Using a classical potential as an efficient importance function for sampling from an <i>ab initio</i> potential

Abstract

In this paper the ab initio potential of mean force for the formic acid–water system is calculated in a Monte Carlo simulation using a classical fluctuating charge molecular mechanics potential to guide Monte Carlo updates. The ab initio energies in the simulation are calculated using density-functional theory (DFT) methods recently developed by Salahub et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 107, 6770 (1997)] to describe hydrogen-bonded systems. Importance sampling methods are used to investigate structural changes and it is demonstrated that using a molecular mechanics importance function can improve the efficiency of a DFT simulation by several orders of magnitude. Monte Carlo simulation of the system in a canonical ensemble at T=300 K reveals two chemical processes at intermediate time scales: The rotation of the H2O bonded to HCOOH, which takes place on a time scale of 3 ps, and the dissociation of the complex which occurs in 24 ps. It is shown that these are the only important structural “reactions” in the formic acid–water cluster which take place on a time scale shorter than the double transfer of the proton.