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Mechanical, acoustic and thermal properties for three common hydrates structures sI, sII, and sH were investigated using first-principles methods. Elastic constants were estimated by fitting strain energy versus Lagrangian strain. Bulk modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio deduced from elastic constants are in reasonable agreement to experimental values. The longitude and transverse velocity compare reasonably with the experimental results with systematical overestimation. Using the quasi-harmonic approximation and Debye model, some thermal properties including heat capacity, linear thermal expansion, Grüneisen parameter, and Debye temperature for structure sI and sII were estimated and compared with available experiments.

The femtosecond time-resolved multiplex coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) technique has been performed to investigate intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR) through vibrational couplings in 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazacyclohexane (RDX) molecules. In the multiplex CARS experiment, the supercontinuum (SC) was used as broad-band Stokes light to coherently and collectively excite multiple vibrational modes, and quantum beats arising from vibrational couplings among these modes were observed. The IVR of RDX is visualized by a topological graph of these vibrational couplings, and with analysis of the topological graph, two vibrational modes, both of which are assigned to ring bending, are confirmed to have coupling interactions with most of the other vibrational modes and are considered to have a tendency of energy transfer with these vibrational modes. We suggest that the mode at 466 cm is a portal of energy transfer from outside to inside of the RDX molecule and the mode at 672 cm is an important transit point of energy transfer in the IVR.

Natural gas hydrates are inclusion compounds composed of major light hydrocarbon gaseous molecules (CH4, C2H6, and C3H8) and a water clathrate framework. Understanding the phase stability and formation conditions of natural gas hydrates is crucial for their future exploitation and applications and requires an accurate description of intermolecular interactions. Previous ab initio calculations on gas hydrates were mainly limited by the cluster models, whereas the phase diagram and equilibrium conditions of hydrate formation were usually investigated using the thermodynamic models or empirical molecular simulations. For the first time, we construct the chemical potential phase diagrams of type II clathrate hydrates encapsulated with methane/ethane/propane guest molecules using first-principles thermodynamics. We find that the partially occupied structures (136H2O·1CH4, 136H2O·16CH4, 136H2O·20CH4, 136H2O·1C2H6, and 136H2O·1C3H8) and fully occupied structures (136H2O·24CH4, 136H2O·8C2H6, and 136H2O·8C3H8) are thermodynamically favorable under given pressure-temperature (p-T) conditions. The theoretically predicted equilibrium pressures for pure CH4, C2H6 and C3H8 hydrates at the phase transition point are consistent with the experimental data. These results provide valuable guidance for establishing the relationship between the accurate description of intermolecular noncovalent interactions and the p-T equilibrium conditions of clathrate hydrates and other molecular crystals.

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Selective excitation of C-H stretching vibrational modes, detection of intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR), and vibrational modes coupling in the electronic ground state of benzene are performed by using femtosecond time- and frequency-resolved coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectroscopy. Both of the parent modes in the Raman-active bands are coherently excited by an ultrafast stimulated Raman pump, giving initial excitations of 3056 cm (A) and 3074 cm (E) and subsequent IVR from the parent modes to daughter modes of 1181 and 992 cm, and the coherent vibrational coupling of the relevant modes is tracked. The directionality and selectivity of IVR and coherent coupling among all of the relevant vibrational modes are discussed in the view of molecular symmetry.

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