Quantum Nature of Ubiquitous Vibrational Features Revealed for Ethylene Glycol

Vibrational properties of molecules are of widespread interest and importance in chemistry and biochemistry. The reliability of widely employed approximate computational methods is questioned here against the complex experimental spectrum of ethylene glycol. Comparisons between quantum vibrational self-consistent field and virtual-state configuration interaction (VSCF/VCI), adiabatically switched semiclassical initial value representation (AS-SCIVR), and thermostatted ring polymer molecular dynamics (TRPMD) calculations are made using a full-dimensional, machine-learned potential energy surface. Calculations are done for five low-lying conformers and compared with the experiment, with a focus on the high-frequency, OH-stretches, and CH-stretches, part of the spectrum. Fermi resonances are found in the analysis of VSCF/VCI eigenstates belonging to the CH-stretching band. Results of comparable accuracy, quality, and level of detail are obtained by means of AS SCIVR. The current VSCF/VCI and AS-SCIVR power spectra largely close the gaps between the experiment and TRPMD and classical MD calculations. Analysis of these results provides guidance on what level of accuracy to expect from TRPMD and classical MD calculations of the vibrational spectra for ubiquitous CH- and OH-stretching bands. This work shows that even general vibrational features require a proper quantum treatment, usually not achievable by the most popular theoretical approaches.