Treatment of redundancies among internal coordinates in optimizing molecular mechanics force constants

Abstract

The use of redundant coordinate bases in the construction of molecular mechanics force fields is discussed. It is shown that the intrinsic indeterminacy in a force field in redundant coordinates in general stems from the squares of the first-order redundancy relations. The necessity to use constraints in such a force field is pointed out, and a method to check whether or not a set of constraints makes the force field determinate is described. It is also explained how force fields corresponding to different sets of constraints can be transformed into one another. To facilitate the utilization of ab initio or other spectroscopic force fields, a procedure is given by which force constants pertaining to a nonredundant coordinate basis can be optimized in molecular mechanics calculations where redundant coordinates are used. © 1992 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.