Evaluation of one-dimensional potential energy surfaces for prediction of spectroscopic properties of hydrogen bonds in linear bonded complexes.

This work evaluated the reliability of the one-dimensional potential energy surface for calculating the spectroscopic properties (rovibrational constants and rotational line energies) of hydrogen bonds in linear bonded complexes by comparing theoretical results with the corresponding experimental results. For this purpose, two hydrogen bonded complexes were selected: the HCN···HCN homodimer and the HCN···HF heterodimer. The one-dimensional potential energy surfaces related to the hydrogen bonds in these complexes were calculated using different computational methods and basis sets. The calculated potential curve of each complex was fitted to an analytical one-dimensional potential function to obtain the potential parameters. The obtained analytical potential function of each complex was used in a two-particle Schrödinger equation to obtain the rovibrational energy levels of the hydrogen bond. Using the calculated rovibrational levels, the rovibrational spectra and constants of each complex were calculated and compared with experimental data available from the literature. Compared with experimental data, the calculated one-dimensional potential energy surface at the QCISD/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory was found to predict the spectroscopic properties of hydrogen bonds better than the potential curves obtained using other computational methods, especially for the HCN···HCN homodimer complex. Generally, the results obtained for the HCN···HCN homodimer complex were closer to experimental data than those obtained for the HCN···HF heterodimer complex. The investigation performed in this work showed that the one-dimensional potential curve related to the hydrogen bond between two linear molecules can be used to predict the spectroscopic constants of hydrogen bonds. Graphical abstract Potential energy curves of HCN···HCN and HCN···HF complexes calculated at the different computational levels.