| "On the art of computing the IR spectra of molecules in condensed phase. "Matthias Schmitz and Paul Tavan 
 In: Modern methods for theoretical physical chemistry of biopolymers.E.B. Starikov, S. Tanaka, J.P. Lewis (Eds.).Chapter 8, pp. 157-177 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2006). 
 Abstract:
 Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is a most important technique for identifying compounds and 
monitoring their reactions in (bio-)chemistry. Usually spectra are obtained from condensed 
phase samples containing molecules embedded in solvents of varying polarity or in complex 
and polar protein environments. Upon transfer from the gas phase to the condensed phase, 
the vibrational frequencies may become sizeably shifted and the lines inhomogeneuosly broadened.
For molecules comprising up to about 100 atoms accurate computations of their gas-phase IR 
spectra were enabled by the development and wide-spread accessibility of density functional 
theory (DFT) about one decade ago. Concerning molecules in condensed phase, however, the art 
of accurately computing the IR spectra is an ongoing development, whose computational basis is 
provided by hybrid methods combining DFT descriptions of molecules with molecular mechanics (MM) 
models of their condensed phase environment. Here we review the involved physics, the available
computational procedures, the achievements, and the perspectives of this DFT/MM based development,
which promises to provide detailed insights into the structural dynamics of condensed phase 
(bio-)chemical reactions by quantitative descriptions of corresponding IR spectra.
 
 BMO authors (in alphabetic order):
 Matthias Schmitz
 Paul Tavan
 
 Assoziierte Projekte:
 QM/MM hybrid descriptions of solutes in complex solvents
 
 
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