First-principles anharmonic calculations are carried out for the CH stretching vibrations of isolated toluene and compared with the experimental infrared spectra of isotopologues of toluene in a Ne matrix at 3 K and of liquid toluene at room temperature. The calculations use the vibrational self-consistent field method and the B3LYP potential surface. In general, good agreement is found between the calculations and experiments. However, the spectrum of toluene in a Ne matrix is more complicated than that predicted theoretically. This distinction is discussed in terms of matrix-site and resonance effects. Interestingly, the strongest peak in the CH stretching spectrum has similar widths in the liquid phase and in a Ne matrix, despite the very different temperatures. Implications of this observation to the broadening mechanism are discussed. Finally, our results show that the B3LYP potential offers a good description of the anharmonic CH stretching band in toluene, but a proper description of matrix-site and resonance effects remains a challenge.

Noble-gas hydrides have been extensively studied in noble gas matrices. However, little is known on their stability and properties in molecular hosts. Here, HXeBr in the N-2 environment is modeled at the B3LYP-D level of theory in a complete single shell of 22 N-2 molecules. The system is compared to similar models of HXeBr in CO2 and Xe clusters. The optimized structure of (HXeBr)@(N-2)(22) is of low symmetry and is highly anisotropic. None of the N-2 molecules are freely rotating, and the host molecules are not symmetrically positioned with respect to the HXeBr axis. The axes of the N-2 molecules are nonuniformly distributed. The computed anharmonic H-Xe stretching frequency of HXeBr in the N-2 cluster is in good accord with the experimental value. The soft mode frequencies of the cluster including both intermolecular vibrations and librations, have a broad distribution that ranges from 8.7 to 107 cm(-1). It is expected that these findings and specifically, the single-shell model, may shed light also on the local structure and vibrations of other impurities in a molecular media.

New particle formation (NPF) from gaseous precursors as a significant source of aerosol needs to be better understood to accurately predict the impacts on visibility, climate change, and human health. While ternary nucleation of sulfuric acid, amines/NH3, and water is recognized as a significant driver for NPF, increasing evidence suggests a contribution from methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and amines under certain conditions. Here we report the formation of particles 2.5-10 nm in diameter from the reactions of MSA with methylamine (MA), dimethylamine (DMA), and NH3 at reaction times of 2.3-7.8 s in a flow reactor and compare these particles with those previously reported to be formed from reaction with trimethylamine (TMA). The effects of water vapor and concentrations of gaseous precursors on the particle number concentration and particle size were studied. The presence of water significantly enhances particle formation and growth. Under similar experimental conditions, particle number concentrations decrease in the order MA >> TMA approximate to DMA >> NH3, where NH3 is 2-3 orders of magnitude less efficient than DMA. Quantum chemical calculations of likely intermediate clusters were carried out to provide insights into the role of water and the different capacities of amines/NH3 in particle formation. Both gas-phase basicity and hydrogen-bonding capacity of amines/NH3 contribute to the potential for particles to form and grow. Our results indicate that, although amines typically have concentrations 1-3 orders of magnitude lower than that of NH3 in the atmosphere, they still play an important role in driving NPF.

Collisions of HCl at the air-water interface modelled by a 72 molecule water slab are studied for a range of various impact energies and temperatures using ab initio molecular dynamics with density functional theory. A range of short-timescale events can follow the collision, from direct scattering to nondissociative trapping on the surface. In most cases, HCl dissociation occurs within a few picoseconds, followed by the formation of a solvent-separated ion pair, or rarely, the reformation of HCl. With increasing impact energy and/or system temperature, dissociation occurs more rapidly, with Cl tending to diffuse deeper into the slab. At temperatures corresponding to the frozen water regime, dissociation is seen only once out of the five thermal collisions, but with the addition of a total of 4kT or more of kinetic energy to HCl, it occurs in all our trajectories within a few ps.

Reactions on water and ice surfaces and in other aqueous media are ubiquitous in the atmosphere, but the microscopic mechanisms of most of these processes are as yet unknown. This Account examines recent progress in atomistic simulations of such reactions and the insights provided into mechanisms and interpretation of experiments. Illustrative examples are discussed. The main computational approaches employed are classical trajectory simulations using interaction potentials derived from quantum chemical methods. This comprises both ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) and semiempirical molecular dynamics (SEMD), the latter referring to semiempirical quantum chemical methods. Presented examples are as follows: (i) Reaction of the (NO+)(NO3-) ion pair with a water cluster to produce the atmospherically important HONO and HNO3. The simulations show that a cluster with four water molecules describes the reaction. This provides a hydrogen-bonding network supporting the transition state. The reaction is triggered by thermal structural fluctuations, and ultrafast changes in atomic partial charges play a key role. This is an example where a reaction in a small cluster can provide a model for a corresponding bulk process. The results support the proposed mechanism for production of HONO by hydrolysis of NO2 (N2O4). (ii) The reactions of gaseous HCl with N2O4 and N2O5 on liquid water surfaces. Ionization of HCl at the water/air interface is followed by nucleophilic attack of Cl on N2O4 or N2O5. Both reactions proceed by an SN2 mechanism. The products are ClNO and ClNO2, precursors of atmospheric atomic chlorine. Because this mechanism cannot result from a cluster too small for HCl ionization, an extended water film model was simulated. The results explain ClNO formation experiments. Predicted ClNO2 formation is less efficient. (iii) Ionization of acids at ice surfaces. No ionization is found on ideal crystalline surfaces, but the process is efficient on isolated defects where it involves formation of H3O+-acid anion contact ion pairs. This behavior is found in simulations of a model of the ice quasi-liquid layer corresponding to large defect concentrations in crystalline ice. The results are in accord with experiments. (iv) Ionization of acids on wet quartz. A monolayer of water on hydroxylated silica is ordered even at room temperature, but the surface lattice constant differs significantly from that of crystalline ice. The ionization processes of HCl and H2SO4 are of high yield and occur in a few picoseconds. The results are in accord with experimental spectroscopy. (v) Photochemical reactions on water and ice. These simulations require excited state quantum chemical methods. The electronic absorption spectrum of methyl hydroperoxide adsorbed on a large ice cluster is strongly blue-shifted relative to the isolated molecule. The measured and calculated adsorption band low-frequency tails are in agreement. A simple model of photodynamics assumes prompt electronic relaxation of the excited peroxide due to the ice surface. SEMD simulations support this, with the important finding that the photochemistry takes place mainly on the ground state. In conclusion, dynamics simulations using quantum chemical potentials are a useful tool in atmospheric chemistry of water media, capable of comparison with experiment.

Carbonyl oxides, or Criegee intermediates, are formed from the gas phase ozonolysis of alkenes and play a pivotal role in night-time and urban area atmospheric chemistry. Significant discrepancies exist among measurements of the strong (B) over tilde (1)A’-(X) over tilde (1)A’ electronic transition of the simplest Criegee intermediate, CH2OO in the visible/near-UV. We report room temperature spectra of the (B) over tilde (1)A’-(X) over tilde (1)A’ electronic absorption band of CH2OO acquired at higher resolution using both single-pass broadband absorption and cavity ring-down spectroscopy. The new absorption spectra confirm the vibrational structure on the red edge of the band that is absent from ionization depletion measurements. The absolute absorption cross sections over the 362-470 nm range are in good agreement with those reported by Ting et al. Broad-band absorption spectra recorded over the temperature range of 276-357 K were identical within their mutual uncertainties, confirming that the vibrational structure is not due to hot bands.

Proton-bound rare-gas dimer (RgHRg)(+), in which Rg represents a rare-gas atom, serves as a prototypical system for proton solvation by inert-gas atoms. Until now, only centrosymmetric species with Rg = Ar, Kr, or Xe have been identified with infrared spectra. We employed electron bombardment during deposition of a mixture of Xe (or Kr) in p-H-2 at 3.2 K to prepare (RgHRg)(+). Lines at 847.0 and 972.1 cm(-1) are assigned as the Rg-H-Rg antisymmetric stretching (nu(3)) mode and its combination with the RgHRg symmetric stretching (nu(1) + nu(3)) mode of (XeHXe)(+) in solid p-H-2, respectively. Lines at 871.1 and 974.0 cm(-1) are assigned as the nu(3) and nu(1) + nu(3) modes of (KrHKr)(+) in solid p-H-2, respectively. Slightly shifted and broadened lines were observed for these species in solid n-H-2. These results agree satisfactorily with reported experimental values of (XeHXe)(+) and (KrHKr)(+) in solid Xe, Kr, and Ar, and with the quantum-chemically predicted anharmonic vibrational wavenumbers of these species in the gaseous phase; the significant spectral shifts in various matrixes are rationalized with the proton affinities of the hosts. When a mixture of Xe and Kr in p-H-2 was used, an additional broad feature at 1284 cm(-1) was observed and assigned as the nu(3) mode of (KrHXe)(+) in solid p-H-2. This line shifted to 1280 cm(-1) in solid n-H-2 and the corresponding line of (KrDXe)(+) was observed at 954 cm(-1) in n-D-2. The observations of these lines are new; the wavenumbers significantly blue shifted from those of the centrosymmetric (RgHRg)(+) agree with the quantum-chemically predicted anharmonic vibrational wavenumbers of 1279 cm(-1) for (KrHXe)(+) and 916 cm(-1) for (KrDXe)(+). Analysis of the computational results shows that electronic correlation effects play a much greater role for the asymmetric than for the symmetric species. An interpretation for this is provided.

Nitryl chloride (ClNO2) and nitrosyl chloride (ClNO) are potential sources of highly reactive atmospheric chlorine atoms, hence of much interest, but their formation pathways are unknown. This work predicts production of these nitrogen oxychlorides from ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations of N2O5 or an NO2 dimer on the surface of a thin film of water which is struck by gaseous HCl. Both of these heterogeneous reactions proceed at the liquid/vapor interface by an S(N)2 mechanism where the nucleophile is chloride ion formed from the ionization of HCl on the aqueous surface. The film of water enhances the otherwise very slow gas phase reaction to occur by (1) stabilizing and localizing the adsorbed N2O5 or NO2 dimer so it is physically accessible for reaction, (2) ionizing the impinging HCl, and (3) activating the adsorbed oxide for nucleophilic attack by chloride. Though both nitrogen oxychloride products are produced by S(N)2 reactions, the N2O5 mechanism is unusual in that the electrophilic N atom to be attacked oscillates between the two normally equivalent NO2 groups. Chloride ion is found to react with N2O5 less efficiently than with N2O4. The simulations provide an explanation for this. These substitution/elimination mechanisms are new for NOx/y chemistry on thin water films and cannot be derived from small cluster models.

New particle formation from gas-to-particle conversion represents a dominant source of atmospheric particles and affects radiative forcing, climate and human health. The species involved in new particle formation and the underlying mechanisms remain uncertain. Although sulfuric acid is commonly recognized as driving new particle formation, increasing evidence suggests the involvement of other species. Here we study particle formation and growth from methanesulfonic acid, trimethylamine and water at reaction times from 2.3 to 32 s where particles are 2-10 nm in diameter using a newly designed and tested flow system. The flow system has multiple inlets to facilitate changing the mixing sequence of gaseous precursors. The relative humidity and precursor concentrations, as well as the mixing sequence, are varied to explore their effects on particle formation and growth in order to provide insight into the important mechanistic steps. We show that water is involved in the formation of initial clusters, greatly enhancing their formation as well as growth into detectable size ranges. A kinetics box model is developed that quantitatively reproduces the experimental data under various conditions. Although the proposed scheme is not definitive, it suggests that incorporating such mechanisms into atmospheric models may be feasible in the near future.

Ab initio calculations have been performed on novel compounds that may greatly expand the scope of rare gas chemistry. These molecules are insertion compounds of xenon into unsaturated hydrocarbons, including acetylene, benzene, and phenol. We present computational evidence that molecules such as H-Xe-C2H, H-Xe-C6H5, and H-Xe-OC6H5 exist. Computational results suggest also the existence of a series of xenon-insertion compounds for larger hydrocarbons of these types. The predictions are not restricted to molecules p with only one xenon atom inserted in them but molecules such as H-Xe-C-2-Xe-H and H-Xe-C-2-XeC2-Xe-H are computationally stable as well. This suggests the existence of linear polymers H-(Xe-C-2)(n)-H for arbitrary large n. All predicted xenon-insertion molecules form a new class of possible precursors and intermediates for synthetic organic and organoelement chemistry.

Ultrafast spin-flip is used to monitor the subpicosecond intersystem crossing dynamics from the (1)Pi to the (3)Pi state following photodissociation of ClF isolated in an Ar matrix by means of pump-probe spectroscopy. After photoexcitation of the (1)Pi state analysis of the populations of triplet states shows that about 50 percent of the spin-flip occurs during the first bond stretch which takes about 250 fs. The early time dynamics of the Cl-F bond in an Ar matrix is investigated theoretically by selecting representative singlet and triplet excited states from a diatomics-in-molecules Hamiltonian. In a one-dimensional model, wave-packet simulations for the first excursion are performed which give a lower limit of about 60 fs for the spin-flip process. The ultrafast spin flip is supported by the caging of the wave packet by the neighboring Ar atoms. Already before collision of the F and Ar atoms the rather large energy gap between the (1)Pi and (3)Pi states in the Franck-Condon region is reduced rapidly to near degeneracy. As a consequence the spin-orbit interaction becomes dominant, inducing more than 40% admixture of the triplet character in the (1)Pi state. Subsequent kinetic energy transfer from ClF to Ar, not yet included in the model, should slow down the Cl and F atoms on their way back toward shorter bond distances, implying stabilization of the wave packet in the (3)Pi state, where it is monitored by the probe laser pulse.

To provide theoretical insights into the stability and dynamics of the new rare gas compounds HArF and HKrF, reaction paths for decomposition processes HRgF –> Rg + HF and HRgF –> H + Rg + F (Rg = Ar, Kr) are calculated using ab initio electronic structure methods. The bending channels, HRgF –> Rg + HF, are described by single-configurational MP2 and CCSD(T) electronic structure methods, while the linear decomposition paths, HRgF –> H + Rg + F, require the use of multi-configurational wave functions that include dynamic correlation and are size extensive. HArF and HKrF molecules are found to be energetically stable with respect to atomic dissociation products (H + Rg + F) and separated by substantial energy barriers from Rg + HF products, which ensure their kinetic stability. The results are compatible with experimental data on these systems. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Femtosecond pump-probe spectra show direct evidence for ultrafast solvent-induced spin flip in photodissociation-recombination events of ClF, a light diatomic molecule, for which the spin-orbit coupling is weak. The bound triplet states ((3)Pi) of ClF are probed and the dynamics for excitation to the singlet state ((1)Pi(1)) is compared with excitation to the triplet state B((3)Pi(0)). The population initially excited to the singlet state (1)Pi(1) is transferred to the bound triplet states (3)Pi within tau(f)=0.5 ps. Oscillations in the spectra indicate wave packet dynamics with the triplet state period of 300 to 400 fs in both cases. According to simulations of F-2/Ar, most of the initially excited singlet state population is converted to repulsive and weakly bound triplet states within approximately 60 fs. In the first ps, 40% of the triplet population accumulates in the weakly bound (3)Pi states, in good accord with the experiment.

The vibrational spectroscopy and the matrix-site geometries of several novel rare-gas compounds in the matrix environment were computed theoretically, and compared with experiment. Ab initio calculations are used in the fitting of analytical potential surfaces for the HRgY molecules and for the interactions between HRgY and the matrix atoms Rg. With these potentials, matrix-site geometries for the molecule in the solid are computed. Finally, the vibrational spectroscopy of HRgY in the Rg matrix is computed using the vibrational self-consistent field (VSCF) method. The VSCF includes anharmonic effects, that are essential in this case. The version of VSCF used here includes coupling between HRgY and the vibrations of the solid atoms. The vibrations of 72 matrix atoms are treated. The main results are: (1) The matrix shifts are considerably greater than typically found for neutral, strongly bond molecules, but are much smaller than discrepancies between theory and experiment. This can be attributed to the insufficient accuracy of the potentials used for the HRgY molecules. This calls for better future description of the electronic structure of HRgY. (2) The matrix shifts and splitting effects are interpreted by the calculations in terms of the site geometries involved. These effects are very different for HArF, HKrF than for HXeCl, HXeI. (3) The computed matrix-site splittings are in semiquantitative accord with experiment. This supports the interaction potentials used between HRgY and the matrix. The results provide insights on the effects of the matrix on the rare-gas molecules. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.