Theory and computations of two-photon absorbing photochromic chromophores

Exponential growth in information technology generates ever increasing amounts of data, making recording density of the storage media crucially important. Two-photon absorption was proposed as a basis for high-density multi-layer technology for optical memory and logic devices. This technology suggests to use polymers, doped with photochromic compounds that undergo a reversible photoinduced isomerization, or photoswitching. In this review we consider recent theoretical works and benchmarking studies of the DFT-based methods, capable to predict two-photon absorption (2PA) and photochemical activity, Next we review the applications of these methods to design a prototype molecule that combines the photon-mode recording property of photochromic compounds with large 2PA cross-section. We conclude that a posteriori Tamm-Dancoff approximation to the second order CEO approach in Density Functional Theory is the powerful tool for both quantitative predictions and qualitative understanding of the excited state processes in photophysics and photochemistry. We also emphasize general principles for the rational design of a two-photon operated photoswitch

Report on the sixth blind test of organic crystal-structure prediction methods

The sixth blind test of organic crystal-structure prediction (CSP) methods has been held, with five target systems: a small nearly rigid molecule, a polymorphic former drug candidate, a chloride salt hydrate, a co-crystal, and a bulky flexible molecule. This blind test has seen substantial growth in the number of submissions, with the broad range of prediction methods giving a unique insight into the state of the art in the field. Significant progress has been seen in treating flexible molecules, usage of hierarchical approaches to ranking structures, the application of density-functional approximations, and the establishment of new workflows and "best practices" for performing CSP calculations. All of the targets, apart from a single potentially disordered Z` = 2 polymorph of the drug candidate, were predicted by at least one submission. Despite many remaining challenges, it is clear that CSP methods are becoming more applicable to a wider range of real systems, including salts, hydrates and larger flexible molecules. The results also highlight the potential for CSP calculations to complement and augment experimental studies of organic solid forms

Report on the sixth blind test of organic crystal structure prediction methods.

The sixth blind test of organic crystal structure prediction (CSP) methods has been held, with five target systems: a small nearly rigid molecule, a polymorphic former drug candidate, a chloride salt hydrate, a co-crystal and a bulky flexible molecule. This blind test has seen substantial growth in the number of participants, with the broad range of prediction methods giving a unique insight into the state of the art in the field. Significant progress has been seen in treating flexible molecules, usage of hierarchical approaches to ranking structures, the application of density-functional approximations, and the establishment of new workflows and `best practices' for performing CSP calculations. All of the targets, apart from a single potentially disordered Z' = 2 polymorph of the drug candidate, were predicted by at least one submission. Despite many remaining challenges, it is clear that CSP methods are becoming more applicable to a wider range of real systems, including salts, hydrates and larger flexible molecules. The results also highlight the potential for CSP calculations to complement and augment experimental studies of organic solid forms.The organisers and participants are very grateful to the crystallographers who supplied the candidate structures: Dr. Peter Horton (XXII), Dr. Brian Samas (XXIII), Prof. Bruce Foxman (XXIV), and Prof. Kraig Wheeler (XXV and XXVI). We are also grateful to Dr. Emma Sharp and colleagues at Johnson Matthey (Pharmorphix) for the polymorph screening of XXVI, as well as numerous colleagues at the CCDC for assistance in organising the blind test. Submission 2: We acknowledge Dr. Oliver Korb for numerous useful discussions. Submission 3: The Day group acknowledge the use of the IRIDIS High Performance Computing Facility, and associated support services at the University of Southampton, in the completion of this work. We acknowledge funding from the EPSRC (grants EP/J01110X/1 and EP/K018132/1) and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC through grant agreements n. 307358 (ERC-stG- 2012-ANGLE) and n. 321156 (ERC-AG-PE5-ROBOT). Submission 4: I am grateful to Mikhail Kuzminskii for calculations of molecular structures on Gaussian 98 program in the Institute of Organic Chemistry RAS. The Russian Foundation for Basic Research is acknowledged for financial support (14-03-01091). Submission 5: Toine Schreurs provided computer facilities and assistance. I am grateful to Matthew Habgood at AWE company for providing a travel grant. Submission 6: We would like to acknowledge support of this work by GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, and Vertex. Submission 7: The research was financially supported by the VIDI Research Program 700.10.427, which is financed by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), and the European Research Council (ERC-2010-StG, grant agreement n. 259510-KISMOL). We acknowledge the support of the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM). Supercomputer facilities were provided by the National Computing Facilities Foundation (NCF). Submission 8: Computer resources were provided by the Center for High Performance Computing at the University of Utah and the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), supported by NSF grant number ACI-1053575. MBF and GIP acknowledge the support from the University of Buenos Aires and the Argentinian Research Council. Submission 9: We thank Dr. Bouke van Eijck for his valuable advice on our predicted structure of XXV. We thank the promotion office for TUT programs on advanced simulation engineering (ADSIM), the leading program for training brain information architects (BRAIN), and the information and media center (IMC) at Toyohashi University of Technology for the use of the TUT supercomputer systems and application software. We also thank the ACCMS at Kyoto University for the use of their supercomputer. In addition, we wish to thank financial supports from Conflex Corp. and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Submission 12: We thank Leslie Leiserowitz from the Weizmann Institute of Science and Geoffrey Hutchinson from the University of Pittsburgh for helpful discussions. We thank Adam Scovel at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) for technical support. Work at Tulane University was funded by the Louisiana Board of Regents Award # LEQSF(2014-17)-RD-A-10 “Toward Crystal Engineering from First Principles”, by the NSF award # EPS-1003897 “The Louisiana Alliance for Simulation-Guided Materials Applications (LA-SiGMA)”, and by the Tulane Committee on Research Summer Fellowship. Work at the Technical University of Munich was supported by the Solar Technologies Go Hybrid initiative of the State of Bavaria, Germany. Computer time was provided by the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. Submission 13: This work would not have been possible without funding from Khalifa University’s College of Engineering. I would like to acknowledge Prof. Robert Bennell and Prof. Bayan Sharif for supporting me in acquiring the resources needed to carry out this research. Dr. Louise Price is thanked for her guidance on the use of DMACRYS and NEIGHCRYS during the course of this research. She is also thanked for useful discussions and numerous e-mail exchanges concerning the blind test. Prof. Sarah Price is acknowledged for her support and guidance over many years and for providing access to DMACRYS and NEIGHCRYS. Submission 15: The work was supported by the United Kingdom’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (EP/J003840/1, EP/J014958/1) and was made possible through access to computational resources and support from the High Performance Computing Cluster at Imperial College London. We are grateful to Professor Sarah L. Price for supplying the DMACRYS code for use within CrystalOptimizer, and to her and her research group for support with DMACRYS and feedback on CrystalPredictor and CrystalOptimizer. Submission 16: R. J. N. acknowledges financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the U.K. [EP/J017639/1]. R. J. N. and C. J. P. acknowledge use of the Archer facilities of the U.K.’s national high-performance computing service (for which access was obtained via the UKCP consortium [EP/K014560/1]). C. J. P. also acknowledges a Leadership Fellowship Grant [EP/K013688/1]. B. M. acknowledges Robinson College, Cambridge, and the Cambridge Philosophical Society for a Henslow Research Fellowship. Submission 17: The work at the University of Delaware was supported by the Army Research Office under Grant W911NF-13-1- 0387 and by the National Science Foundation Grant CHE-1152899. The work at the University of Silesia was supported by the Polish National Science Centre Grant No. DEC-2012/05/B/ST4/00086. Submission 18: We would like to thank Constantinos Pantelides, Claire Adjiman and Isaac Sugden of Imperial College for their support of our use of CrystalPredictor and CrystalOptimizer in this and Submission 19. The CSP work of the group is supported by EPSRC, though grant ESPRC EP/K039229/1, and Eli Lilly. The PhD students support: RKH by a joint UCL Max-Planck Society Magdeburg Impact studentship, REW by a UCL Impact studentship; LI by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre and the M3S Centre for Doctoral Training (EPSRC EP/G036675/1). Submission 19: The potential generation work at the University of Delaware was supported by the Army Research Office under Grant W911NF-13-1-0387 and by the National Science Foundation Grant CHE-1152899. Submission 20: The work at New York University was supported, in part, by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Research Office under contract/grant number W911NF-13-1-0387 (MET and LV) and, in part, by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) program of the National Science Foundation under Award Number DMR-1420073 (MET and ES). The work at the University of Delaware was supported by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Research Office under contract/grant number W911NF-13-1- 0387 and by the National Science Foundation Grant CHE-1152899. Submission 21: We thank the National Science Foundation (DMR-1231586), the Government of Russian Federation (Grant No. 14.A12.31.0003), the Foreign Talents Introduction and Academic Exchange Program (No. B08040) and the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 14-43-00052, base organization Photochemistry Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Calculations were performed on the Rurik supercomputer at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Submission 22: The computational results presented have been achieved in part using the Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC). Submission 24: The potential generation work at the University of Delaware was supported by the Army Research Office under Grant W911NF-13-1-0387 and by the National Science Foundation Grant CHE-1152899. Submission 25: J.H. and A.T. acknowledge the support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under the program DFG-SPP 1807. H-Y.K., R.A.D., and R.C. acknowledge support from the Department of Energy (DOE) under Grant Nos. DE-SC0008626. This research used resources of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility at Argonne National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. This research used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DEAC02-05CH11231. Additional computational resources were provided by the Terascale Infrastructure for Groundbreaking Research in Science and Engineering (TIGRESS) High Performance Computing Center and Visualization Laboratory at Princeton University.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/S2052520616007447

Density Functional Theory Study Of Small Nickel Clusters

Elliptical gain guiding fibers in which gain guiding effects are dominant compared to conventional index guiding fiber is analyzed by solving Mathieu equations with complex-valued fiber parameters. The properties of mode propagation and single mode operation are evaluated in this elliptical gain guiding fiber with the assumption of a uniform gain distribution in the active core medium. Threshold for lossless mode propagation increases exponentially with the eccentricity of the elliptical cross section. Further, the difference in threshold between the lowest two order modes is constant for arbitrary eccentricity. © Springer-Verlag 2011

Theoretical Study Of Photochromic Compounds. 1. Bond Length Alternation And Absorption Spectra For The Open And Closed Forms Of 29 Diarylethene Derivatives

We apply several exchange-correlation functionals in combination with time-dependent density functional theory to predict the maximum wavelengths in the absorption spectra for 29 diarylethene derivatives in both open and closed isomeric forms. Solvent effects and accurate molecular geometries are found to be important to obtain good agreement with experimental absorption wavelengths. In order to evaluate the quality of geometry optimization, we compare predicted bond length alternation parameters with \experimental ones. We find the TD-M05/6-31G*/PCM//M05-2x/6-31G*/PCM theory level to give the best predictions for the structural and spectral parameters of the diarylethene derivatives. Applications of the photochromic diarylethene compounds as materials for optical switching and data storage based on their photocyclization properties are also discussed. © 2009 American Chemical Society

Conformational Dependence Of The First Molecular Hyperpolarizability In The Computational Design Of Nonlinear Optical Materials For Optical Switching

In certain cases for conjugated molecules, which can often be found in several conformations close in energy, hyperpolarizabilities of the rotamers differ by less than 20%, which is comparable to uncertainty in experimental data and this makes it possible to consider only one representative conformation in the process of computational design. © 2008

Adsorption of Glyoxal (CHOCHO) and Its UV Photolysis Products on the Surface of Atmospheric Ice Nanoparticles. DFT and Density Functional Tight-Binding Study

The structures, energies, harmonic vibrational frequencies, and thermodynamic parameters of the water clusters (H2O)48, (H2O)72, and (H2O)270 were calculated using the standard DFT theory (BLYP/6-31++G(d,p) for small and medium clusters) and the modern tight-binding method SCC-DFTB (DFTBA and DFTB+). The adsorption and embedding of s-cis- and s-trans-glyoxal molecules as well as its sunlight UV photolysis products (molecules CH2O, HCOOH, H2O2, CO, CO2 and radicals CHO, HO, HO2) on nanosized ice clusters of up to 2.5 nm in diameter were studied within the above theoretical models. The structures of adsorption complexes on different sites of ice nanoparticles, the corresponding adsorption energies and thermodynamic parameters were estimated. We found that the DFTB method is a very promising tool for the calculations of structures and energies of ice nanoparticles, when compared to both DFT and semiempirical (PM3) methods. The obtained results are discussed in relation to the possible photolysis pathways, the reaction rates in the gas phase and in the adsorbed state, and the mechanisms of glyoxal photolysis catalyzed by the ice nanoparticles in the Earth’s atmosphere

Products And Pathways Of Aldehydes Oxidation In The Negative Temperature Coefficient Region

Aldehydes are major intermediates in oxidation and pyrolysis of hydrocarbons and particularly biofuels. While the high temperature oxidation chemistry of C3-C5 aldehydes have been studied in the literature, a comprehensive low temperature kinetics remains unaddressed. In this work, acetaldehyde, propanal, and 2-propenal (acrolein) oxidation was investigated at lowerature combustion condition (500-700 K). The isomer-specific product concentrations as well as the time-resolved profiles were studied using Sandia\u27s multiplexed photoionization mass spectroscopy (MPIMS) with synchrotron radiation from the advanced light source (ALS). The laser-pulsed photolysis generates chlorine atoms which react with aldehydes to form the parent radicals. In the presence of excess oxygen, these radicals react with O2 and form RO2 radicals. The temperature-dependent product yields are determined for 500 K to 700 K and the competition between the channels contributing to the formation of each product is discussed. In acetaldehyde oxidation, the formation of the main products is associated with HO2 elimination channel from QOOH or direct H atom elimination from the parent radicals. In propanal oxidation, the most intensive signal peak was associated with acetaldehyde (m/z = 44) which was formed through the reaction of α′-R with O2.The α′-RO2 intermediate decomposes to acetaldehyde+OH+CO via Waddington mechanism and formation of five-member ring transition state. In 2-propenal oxidation, the unsaturated radical produced from α-R reacts with O2 to form the primary products