Symmetry character tables

R. B. Shirts, Correcting two long-standing errors in point group symmetry character tables. J. Chem. Educ. 84, 1882-4 (2007). 

BASIC CONCEPTS OF MOLECULAR SYMMETRY CHARACTER TABLES... 

Basic Concepts of Molecular Symmetry Character Tables 1307... 

Table 2.2 States and symmetry character table for linear polymers described by TT-electron Hamiltonians with inversion and particle-hole symmetries...

The character tables of these groups are given in table Al.4.6 and table Al.4.71. If there were no restriction on pemuitation symmetry we might think that die energy levels of the H2 molecule could be of any one of the following four syimnetry... 

We now turn to electronic selection rules for syimnetrical nonlinear molecules. The procedure here is to examme the structure of a molecule to detennine what synnnetry operations exist which will leave the molecular framework in an equivalent configuration. Then one looks at the various possible point groups to see what group would consist of those particular operations. The character table for that group will then pennit one to classify electronic states by symmetry and to work out the selection rules. Character tables for all relevant groups can be found in many books on spectroscopy or group theory. Ftere we will only pick one very sunple point group called 2 and look at some simple examples to illustrate the method. 

SymApps converts 2D structures From the ChemWindow drawing program into 3D representations with the help of a modified MM2 force field (see Section 7.2). Besides basic visualization tools such as display styles, perspective views, and light source adjustments, the module additionally provides calculations of bond lengths, angles, etc, Moreover, point groups and character tables can be determined. Animations of spinning movements and symmetry operations can also he created and saved as movie files (. avi). 

Molecular point-group symmetry can often be used to determine whether a particular transition s dipole matrix element will vanish and, as a result, the electronic transition will be "forbidden" and thus predicted to have zero intensity. If the direct product of the symmetries of the initial and final electronic states /ei and /ef do not match the symmetry of the electric dipole operator (which has the symmetry of its x, y, and z components these symmetries can be read off the right most column of the character tables given in Appendix E), the matrix element will vanish. 

We have seen that any two of the C2, ( Jxz), (r Jyz) elements may be regarded as generating elements. There are four possible combinations of + 1 or — 1 characters with respect to these generating elements, + 1 and + 1, + 1 and -1,-1 and +1,-1 and —1, with respect to C2 and (tJxz). These combinations are entered in columns 3 and 4 of the C2 character table in Table A.l 1 in Appendix A. The character with respect to / must always be + 1 and, just as (r Jyz) is generated from C2 and (tJxz), the character with respect to (r Jyz) is the product of characters with respect to C2 and (tJxz). Each of the four rows of characters is called an irreducible representation of the group and, for convenience, each is represented by a symmetry species Aj, A2, or B2. The A] species is said to be totally symmetric since all the characters are + 1 the other three species are non-totally symmetric. 

In the sixth column of the main body of the character table is indicated the symmetry species of translations (7) of the molecule along and rotations (R) about the cartesian axes. In Figure 4.14 vectors attached to the nuclei of H2O represent these motions which are assigned to symmetry species by their behaviour under the operations C2 and n (xz). Figure 4.14(a) shows that... 

In the final column of the character table are given the assignments to symmetry species and These are the components of the symmetric polarizability tensor... 

The H2O molecule, therefore, has three normal vibrations, which are illustrated in Figure 4.15 in which the vectors attached to the nuclei indicate the directions and relative magnitudes of the motions. Using the C2 character table the wave functions ij/ for each can easily be assigned to symmetry species. The characters of the three vibrations under the operations C2 and (t (xz) are respectively + 1 and +1 for Vj, - - 1 and + 1 for V2, and —1 and —1 for V3. Therefore... 

Using the C2 character table (Table A. 11 in Appendix A) the characters of the vibrations under the various symmetry operations can be classified as follows ... 

The III character table is given in Table A.46 in Appendix A. The very high symmetry of this point group results in symmetry species with degeneracies of up to five, as in and... 

Then, if we look through all the point group character tables in Appendix A to see if any of the translational symmetry species is totally symmetric, it is apparent that molecules belonging to only the following point groups have a permanent dipole moment ... 

A molecule has a permanent dipole moment if any of the symmetry species of the translations and/or T( and/or 1/ is totally symmetric. Using the appropriate character table apply this principle to each of these molecules and indicate the direction of any non-zero dipole moment. 

Assign the allene molecule to a point group and use the character table to form the direct products A-2 x5i,5i X 82,82 xE and E X E. Show how the symmetry species of the point group to which 1,1-dilluoroallene belongs correlate with those of allene. 

Each of these can be assigned to one of the symmetry species of the point group to which the molecule belongs. These assignments are indicated in the right-hand column of each character table given in Appendix A and will be required when we consider vibrational Raman spectra in Section 6.2.3.2. 

As we proceed to molecules of higher symmetry the vibrational selection rules become more restrictive. A glance at the character table for the point group (Table A.41 in Appendix A) together with Equation (6.56) shows that, for regular tetrahedral molecules such as CH4, the only type of allowed infrared vibrational transition is... 

Having assigned symmetry species to each of the six vibrations of formaldehyde shown in Worked example 4.1 in Chapter 4 (pages 90-91) use the appropriate character table to show which are allowed in (a) the infrared specttum and (b) the Raman specttum. In each case state the direction of the transition moment for the infrared-active vibrations and which component of the polarizability is involved for the Raman-active vibrations. 

Equations (13-15) completely determine the character table of the symmetry group Q for a chiral nanotube. 

Hence we may conclude for a vibration to be active in the infrared spectrum it must have the same symmetry properties (i.e. transform in the same way) as, at least, one of x, y, or z. The transformation properties of these simple displacement vectors are easily determined and are usually given in character tables. Therefore, knowing the form of a normal vibration we may determine its symmetry by consulting the character table and then its infrared activity. 

---