Accurate Prediction of Hyperfine Coupling Constants in Muoniated and Hydrogenated Ethyl Radicals: Ab Initio Path Integral Simulation Study with Density Functional Theory Method.

We performed ab initio path integral molecular dynamics (PIMD) simulations with a density functional theory (DFT) method to accurately predict hyperfine coupling constants (HFCCs) in the ethyl radical (CβH3-CαH2) and its Mu-substituted (muoniated) compound (CβH2Mu-CαH2). The substitution of a Mu atom, an ultralight isotope of the H atom, with larger nuclear quantum effect is expected to strongly affect the nature of the ethyl radical. The static conventional DFT calculations of CβH3-CαH2 find that the elongation of one Cβ-H bond causes a change in the shape of potential energy curve along the rotational angle via the imbalance of attractive and repulsive interactions between the methyl and methylene groups. Investigation of the methyl-group behavior including the nuclear quantum and thermal effects shows that an unbalanced CβH2Mu group with the elongated Cβ-Mu bond rotates around the Cβ-Cα bond in a muoniated ethyl radical, quite differently from the CβH3 group with the three equivalent Cβ-H bonds in the ethyl radical. These rotations couple with other molecular motions such as the methylene-group rocking motion (inversion), leading to difficulties in reproducing the corresponding barrier heights. Our PIMD simulations successfully predict the barrier heights to be close to the experimental values and provide a significant improvement in muon and proton HFCCs given by the static conventional DFT method. Further investigation reveals that the Cβ-Mu/H stretching motion, methyl-group rotation, methylene-group rocking motion, and HFCC values deeply intertwine with each other. Because these motions are different between the radicals, a proper description of the structural fluctuations reflecting the nuclear quantum and thermal effects is vital to evaluate HFCC values in theory to be comparable to the experimental ones. Accordingly, a fundamental difference in HFCC between the radicals arises from their intrinsic molecular motions at a finite temperature, in particular the methyl-group behavior.