화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.110, No.1, 516-527, 1999
Rotational dynamics of methyl groups in durene: A crystallographic, spectroscopic, and molecular mechanics investigation
Neutron powder diffraction measurements of perdeutero durene in the temperature range from 1.5 K to 290 K have been performed. The lowest temperature structure is the starting point for calculations of the methyl group tunneling and librational dynamics. Ab initio methods and atom-atom potentials are used to determine rotational single particle and coupling potentials. Tunneling splittings and librational bands are calculated by numerical solution of Schrodinger's equation for a system of many coupled methyl groups. High-resolution inelastic neutron scattering measurements of methyl tunneling and molecular vibrations have been repeated, the tunneling results resolving an inconsistency with earlier NMR work. Quantum molecular dynamics provide a stringent test of the numerical methods and the data are ultimately well reproduced. These results are also discussed in the context of optical measurements of dye molecules in a host lattice of durene,