#! /bin/sh # This example demonstrates the use of the Nudged Elastic Band method in ADF for # finding a transition state of the HCN isomerisation reaction. A shell script # used to run the example calculation is shown below: # A few important points to note: # Symmetry is set to Cs explicitly because all images must have the same # symmetry but symmetry of the reaction products is higher, C_infty. Thus, it is # necessary to lower the overall symmetry to match the lowest. # In the GEOVAR section, there are six values specified for the coordinates of # the hydrogen atom. This is necessary in order to bring the initial guess for # the reaction path closer to the final result. Moreover, if only two values for # YH were specified (0.0 and 0.0) then the hydrogen atom would be 'dragged' # along the C-N bond leading to unrealistic geometries and, eventually, to a # failure. # In the GEOMETRY section of the input, the number of NEB images is set to 9; # the convergence criterion is lowered to 0.001; optimization of only the # coordinates specified in the GEOVAR block is requested; # the NEB spring parameter is set to a constant (energy-independent) value of # 0.06 a.u.. The choice of the parameter depends on the stiffness of the bonds # involved in the reaction and the value of the parameter should, in principle, # be of about the same magnitude as the Hessian eigenvalue for the coordinates # participating in the reaction. $ADFBIN/adf <