Spiers Memorial Lecture: Interplay of theory and computation in chemistry—examples from on-water organic catalysis, enzyme catalysis, and single-molecule fluctuations

In this lecture, several examples are considered that illustrate the interplay of experiment, theory, and computations. The examples include on-water catalysis of organic reactions, enzymatic catalysis, single molecule fluctuations, and some much earlier work on electron transfer and atom or group transfer reactions. Computations have made a major impact on our understanding and in the comparisons with experiments. There are also major advantages of analytical theories that may capture in a single equation an entire field and relate experiments of one type to those of another. Such a theory has a generic quality. These topics are explored in the present lecture

The second R. A. Robinson Memorial Lecture. Electron, proton and related transfers

Past and current developments in electron and proton transfer and in related fields are described. Broad classes of reactions have been considered from a unified viewpoint which offers a variety of experimental predictions. This introductory lecture considers various aspects of this many-faceted field. A simple equation is given for a highly exothermic electron-transfer reaction

Separation of Sets of Variables in Quantum Mechanics

Separation of the Schrödinger equation for molecular dynamics into sets of variables can sometimes be performed when separation into individual variables is neither possible nor for certain purposes necesary. Sufficient conditions for such a separation are derived. They are the same as those found by Stäckel for the corresponding Hamilton—Jacobi problem, with an additional one which is the analog of the Robertson condition for one‐dimensional sets. Expressions are also derived for operators whose eigenvalues are the separation constants. They provide a variational property for these constants. For use in aperiodic problems an expression is obtained for the probability current in curvilinear coordinates in an invariant form. Application of these results to reaction rate theory is made elsewhere

Free Energy of Non equilibrium Polarization Systems. III. Statistical Mechanics of Homogeneous and Electrode Systems

A statistical mechanical treatment is given for homogeneous and electrochemical systems having nonequilibrium dielectric polarization. A relation between the free energy of these systems and those of related equilibrium ones is deduced, having first been derived in Part II by a dielectric continuum treatment. The results can be applied to calculating polar contributions in the theory of electron transfers and in that of shifts of electronic spectra in condensed media. The effect of differences in polarizability (of a light emitting or absorbing molecule in its initial and final electronic states) on the polar term in the shift is included by a detailed statistical analysis, thereby extending Part II. Throughout, the "particle" description of the entities contributing to these phenomena is employed, so as to derive the results for rather general potential energy functions

Solvent dynamics: Modified Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus theory. II. Vibrationally assisted case

Expressions are given for a solvent dynamics-modified Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus (RRKM) theory for clusters. The role of vibrational assistance across the transition state region is included. The usual differential equation for motion along the slow coordinate X in constant temperature systems is modified so as to apply to microcanonical systems. A negative entropy term, –Sv(X), replaces the (1/T)∂U/∂X or (1/T)∂G/∂X which appears in canonical systems. Expressions are obtained for the RRKM-type rate constant k(X) and for the Sv(X) which appear in the differential equation. An approximate solution for steady-state conditions is given for the case that the "reaction window" is narrow. The solution then takes on a simple functional form. The validity of the assumption can be checked a posteriori. Recrossings of the transition state are included and the condition under which the treatment approaches that in Part I is described

On the Theory of Intramolecular Energy Transfer

We consider the distinguishing features of two main types of classical anharmonic motion in molecules, their quantum parallels, and conditions that classical chaos also be sufficient for “quantum chaos”. Implications are considered for experimental reaction rates, R.R.K.M. theory, spectra and a possible type of system for intramolecular laser-selective chemistry. A theory of intramolecular energy transfer between two ligands of a heavy atom is described for a system which may contain many coordinates. It is partly statistical and, for the modes of each ligand which communicate through the heavy atom, dynamical

Theory of Semiclassical Transition Probabilities for Inelastic and Reactive Collisions. V. Uniform Approximation in Multidimensional Systems

An integral semiclassical expression for the S matrix of inelastic and reactive collisions was formulated earlier in this series. In the present paper a uniform approximation for the expression is derived for the case of multidimensional systems. The method is an extension of that employed in Part II for the case of one internal coordinate. The final result, Eq. (2), is highly symmetrical, thus making some of its properties immediately clear

Semiclassical S-matrix theory. VI. Integral expression and transformation of conventional coordinates

Sometimes, as in reactive systems, action‐angle variables are not conveniently defined at all points of the trajectory and recourse must be made to conventional coordinates. A simple canonical transformation converts the latter to coordinates of which one is time and the remainder are constant along the trajectory. The transformation serves to remove the singularities of the semiclassical wavefunction at the turning points of the trajectory. It yields, thereby, an integral expression for the S matrix by having produced wavefunctions which can be integrated over all space. The result supplements that of Paper III [R. A. Marcus, J. Chem. Phys. 56, 311 (1972)], which was derived for systems for which action‐angle variables could be defined throughout the collision

Dissociation and Isomerization of Vibrationally Excited Species. III

The equations of Part I for the specific and over‐all unimolecular reaction‐rate constants are extended slightly by including centrifugal effects in a more detailed way and by making explicit allowance for possible reaction‐path degeneracy (optically or geometrically isomeric paths). The expression for reaction‐path degeneracy can be applied to other types of reactions in discussions of statistical factors in reaction rates