is difficult due to many-body interactions. However, a model with an inert medium is a convenient way to examine the role that a medium can play in the condensed phase. Because the system is large and a full quantum mechanical description of the dynamics is computationally prohibitive, the authors used the semiclassical surface hopping method to carry out the dynamics simulations. The states of F2, corresponding to a gas-phase equivalent, included in the condensed-phase study are... 

As reactants transfonn to products in a chemical reaction, reactant bonds are broken and refomied for the products. Different theoretical models are used to describe this process ranging from time-dependent classical or quantum dynamics [1,2], in which the motions of individual atoms are propagated, to models based on the postidates of statistical mechanics [3], The validity of the latter models depends on whether statistical mechanical treatments represent the actual nature of the atomic motions during the chemical reaction. Such a statistical mechanical description has been widely used in imimolecular kinetics [4] and appears to be an accurate model for many reactions. It is particularly instructive to discuss statistical models for unimolecular reactions, since the model may be fomuilated at the elementary microcanonical level and then averaged to obtain the canonical model. 

Quantum mechanical effects—tunneling and interference, resonances, and electronic nonadiabaticity— play important roles in many chemical reactions. Rigorous quantum dynamics studies, that is, numerically accurate solutions of either the time-independent or time-dependent Schrodinger equations, provide the most correct and detailed description of a chemical reaction. While hmited to relatively small numbers of atoms by the standards of ordinary chemistry, numerically accurate quantum dynamics provides not only detailed insight into the nature of specific reactions, but benchmark results on which to base more approximate approaches, such as transition state theory and quasiclassical trajectories, which can be applied to larger systems. 

Consequently, while I jump into continuous reactors in Chapter 3, I have tried to cover essentially aU of conventional chemical kinetics in this book. I have tried to include aU the kinetics material in any of the chemical kinetics texts designed for undergraduates, but these are placed within and at the end of chapters throughout the book. The descriptions of reactions and kinetics in Chapter 2 do not assume any previous exposure to chemical kinetics. The simplification of complex reactions (pseudosteady-state and equilibrium step approximations) are covered in Chapter 4, as are theories of unimolecular and bimolecular reactions. I mention the need for statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics in interpreting reaction rates but do not go into state-to-state dynamics of reactions. The kinetics with catalysts (Chapter 7), solids (Chapter 9), combustion (Chapter 10), polymerization (Chapter 11), and reactions between phases (Chapter 12) are all given sufficient treatment that their rate expressions can be justified and used in the appropriate reactor mass balances. 

The theoretical foundation for reaction dynamics is quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics. In addition, in the description of nuclear motion, concepts from classical mechanics play an important role. A few results of molecular quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics are summarized in the next two sections. In the second part of the book, we will return to concepts and results of particular relevance to condensed-phase dynamics. 

AG only gives a static description of the reaction. A dynamic study is required to resolve many remaining questions. How do the initial conditions (relative positions and velocities of the reactants) influence the reaction How should the reagents approach each other in order to achieve a reactive collision How is the energy of the system divided between electronic, translational, rotational and vibrational components after the collision Unfortunately, such calculations are difficult and only small systems can be treated by quantum dynamics at present. For more complicated structures, the potential surface is calculated using quantum mechanics and the dynamic aspects are treated using classical mechanics. To illustrate the kind of information that can be obtained from dynamic studies, let us consider the Sn2 reaction ... 

Because the physical description is correct and consistent, the method allows for arbitrary division of a system into different subsystems, which may be described either on the quantum-mechanical (QM) or the molecular mechanics (MM) level, without significant loss of accuracy. This allows for performing fully MM molecular simulations (Monte Carlo, molecular dynamics), which can subsequently be followed by performing QM/MM calculations on a selected number of representative snapshots from these simulations. These QM/MM calculations then give directly the solvent effects on emission or absorption spectra, molecular properties, organic reactions, etc... 

The statistical theories provide a relatively simple model of chemical reactions, as they bypass the complicated problem of detailed single-particle and quantum mechanical dynamics by introducing probabilistic assumptions. Their applicability is, however, connected with the collisional mechanism of the process in question, too. The statistical phase space theories, associated mostly with the work of Light (in Ref. 6) and Nikitin (see Ref. 17), contain the assumption of a long-lived complex formation and are thus best suited for the description of complex-mode processes. On the other hand, direct character of the process is an implicit dynamical assumption of the transition-state theory. 

From a practical point of view, reaction profiles are of a value comparable with a complete reaction coordinate (173,174), except for special cases such as quantum mechanical tunneling or the description of some dynamic aspects. 

First principles approaches are important as they avoid many of the pitfalls associated with using parameterized descriptions of the interatomic interactions. Additionally, simulation of chemical reactivity, reactions and reaction kinetics really requires electronic structure calculations [108]. However, such calculations were traditionally limited in applicability to rather simplistic models. Developments in density functional theory are now broadening the scope of what is viable. Car-Parrinello first principles molecular dynamics are now being applied to real zeolite models [109,110], and the combined use of classical and quantum mechanical methods allows quantum chemical methods to be applied to cluster models embedded in a simpler description of the zeoUte cluster environment [105,111]. 

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