VIBRATIONAL ANHARMONICITY IN ETHYLENE, METHYL FLUORIDE AND DICHLOROMETHANE: AN EXPLORATION USING GAUSSIAN 03

Research Projects

Organizational Units

Journal Issue

Abstract

This survey was undertaken (a) to test the suitability of the program Gaussian 03 (G03) for anharmonicity calculations: (b) to compare results for different models (B3LYP, MP2) and basis sets (6-311++G**, cc-pVTZ): (c) to see if anharmonicity corrections to harmonic frequencies were identical for different types of C-H stretching vibration. Results to be presented show that the version of G03 available was inadequate to detect familiar instances of Fermi resonance. For {\em C}$_{3v}$-type molecules G03 yielded anharmonicity constants {\em x}$_{i,j}$ unusable by the experimentalist. In CH$_2$Cl$_2$ the antisymmetric C-H stretching frequency is associated with a larger anharmonicity correction than is the case for the C-H stretch, in a situation where Fermi resonance is negligible. Calculated values of {\em x}$_{1,1}$, {\em x}$_{1,6}$ and {\em x}$_{6,6}$ for CH$_2$Cl$_2$ agree excellently with experimental data. In ethylene a marked effect of basis set was found in MP2 calculations for the out-of-plane bending modes, linked to the presence or absence of {\em f} functions.

Description

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH 44074; Department of Chemistry, University of Aberdeen, Meston Walk, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE, U.K.; School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JJ, U.K.

Keywords

Citation