Table of Contents

Harmonic vibrational frequencies (FREQUENCIES)

FREQUENCIES,options, [forces:frequencies]

Calculate harmonic vibrational frequencies and normal modes. For the calculation of anharmonic vibrational frequencies see sections POTENTIAL ENERGY SURFACES (SURF) to vibration correlation programs. The hessian is calculated analytically or numerically by finite differences in 3N cartesian coordinates (Z-Matrix coordinates will be destroyed on entry). If analytic gradients are available these are differentiated once to build the hessian, otherwise the energy is differentiated twice. If for the wavefunction method dipole moments are available, the dipole derivatives and the IR intensities are also calculated. Note that numerical hessians cannot be computed when dummy atoms holding basis functions are present. To get reasonable results it is necessary to do a geometry optimization before using the frequency calculation.

The FREQUENCIES command must be given after the energy calculation to which it refers or after OPTG. If the command for the energy calculation (e.g. HF, KS, MP2, etc.) is in a procedure, the OPTG and FREQUENCIES commands must also be in the procedure. Furthermore, no procedures without an energy calculation must directly precede FREQUENCIES or OPTG.

Options

The following options are available:

For compatibility with older MOLPRO versions many of the options can also be set using directives, as described in the following sections.

Printing options (PRINT)

PRINT,options

This directive can be used to control the output:

The following options can be given:

Saving the hessian and other information (SAVE)

SAVE,options

The following options can be given:

Restarting a hessian/Frequency calculation (START)

START,options

The following options can be given:

Coordinates for numerical hessian calculations (COORD)

COORD,type

type can be one of the following:

Stepsizes for numerical hessian calculations (STEP)

[STEP,rstep]

determines the step size of the numerical differentiation of the energy or the gradient. The default step size is rstep=0.01 a.u.

Numerical hessian using energy variables (VARIABLE)

VARIABLE,name; [freq:var]

Defines a variable name which holds the energy value to be used for computing the hessian using finite differences. By default, this is ENERGY(1) as set by the most recent program. For other variables which can be used see section optimizing energy variables (VARIABLE). Note that numerical hessians cannot be computed when dummy atoms holding basis functions are present.

Thermodynamical properties (THERMO)

It is also possible to calculate the thermodynamical properties of the molecule. Since Molpro can only handle Abelian point groups it is necessary to give the point group of the molecule in the input file:

THERMO,[SYM=pointgroup],[TEMP=value], [PRESS=value], [TMIN=value, TMAX=value, TSTEP=value]

pointgroup has to be the Schoenflies Symbol (e.g. C3v for ammonia; linear molecules have to be C*v or D*h respectively). If no point group is given, the point group is determined automatically, but only Abelian groups (D2H and subgroups) are recognized. If the molecule has higher symmetry this may eventually cause deviations in the rotational entropy.

The temperature (in K), pressure (in atm) or a range of temperatures (in K) can be given as options.

If no temperature or pressure is specified the zero-point vibrational energy and the enthalpy $H(T)-H(0)$ [kJ/mol], heat capacity $C_v$ [J/mol K] and entropy $S$ [J/mol K] are calculated for standard temperature and pressure ($T=298.150$ [K], $p=1$ [atm]).

The FREQUENCIES program sets the variable ZPE containing the zero-point-energy of the harmonic vibrations in atomic units. If the THERMO option is used, the variables HTOTAL and GTOTAL, containing the enthalpy and the free enthalpy of the system in atomic units, are also set.

Examples

examples/form_freq.inp
***,formaldehyde freqency calculation

basis=vdz
gthresh,energy=1.d-8

geomtyp=xyz
symmetry,nosym
geometry={
   4
FORMALDEHYDE
C          0.0000000000        0.0000000000       -0.5265526741
O          0.0000000000        0.0000000000        0.6555124750
H          0.0000000000       -0.9325664988       -1.1133424527
H          0.0000000000        0.9325664988       -1.1133424527
}

hf;accu,14
optg;coord,3n;

{frequencies,analytic
thermo,sym=c2v
print,thermo}

mp2
optg;coord,3n
{frequencies
thermo,sym=c2v
print,thermo}
examples/pf5_freq.inp
***, Phosphorous-pentafluoride Vibrational Frequencies
basis=3-21G

geomtyp=xyz        ! use cartesian coordinates xmol style
symmetry,nosym     ! don't use symmetry
geometry={         ! geometry input
6
  PF5
  P        0.00000        0.00000        0.00000
  F        0.00000        1.11100       -1.12400
  F        0.00000       -1.52800       -0.40100
  F        0.00000        0.41700        1.52500
  F       -1.60400        0.00000        0.00000
  F        1.60400        0.00000        0.00000}

rhf
optg              ! optimize geometry

frequencies       ! calculate vibrational frequencies
print,low         ! print frequencies+modes of zero frequencies
thermo,sym=d3h    ! calculate thermodynamical properties
temp,200,400,50   ! temperature range 200 - 400 [K]
---
examples/h2o_freqdft.inp
include procedures
geometry={O;                 !Z-matrix for water
          H1,O,R;
          H2,O,R,H1,THETA}
R=0.96 Ang                   !start bond distance
Theta=104                    !start bond angle
basis=6-31g**                !Pople basis set
$functional=b3lyp            !define fucntional (optional, b3lyp is default)
freqdft                      !run frequency calculation
examples/diboran_freq.inp
***, Diboran Z-Matrix
gthresh,energy=1.d-10,thrgrad=1.d-10
basis=sto-3g
r1=0.9023299 ang
r2=0.9722889 ang
r3=1.1540618 ang
a1=118.723 degree


geometry={
          Q1
          B1,Q1,r1
          H1,Q1,r2,B1,90
          B2,Q1,r1,H1,90,B1,180
          H2,Q1,r2,B1,90,H1,180
          H3,B1,r3,Q1,a1,H1,90
          H4,B1,r3,Q1,a1,H1,-90
          H5,B2,r3,Q1,a1,H1,90
          H6,B2,r3,Q1,a1,H1,-90}


hf
optg,gradient=1.d-4

{frequencies,coord=nosym
thermo,sym=d2h
print,thermo}

{frequencies,coord=sym,new
thermo,sym=d2h
print,thermo}