Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE December 2014 Evaluation of Non-Covalent Interaction Models in Molecular Crystals Using Terahertz Spectroscopy Thomas Juliano Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons Recommended Citation Juliano, Thomas, "Evaluation of Non-Covalent Interaction Models in Molecular Crystals Using Terahertz Spectroscopy" (2014). Dissertations - ALL. 168. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/168 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Abstract Density functional theory (DFT) is a powerful tool that can be used to evaluate the low- frequency vibrational spectra of solid-state crystalline materials. Since THz spectroscopy is sensitive to both the intermolecular and intramolecular forces that govern the formation of crystalline materials, it is an ideal tool to investigate the accuracy of calculated DFT crystal structures and their vibrational spectra. When using solid-state DFT, non-covalent dispersion interactions are not fully treated in typical approaches. In order to account for these interactions, the addition of dispersion force correction terms are necessary. A number of methods exist to correct for this deficiency of DFT, and this work investigates the use of semi-empirical London dispersion force correction models. Through the investigation of several small organic molecules, amino acids and related compounds, the standard implementation (referred to as DFT-D) is examined, and the need to alter this standard approach has been identified.