Reactivity effects molecular mechanics computations

One of the fundamental problems in chemistry is understanding at the molecular level the effect of the medium on the rate and the equilibrium of chemical reactions which occur in bulk liquids and at surfaces. Recent advances in experimental techniques[l], such as frequency and time-resolved spectroscopy, and in theoretical methods[2,3], such as statistical mechanics of the liquid state and computer simulations, have contributed significantly to our understanding of chemical reactivity in bulk liquids[4] and at solid interfaces. These techniques are also beginning to be applied to the study of equilibrium and dynamics at liquid interfaces[5]. The purpose of this chapter is to review the progress in the application of molecular dynamics computer simulations to understanding chemical reactions at the interface between two immiscible liquids and at the liquid/vapor interface. 

The classical treatment for the quantitative determination of the steric effects operative in molecules was developed by Westheimer. Steric effects were considered as the sum of various independent strain producing mechanisms (bond strain, angle strain, torsional strain, non-bonded interaction strain). Westheimer s assumptions proved to be the fundamental basis for the BIGSTRN program as well as for all subsequent molecular mechanics treatments of neutral hydrocarbons and carbocations. Reactivities ranging over 10 ° could be correlated by the strain differences between cation and the neutral precursor. Gleicher and Schleyer s work was a historical breakthrough in the development of molecular mechanics and provided the basis for the predictions of rate constants of solvolysis reactions. For the first time chemical reactions could reliably be predicted by the means of computational chemistry. 

Both the language of valence bond theory and of molecular orbital theory are used in discussing structural effects on reactivity and mechanism. Our intent is to illustrate both approaches to interpretation. A decade has passed since the publication of the Third Edition. That decade has seen significant developments in areas covered by the text. Perhaps most noteworthy has been the application of computational methods to a much wider range of problems of structure and mechanism. We have updated the description of computational methods and have included examples throughout the text of application of computational methods to specific reactions. 

The first volume contained nine state-of-the-art chapters on fundamental aspects, on formalism, and on a variety of applications. The various discussions employ both stationary and time-dependent frameworks, with Hermitian and non-Hermitian Hamiltonian constructions. A variety of formal and computational results address themes from quantum and statistical mechanics to the detailed analysis of time evolution of material or photon wave packets, from the difficult problem of combining advanced many-electron methods with properties of field-free and field-induced resonances to the dynamics of molecular processes and coherence effects in strong electromagnetic fields and strong laser pulses, from portrayals of novel phase space approaches of quantum reactive scattering to aspects of recent developments related to quantum information processing. 

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