Intricate internal rotation surface and fundamental infrared transitions of the n-propyl radical

The potential energy surface for methylene hindered internal rotation is examined for the n-propyl radical, a molecule fundamental to combustion chemistry. Six stationary points are identified, and four of them are unique: 1, 2, TS1, and TS2. The remaining two structures 1' and TS1' are mirror images with respect to 1 and TS1. Focal point analysis, converged to the complete basis set limit of coupled-cluster theory with single, double, triple, and perturbative quadruple excitations [CCSDT(Q)], is employed to obtain the relative energies of these structures. A one-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) is constructed by explicitly mapping out a distinguished reaction path via constrained geometry optimizations. A "double-well" feature is observed on the electronic PES, but under the adiabatic approximation, the enthalpic (0 K) PES becomes a regular single-well potential with the expected 180° periodicity. The corresponding one-dimensional vibrational Schrödinger equation is solved using the Cooley-Numerov approach to obtain vibrational states of the methylene torsional motion. The predicted barrier for internal rotation is 105.5 and 137.2 cm(-1) for the electronic and enthalpic surfaces, respectively. Anharmonic (fundamental) vibrational frequencies are predicted for structure 1 using second-order vibrational perturbation theory, and the band origins for 11 modes are reported. Comparison with previous electron spin resonance and infrared spectroscopic work, in addition to other theoretical investigations, is made where possible.