This Feature Article starts highlighting some recent experimental and theoretical advances in the field of IR and Raman spectroscopy, giving a taste of the breadth and dynamics of this striving field. The local mode theory is then reviewed, showing how local vibrational modes are derived from fundamental normal modes. New features are introduced that add to current theoretical efforts: (i) a unique measure of bond strength based on local mode force constants ranging from bonding in single molecules in different environments to bonding in periodic systems and crystals and (ii) a new way to interpret vibrational spectra by pinpointing and probing interactions between particular bond stretching contributions to the normal modes. All of this represents a means to work around the very nature of normal modes, namely that the vibrational motions in polyatomic molecules are delocalized. Three current focus points of the local mode analysis are reported, demonstrating how the local mode analysis extracts important information hidden in vibrational spectroscopy data supporting current experiments: (i) metal−ligand bonding in heme proteins, such as myoglobin and neuroglobin; (ii) disentanglement of DNA normal modes; and (iii) hydrogen bonding in water clusters and ice. Finally, the use of the local mode analysis by other research groups is summarized. Our vision is that in the future local mode analysis will be routinely applied by the community and that this Feature Article serves as an incubator for future collaborations between experiment and theory.
The effect of fluoro substitution on the C–C bond activation of aromatic nitriles has been studied by reacting a variety of fluorinated benzonitriles with the nickel(0) fragment [Ni(dippe)] and by locating the reaction intermediates and transition-state structures on the potential energy surface by using density functional theory calculations with the [Ni(dmpe)] fragment (dippe = 1,2-bis(diisopropylphosphino)ethane, dmpe = 1,2-bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane). As in the previous reports, the reaction of fluorinated benzonitriles with the [Ni(dippe)] fragment initially formed an η2-nitrile complex, which then converted to the C–CN bond activation product. Thermodynamic parameters for the equilibrium between these complexes have been determined experimentally in both a polar (tetrahydrofuran) and a nonpolar (toluene) solvent for 3-fluoro- and 4-fluorobenzonitrile. The stability of the C–C bond activation products is shown to be strongly dependent on the number of ortho-F substituents (−6.6 kcal/mol per o-F) and only slightly dependent on the number of meta-F substituents (−1.8 kcal/mol per m-F).
LModeAGen, a new protocol for the automatic determination of a nonredundant, complete set of local vibrational modes is reported, which is based on chemical graph concepts. Whereas local mode properties can be calculated for a selection of parameters targeting specific local modes of interest, a complete set of nonredundant local mode parameters is requested for the adiabatic connection scheme (ACS), relating each local vibrational mode with a normal mode counterpart, and for the decomposition of normal modes (CNM) in terms of local mode contributions, a unique way to analyze vibrational spectra. So far, nonredundant parameter sets have been generated manually following chemical intuition or from a set of redundant parameters in a trial-and-error fashion, which has hampered the study of larger systems with hundreds of parameters. LModeAGen was successfully applied for a test set of 11 systems, ranging from small molecules to the large QM (>100 atoms) subsystem of carbomonoxy-neuroglobin protein, described with a hybrid QM/MM method. The ωB97X-D/aug-cc-pVDZ, M06L/def2-TZVP, and QM/MM ωB97X-D/6-31G(d,p)/AMBER model chemistries were adopted for the description of the molecules in the test set. Our new protocol is an important step forward for a routine ACS and CNM analysis of the vibrational spectra of complex and large systems with hundreds of atoms, providing new access to important encoded electronic structure information.
Protein dynamics and function is strongly connected to the energy flow taking place. Myoglobin (Mb) and its mutations are ideal systems to study the process of vibrational energy transfer (VET) at the molecular level. Anti-Stokes ultraviolet resonance Raman studies using a tryptophan (Trp) probe, introduced at different Mb positions by amino acid replacement, have suggested that the amount of VET depends on the position of the Trp probe relative to the heme group. Inspired by this experimental work, we explored the strength of noncovalent π interactions, as well as covalent interactions for both the axial and distal ligands bound to iron in aquomet-Mb with the local vibrational mode analysis (LMA), originally developed by Konkoli and Cremer. Two sets of noncovalent interactions were investigated: (1) the interaction between the water ligand and Trp rings and (2) the interaction between the Trp and the porphyrin rings of the heme group. We assessed the strength of these noncovalent interactions via a special local mode force constant. Various Trp-modified water-bound ferric Mb proteins in the ground state were studied (6 in total) using gas-phase and QM/MM calculations followed by LMA. Our results disclose that VET is indeed dependent on the position of the Trp probe relative to the heme group but also on the tautomeric nature of distal histidine. They provide new guidelines on how to assess noncovalent π interactions in proteins utilizing LMA and how to use these data to explore VET, and more generally protein dynamics and function.
One of the ultimate goals of chemistry is to understand and manipulate chemical reactions, which implies the ability to monitor the reaction and its underlying mechanism at an atomic scale....
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