title: Zero-point Energy is Needed in Molecular Dynamics Calculations to Access the Saddle Point for H+HCN→H2CN* and cis/trans-HCNH* on a New Potential Energy Surface.
abstract: We calculate the probabilities for the association reactions H+HCN→H2CN* and cis/trans-HCNH*, using quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) and classical trajectory (CT) calculations, on a new global ab initio potential energy surface (PES) for H2CN including the reaction channels. The surface is a linear least-squares fit of roughly 60 000 CCSD(T)-F12b/aug-cc-pVDZ electronic energies, using a permutationally invariant basis with Morse-type variables. The reaction probabilities are obtained at a variety of collision energies and impact parameters. Large differences in the threshold energies in the two types of dynamics calculations are traced to the absence of zero-point energy in the CT calculations. We argue that the QCT threshold energy is the realistic one. In addition, trajectories find a direct pathway to trans-HCNH, even though there is no obvious transition state (TS) for this pathway. Instead the saddle point (SP) for the addition to cis-HCNH is evidently also the TS for direct formation of trans-HCNH.
authors.affiliation: Cherry L. Emerson Center for Scientific Computation and Department of Chemistry, Emory University , Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States.
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Cherry L. Emerson Center for Scientific Computation and Department of Chemistry, Emory University , Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States.
authors.forename: Joel M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bowman