Slow mode frequency, hydrogen bonds

Figure 15.1 Anharmonic coupling ofthe O-H stretching mode q and a low-frequency hydrogen bond (0...0) mode Q. (a) Potential energy diagram for the low-frequency mode in a single hydrogen bond. The potential energy surfaces as defined by the stretching mode and the quantum levels ofthe low-frequency mode are plotted for the Voh = 0 and 1 states as a function of the slow-mode coordinate Q.

Another important question deals with the intramolecular and unimolecular dynamics of the X-—RY and XR -Y- complexes. The interaction between the ion and molecule in these complexes is weak, similar to the intermolecular interactions for van der Waals molecules with hydrogen-bonding interactions like the hydrogen fluoride and water dimers.16 There are only small changes in the structure and vibrational frequencies of the RY and RX molecules when they form the ion-dipole complexes. In the complex, the vibrational frequencies of the intramolecular modes of the molecule are much higher than are the vibrational frequencies of the intermolecular modes, which are formed when the ion and molecule associate. This is illustrated in Table 1, where the vibrational frequencies for CH3C1 and the Cr-CHjCl complex are compared. Because of the disparity between the frequencies for the intermolecular and intramolecular modes, intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) between these two types of modes may be slow in the ion-dipole complex.16... 

The cornerstone of the strong anharmonic coupling theory relies on the assumption of a modulation of the fast mode frequency by the intermonomer distance. This behavior is correlated by many experimental observations, and it is undoubtly one of the main mechanisms that take place in a hydrogen bond. Because the intermonomer distance is, in the quantum model, represented by the dimensionless position coordinate Q of the slow mode, the effective angular frequency of the fast mode may be written [52,53]... 

Now, recall that for weak hydrogen bonds the high-frequency mode is much faster than the slow mode because 0 m 20 00. As a consequence, the quantum adiabatic approximation may be assumed to be verified when the anharmonic coupling parameter aG is not too strong. Thus, neglecting the diabatic part of the Hamiltonian (22) and using Eqs. (18) to (20), one obtains... 

Our findings for rs and th may be compared with results of computer simulations for water. Values between 1 and 2 ps are stated for the average lifetime of a hydrogen bond by different authors (121-123), in satisfactory agreement with our experimental values. It is also interesting to compare with the frequency shift correlation function of the vibrational modes of water obtained from MD computations (124). Recently a slower component of this function with an exponential time constant of 0.8 ps was predicted for HDO in D20 at 300 K and a density of 1.1 g/cm3 (pressure %2 kbar). The existence of the slow component is a necessary prerequisite for the observation of spectral holes and the spectral relaxation time rs reported here. The faster component of the frequency shift correlation function with rc = 50 fs (124) represents rapid fluctuations that contribute to the spectral bandwidths of the spectral species and of the spectral holes. 

The first question, which is raised by this simple analogy, concerns the very possibility of exciting slow mode wave packets in a hydrogen bond at all. Taking a different perspective it touches the very issue of interpretation of the notoriously complex IR spectra [9]. In the condensed phase much of this complexity is hidden under bands broadened by the solvent interaction. Hence it was only recently that coherent wave packet motion of a 100 cm i hydrogen bond mode could be observed after OH-stretch excitation, although in a system which has only a single minimum potential [10]. Meanwhile coherent low-frequency dynamics has also been observed in a double minimum system (acetic acid dimer) [11]. With this... 

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