Intensities of infrared bands in molecular mechanics (MM3)

The MM3 molecular mechanics program calculates a fair representation of vibrational frequencies for molecules. To make this information more useful, a qualitative intensity calculation has been added, as is described herein. Because each bond in the molecule is assigned a dipole moment, and the vibrational amplitudes are known from the frequency calculation, the change in dipole moment corresponding to each normal mode is readily calculated. In some cases a charge flux has to be added empirically for bond stretchings. This relatively simple calculation has been applied to a number of different functional groups, and gives band intensities adequate for dividing the bands into very strong, strong, medium, weak, or very weak (forbidden) categories. © 1992 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.