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The temperature dependence of spectra can reveal important insights into the structural and dynamical behavior of the system being probed. In the case of linear spectra, this has been exploited to investigate the thermodynamic driving forces governing the spectral response. Indeed, the temperature derivative of a spectrum can be used to obtain effective energetic and entropic profiles as a function of the measured frequency. The former can further be used to predict the temperature-dependent spectrum via a van't Hoff relation. However, these approaches are not directly applicable to nonlinear, complex-valued spectra, such as vibrational sum-frequency generation (SFG) or two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) photon echo spectra. Here, we show how the energetic and entropic driving forces governing such nonlinear spectra can be determined and used within a generalized van't Hoff relation to predict their temperature dependence. The central idea is to allow the underlying energetic profiles to themselves be complex-valued. We illustrate this approach for 2D-IR spectra of water and SFG spectra of the air–water interface and demonstrate the accuracy of the generalized van't Hoff relationship and its implications for the origin of temperature-dependent spectral changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of force fields have been proposed for describing the behavior of liquid water within classical atomistic simulations, particularly molecular dynamics. In the past two decades, models that incorporate molecular polarizability and even charge transfer have become more prevalent, in attempts to develop more accurate descriptions. These are frequently parameterized to reproduce the measured thermodynamics, phase behavior, and structure of water. On the other hand, the dynamics of water is rarely considered in the construction of these models, despite its importance in their ultimate applications. In this paper, we explore the structure and dynamics of polarizable and charge-transfer water models, with a focus on timescales that directly or indirectly relate to hydrogen bond (H-bond) making and breaking. Moreover, we use the recently developed fluctuation theory for dynamics to determine the temperature dependence of these properties to shed light on the driving forces. This approach provides key insight into the timescale activation energies through a rigorous decomposition into contributions from the different interactions, including polarization and charge transfer. The results show that charge transfer effects have a negligible effect on the activation energies. Furthermore, the same tension between electrostatic and van der Waals interactions that is found in fixed-charge water models also governs the behavior of polarizable models. The models are found to involve significant energy–entropy compensation, pointing to the importance of developing water models that accurately describe the temperature dependence of water structure and dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for directly calculating the temperature derivative of two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) spectra from simulations at a single temperature is presented. The approach is demonstrated by application to the OD stretching spectrum of isotopically dilute aqueous (HOD in H2O) solutions of urea as a function of concentration. Urea is an important osmolyte because of its ability to denature proteins, which has motivated significant interest in its effect on the structure and dynamics of water. The present results show that the temperature dependence of both the linear IR and 2D-IR spectra, which report on the underlying energetic driving forces, is more sensitive to urea concentration than the spectra themselves. Additional physical insight is provided by calculation of the contributions to the temperature derivative from different interactions, e.g., water–water, water–urea, and urea–urea, present in the system. Finally, it is demonstrated how 2D-IR spectra at other temperatures can be obtained from only room temperature simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural and dynamical properties of nanoconfined solutions can differ dramatically from those of the corresponding bulk systems. Understanding the changes induced by confinement is central to controlling the behavior of synthetic nanostructured materials and predicting the characteristics of biological and geochemical systems. A key outstanding issue is how the molecular-level behavior of nanoconfined electrolyte solutions is reflected in different experimental, particularly spectroscopic, measurements. This is addressed here through molecular dynamics simulations of the OH stretching infrared (IR) spectroscopy of NaCl, NaBr, and NaI solutions in isotopically dilute HOD/D2O confined in hydroxylated amorphous silica slit pores of width 1–6 nm and pH ∼ 2. In addition, the water reorientation dynamics and spectral diffusion, accessible by pump–probe anisotropy and two-dimensional IR measurements, are investigated. The aim is to elucidate the effect of salt identity, confinement, and salt concentration on the vibrational spectra. It is found that the IR spectra of the electrolyte solutions are only modestly blue-shifted upon confinement in amorphous silica slit pores, with both the size of the shift and linewidth increasing with the halide size, but these effects are suppressed as the salt concentration is increased. This indicates the limitations of linear IR spectroscopy as a probe of confined water. However, the OH reorientational and spectral diffusion dynamics are significantly slowed by confinement even at the lowest concentrations. The retardation of the dynamics eases with increasing salt concentration and pore width, but it exhibits a more complex behavior as a function of halide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The E1/2 potential associated with reduction of the linearly-functionalized 6,6′-biazulenic scaffold is accurately correlated to the combined σp Hammett parameters of the substituents over >600 mV range. X-ray crystallographic analysis of the 2,2′-dichloro-substituted derivative revealed unexpectedly short C–Cl bond distances, along with other metric changes, suggesting a non-trivial cycloheptafulvalene-like structural contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water in nano-scale confining environments is a key element in many biological, material, and geological systems. The structure and dynamics of the liquid can be dramatically modified under these conditions. Probing these changes can be challenging, but vibrational spectroscopy has emerged as a powerful tool for investigating their behavior. A critical, evolving component of this approach is a detailed understanding of the connection between spectroscopic features and molecular-level details. In this paper, this issue is addressed by using molecular dynamics simulations to simulate the linear infrared (IR) and Raman spectra for isotopically dilute HOD in D2O confined in hydroxylated amorphous silica slit pores. The effect of slit-pore width and hydroxyl density on the silica surface on the vibrational spectra is also investigated. The primary effect of confinement is a blueshift in the frequency of OH groups donating a hydrogen bond to the silica surface. This appears as a slight shift in the total (measurable) spectra but is clearly seen in the distance-based IR and Raman spectra. Analysis indicates that these changes upon confinement are associated with the weaker hydrogen-bond accepting properties of silica oxygens compared to water molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of a vibrational frequency in a condensed phase environment, i.e., the spectral diffusion, has attracted considerable interest over the last two decades. A significant impetus has been the development of two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) photon-echo spectroscopy that represents a direct experimental probe of spectral diffusion, as measured by the frequency–frequency time correlation function (FFCF). In isotopically dilute water, which is perhaps the most thoroughly studied system, the standard interpretation of the longest timescale observed in the FFCF is that it is associated with hydrogen-bond exchange dynamics. Here, we investigate this connection by detailed analysis of both the spectral diffusion timescales and their associated activation energies. The latter are obtained from the recently developed fluctuation theory for the dynamics approach. The results show that the longest timescale of spectral diffusion obtained by the typical analysis used cannot be directly associated with hydrogen-bond exchanges. The hydrogen-bond exchange time does appear in the decay of the water FFCF, but only as an additional, small-amplitude (<3%) timescale. The dominant contribution to the long-time spectral diffusion dynamics is considerably shorter than the hydrogen-bond exchange time and exhibits a significantly smaller activation energy. It thus arises from hydrogen-bond rearrangements, which occur in between successful hydrogen-bond partner exchanges, and particularly from hydrogen bonds that transiently break before returning to the same acceptor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen-bond exchanges drive many dynamical processes in water and aqueous solutions. The extended jump model (EJM) provides a quantitative description of OH reorientation in water based on contributions from hydrogen-bond exchanges, or jumps, and the “frame” reorientation of intact hydrogen-bond pairs. Here, we show that the activation energies of OH reorientation in bulk water can be calculated accurately from the EJM and that the model provides a consistent picture of hydrogen-bond exchanges based on molecular interactions. Specifically, we use the recently developed fluctuation theory for dynamics to calculate activation energies, from simulations at a single temperature, of the hydrogen-bond jumps and the frame reorientation, including their decompositions into contributions from different interactions. These are shown to be in accord, when interpreted using the EJM, with the corresponding activation energies obtained directly for OH reorientation. Thus, the present results demonstrate that the EJM can be used to describe the temperature dependence of reorientational dynamics and the underlying mechanistic details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water confined in mesoporous silica plays a central role in its many uses ranging from gas sorption to nanoconfined chemical reactions. Here, the influence of pore diameter (2.5–5.4 nm) on water hydrogen bond (H-bond) dynamics in MCM41 and SBA15 mesoporous silicas is investigated using femtosecond infrared vibrational spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations on selenocyanate (SeCN−) anions dissolved in the pores. As shown recently, SeCN− spectral diffusion is a reliable probe of surrounding water H-bond structural motions. Additionally, the long CN stretch vibrational lifetime facilitates measurement of the full range of confined dynamics, which are much slower than in bulk water. The simulations shed light on quantitative details that are inaccessible from the spatially averaged observables. The dependence of SeCN− orientational relaxation and that of spectral diffusion on the distance from the silica interface are quantitatively described with an exponential decay and a smoothed step-function, respectively. The distance-dependence of both quantities is found to be independent of the diameter of the pores, and the spatial distribution of SeCN− is markedly non-uniform, reaching a maximum between the interface and the pore center. The results indicate that the commonly invoked two-state, or core–shell, model is a more appropriate description of spectral diffusion. Using these insights, we model the full time-dependence of the measured dynamics for all pore sizes and extract the "core" and "shell" dynamical correlation functions and SeCN− spatial probability distributions. The results are critically compared to those for water confined in reverse micelles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is strong interest in understanding the behavior of water in its supercooled state. While many of the qualitative trends of water dynamical properties in the supercooled regime are well understood, the connections between the structure and dynamics of room temperature and supercooled water have not been fully elucidated. Here, we show that the reorientational time scales and diffusion coefficients of supercooled water can be predicted from simulations of room temperature liquid water. Specifically, the derivatives of these dynamical time scales with respect to inverse temperature are directly calculated using the fluctuation theory applied to dynamics. These derivatives are used to predict the time scales and activation energies in the supercooled regime based on the temperature dependence in one of two forms: that based on the stability limit conjecture or assuming an equilibrium associated with a liquid–liquid phase transition. The results indicate that the retarded dynamics of supercooled water originate from structures and mechanisms that are present in the liquid under ambient conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a straightforward method for predicting an equilibrium distribution function over a wide range of temperatures from a single-temperature simulation. The approach is based on a simple application of fluctuation theory and requires only a standard equilibrium molecular dynamics (or Monte Carlo) simulation. In addition, it provides mechanistic insight into the origin of the temperature-dependent behavior. We illustrate the method by predicting the structure of liquid water, as represented by the O–O radial distribution function, for temperatures from 235 to 360 K from a room temperature molecular dynamics simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquids confined on nanometer lengthscales are ubiquitous in chemistry, occurring in systems ranging from mesoporous catalysts to the crowded interior of a cell. Understanding how the properties of the liquid in these environments differs from that in the corresponding bulk is key to interpreting measurements, developing methods for theoretical predictions, and controlling chemical pathways. This area has received significant attention in recent years, resulting in notable progress. In this perspective, we discuss the advances in understanding the dynamics of confined liquids as well as the nontrivial remaining challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular reorientation dynamics in liquid water are typically probed using either infrared (IR) pump-probe anisotropy experiments or the NMR spin-echo technique. While it is widely appreciated that the two yield different reorientation times based on the nature of the measurements, little attention has been paid to the implications for the corresponding activation energies. Here, the activation energies associated with reorientation of the OH bond vector in liquid water are calculated to high accuracy directly from simulations at a single temperature using a recently developed method [Z. A. Piskulich et al., J. Chem. Phys.147, 134103 (2017)]. The results indicate that the reorientation times obtained from IR anisotropy and NMR measurements have different activation energies that, with improved accuracy, should be experimentally distinguishable. The origins of the differences in the two activation energies are examined in detail, including by a decomposition into the contributions to the activation energies due to the kinetic energy and the intermolecular interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An umbrella approach is described for vibrational frequency line shifts. This method has allowed for the efficient sampling of the solvent configurations corresponding to frequency shifts of a solute in mixed quantum-classical simulations.

General approaches for directly calculating the temperature dependence of dynamical quantities from simulations at a single temperature are presented. The method is demonstrated for self-diffusion and OH reorientation in liquid water. For quantities which possess an activation energy, e.g., the diffusion coefficient and the reorientation time, the results from the direct calculation are in excellent agreement with those obtained from an Arrhenius plot. However, additional information is obtained, including the decomposition of the contributions to the activation energy. These results are discussed along with prospects for additional applications of the direct approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many ofwater's remarkable properties arise from its tendency to form an intricate and robust hydrogen bond network. Understanding the dynamics that govern this network is fundamental to elucidating the behavior of pure water and water in biological and physical systems. In ultrafast nonlinear infrared experiments, the accessible time scales are limited by water's rapid vibrational relaxation (1.8 ps for dilute HOD in H2O), precluding interrogation of slow hydrogen bond evolution in non-bulk systems. Here, hydrogen bonding dynamics in bulk D2O were studied from the perspective of the much longer lived (36.2 ps) CN stretch mode of selenocyanate (SeCN-) using polarization selective pump-probe (PSPP) experiments, two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) vibrational echo spectroscopy, and molecular dynamics simulations. The simulations make use of the empirical frequency mapping approach, applied to SeCN- for the first time. The PSPP experiments and simulations show that the orientational correlation function decays via fast (2.0 ps) restricted angular diffusion (wobbling-in-a-cone) and complete orientational diffusive randomization (4.5 ps). Spectral diffusion, quantified in terms of the frequency-frequency correlation function, occurs on two time scales. The initial 0.6 ps time scale is attributed to small length and angle fluctuations of the hydrogen bonds between water and SeCN-. The second 1.4 ps measured time scale, identical to that for HOD in bulk D2O, reports on the collective reorganization of the water hydrogen bond network around the anion. The experiments and simulations provide details of the anion-water hydrogen bonding and demonstrate that SeCN- is a reliable vibrational probe of the ultrafast spectroscopy of water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linear response approximations are central to our understanding and simulations of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. Despite the success of these approaches in predicting nonequilibrium dynamics, open questions remain. Laird and Thompson [J. Chem. Phys. 126, 211104 (2007)] previously formalized, in the context of solvation dynamics, the connection between the static linear-response approximation and the assumption of Gaussian statistics. The Gaussian statistics perspective is useful in understanding why linear response approximations are still accurate for perturbations much larger than thermal energies. In this paper, we use this approach to address three outstanding issues in the context of the "dipole-flip" model, which is known to exhibit nonlinear response. First, we demonstrate how non-Gaussian statistics can be predicted from purely equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations (i.e., without resort to a full nonequilibrium MD as is the current practice). Second, we show that the Gaussian statistics approximation may also be used to identify the physical origins of nonlinear response residing in a small number of coordinates. Third, we explore an approach for correcting the Gaussian statistics approximation for nonlinear response effects using the same equilibrium simulation. The results are discussed in the context of several other examples of nonlinear responses throughout the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vibrationally adiabatic mixed quantum-classical molecular dynamics simulations of a model phenol-amine proton transfer reaction in a nanoconfined methyl chloride solvent is presented. The results show that the reaction free energies decrease, and the rate constants increase as the cavity is made larger.

Monte Carlo stimulations are used to calculate the absorption and fluorescence of a model diatomic solute in methyl iodide solvent confined in nanoscale ellipsoidal cavities. The solvent density naturally affects the solute position distributions leading to layered structures and a significant density in the solute ground state to be found near the ellipsoid 'ends' where the solvent density is smaller.

A general theoretical formulation for the anomalous absorption and fluorescence solvato-chromic properties of charged push-pull polyenes in solution is developed and described. The theory both accounts for the anomalous linear solvatochromic behavior and provides a treatment of CPPP nonlinear optical properties in solution.

A new thermodynamic, calculation, and IR considerations that indicate the H2OCl(super +) ion is not involved in the ClONO2 hydrolysis on ice surface is presented. The IR spectra calculations providing an explicit identification of the 1650 cm(super -1) spectral feature are detailed.