Building Molecules

In the first tutorial you have learned how to construct a molecule by building it out of atoms. That may be a complex task for bigger molecules. AMSinput has other ways to build molecules.

The quickest is to search (Search) for a molecule inside AMSinput, and use it if it is available.

Another way is to search for the molecule on the Internet, and use either the xyz coordinates or the SMILES string

Or you can build it using the structure tool in AMSinput. As a more realistic example using the structure tool, you will build a small peptide chain. Then you will learn how to use the predefined metal complex structures. You will also learn how to set up your own structures library.

Finally, you can combine the crystal tools to cut molecular systems out of crystals. As an example we will make a sphere of Cu atoms.

Start AMSinput

For this tutorial we again prefer to work in the Tutorial directory:

Start AMSjobs
Click on the Tutorial folder icon
Start AMSinput via SCM → New Input

Search for ethanol

The quickest solution: search (and find) ethanol.

Press ctrl/cmd-F to activate the search box (or click the search icon Search in the panel bar)
Enter ‘ethanol’ as search text (without quotes)
Click on the ‘C2H6O: Ethanol (ADF)’ match
Rotate to get a good view
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-2-searchedetoh.png

Your ethanol is ready. The (ADF) in the search results mean that the molecule has already been optimized by ADF, using the BP86 XC potential with a TZP basis set and small core.

For the next demonstration we need a file with the xyz coordinates of ethanol. You can make such a file using the Export Coordinates option:

Use the File → Export Coordinates → .xyz menu command
Enter ‘example.xyz’ as filename and make you are saving to the Tutorial folder
Click Save

Import XYZ for ethanol

To import a molecule if you have its structure as xyz file (with element types), you can either use the File → Import Coordinates… or the Edit → Paste command.

Use the File → Close job menu command in AMSinput
Click ‘No’ when asked if you want to save your changes

Click in the AMSjobs window to activate it
Enable Filter → Other (if it is not yet enabled)
Use the Job → Refresh List menu command (or press F5)
Click the triangle in front of example to show the example.xyz file
Double click on the .xyz file (listed in Local files)

AMSinput will start and automatically import the .xyz file.

Tip

Copy/Paste data into AMSinput: works for many formats (like xyz, SMILES or InChI strings)

An alternative and often easier way: just copy the contents of the .xyz file.

The coordinates are:

C       0.01247000       0.02254000       1.08262000
C      -0.00894000      -0.01624000      -0.43421000
H      -0.49334000       0.93505000       1.44716000
H       1.05522000       0.04512000       1.44808000
H      -0.64695000      -1.12346000       2.54219000
H       0.50112000      -0.91640000      -0.80440000
H       0.49999000       0.86726000      -0.84481000
H      -1.04310000      -0.02739000      -0.80544000
O      -0.66442000      -1.15471000       1.56909000
Use the File → New menu command in AMSinput
Copy the xyz coordinates of ethanol above (select the coordinates above and press ctrl/cmd-C )
Click in the AMSinput window to activate it
Paste the xyz coordinates (ctrl/cmd-V or Edit → Paste)
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-2-searchedetoh.png

You should again get the ethanol molecule, just as you have saved it.

Import SMILES string

AMSinput can also interpret SMILES strings (via OpenBabel). As a demonstration, lets try again with Ethanol:

Use the File → New menu command in AMSinput
Click ‘No’ when asked if you want to save your changes

Open a web browser
Search for ethanol on wikipedia.org
At the right side of the page, click the ‘Show’ link to show the SMILES
Copy the SMILES string ( CCO )

Click in the AMSinput window to activate it
Paste the SMILES string (ctrl/cmd-V or Edit → Paste)
Click in empty space in the drawing area to clear the selection
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-2-SMILESetoh.png

Again we have an ethanol molecule. SMILES strings do not contain the 3D structure, it was generated by OpenBabel and is NOT an ADF optimized structure. So normally the next step would be to pre-optimize with UFF (via the cog wheel), and to optimize the geometry with ADF.

Build ethanol using the structure tool

As a demonstration on how to use the structure tool StructTool, we start by building a methane molecule:

Use the File → New menu command in AMSinput
Click ‘No’ when asked if you want to save your changes

Select the C-tool
Click somewhere in the drawing area to make a carbon atom
Select Atoms → Add Hydrogen , or faster: press the shortcut (ctrl/cmd-E)
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-2-methane.png

The next step is to add a methyl group, using the structures tool StructTool:

Select the StructTool → Alkyl Chains → Methyl structure

Notice that the button of the structures menu is glowing, which means that the structure-tool is in use.

Double-click on one of the hydrogen atoms
Zoom out if needed (with right mouse button or mouse wheel)
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-2-ethane.png

You will see that the hydrogen is replaced by a methyl group.

Note that:

  • The methyl is orientated along the newly formed C-C bond and the new hydrogens point away from the existing ones.
  • The double-clicked hydrogen is replaced by the carbon atom, since this atom is the ‘replacing’ atom. This atom is defined through having xyz-coordinates (0,0,0).
  • The background glow moved from the ‘Structures’ tool to the ‘Pointer’ tool button; the ‘Pointer’ tool is active again.

To create ethanol, we need to add a hydroxyl group:

Select the StructTool → Ligands → OH structure
Double-click on one of the hydrogen atoms
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-2-ethanol.png

Again, the hydrogen is replaced by the structure. In this case, the oxygen replaces the double-clicked atom. The hydrogen is precisely aligned along the C-O bond and points away from the rest of the molecule. This shows you the very general way in which the structures will align according to the bonds in the original molecule and those in the structure. In this case, the hydroxyl group is not immediately orientated as it normally would be in an ethanol molecule:

Pre-optimize by clicking on PreOptimTool
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-2-ethanolopt.png

And again we have constructed an ethanol molecule.

AMSinput comes with a many predefined structures. Among them are some typical solvent molecules, so that you can easily add solvent molecules around your system. One of these ‘Solvent’ structures is Ethanol. Now add this molecule in empty space:

Select the StructTool → Solvents → Ethanol structure
Left-click in empty space near the hydroxyl group

Note that the oxygen is selected. Again, this oxygen is defined through having xyz-coordinates (0,0,0). Next we select the new molecule and orient it with the mouse to a reasonable position:

Use the Select → Select Molecule menu command (or ctrl/cmd-M)
Use the mouse to rotate (right mouse button) and translate (left mouse button) the ethanol molecule to your favorite orientation
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-2-two-ethanols.png

Building a peptide chain using the structures tool

Now we will build a small peptide chain as another example using the structures tool.

Select File → New
Click ‘No’ as we do not want to save the setup
Select the StructTool → Amino Acids → AA Backbone structure
Place it in the drawing area
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-3-single-peptide.png

There appears a subunit (or actually two) of a basic peptide chain. Notice that one of the atoms is selected, namely the terminal nitrogen. This atom is, again, the ‘replacing’ atom. In order to extend the peptide backbone, you now have to choose the right atom to be replaced. The obvious choice is the (non double-bonded) terminal oxygen.

Tip

Press the space bar to reuse the previous structure tool

Click in empty space to deselect the nitrogen
Select the StructTool → Amino Acids → AA Backbone structure (or just press the space bar)
Double click on the terminal oxygen
You may want to use View → Reset View
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-3-two-peptides.png

In a similar fashion, you can now replace the hydrogens on the backbone by amino acid side groups of your choice. These can be found in the StructTool → Amino Acid → AA Side Groups sub-menu.

Metal complexes and ligands

In the sub-menu ‘Metal Complexes’ you can find a set of predefined complexes corresponding to commonly encountered geometries. Furthermore, there are a number of ligands to be found, which can be easily used with these metal complexes.

Predefined Metal Complex Geometries

Select the File → New command
Click No (do not save changes)
Select StructTool → Metal Complexes → ML6 Octahedral tool and place it in the drawing area

Notice that six dummy (“Xx”) atoms have been placed around the metal center in an octahedral fashion.

Select one of the dummy atoms by clicking on it
Select Select → Select Atoms Of Same Type menu command
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-4-metal-complex.png

The Ligands structure sub-menu contains a number of ligands which can be used to replace the dummy atoms. The Structure menu can, however, also be reached via the Atoms menu.

Select the Atoms → Replace By Structure → Ligands → CN command
Click in empty space to clear the selection
Reset the View if needed
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-4-metal-complex-ligands.png

Notice that all dummy atoms in the selection are replaced by CN ligands.

Bidentate Ligands

In order to use the bidentate ligands, we must start with a bare metal center.

Select the File → New command
Click No (do not save changes)

Place an iron atom in the drawing area (click the X button in the toolbar to get a menu with all elements)
Select the StructTool → Ligands → Bidentates → Ethylenediamine structure
Double-click on the metal atom
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-4-Fe-one-bidentate.png

You can see that, in this case, the metal atom is not replaced by an atom of the structure, contrary to previous experience, but that the bidentate ligand is simply attached to the central metal atom.

This works because the ‘replacing’ atom in all bidentate structures is a dummy atom, which has the property that it won’t replace an existing atom. The metal atom will simply take over the bonds that existed on the dummy atom in the structure. You can easily verify this when you would place the structure in empty space. Other multidentate ligands are defined in a similar fashion.

Press space bar and double-click on the metal atom
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-4-Fe-two-bidentates.png

Notice that the second ligand appears opposite the existing one.

Modifying the Plane Angle

To change the relative orientation of two bidentate ligands, we can change the plane angle. The planes are defined by two sets of three atoms, the central one being present in both sets. In this case this will, of course, be the metal atom.

Select, in order, the two nitrogens on ligand one, the metal atom, and the nitrogens on the second ligand.
Change the plane angle to 90 degrees using the slider
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-4-Fe-two-bidentates-selected.png

In this way, you can easily change the environment around the metal from square planer to tetrahedral. This feature works as long as you choose the atoms in right order, and if the defined planes can freely rotate relative to each other.

Your own structures library

You can make your own structure library very easily.

By default, user defined structures will be stored in the .scm_gui/Structures directory.

Defining your structures

To be able to actually use the structures as described earlier, it is necessary to define one of the atoms as having xyz-coordinates (0,0,0). This will then be the atom that will actually appear at the spot of the atom that is replaced by the structure. If you use the Save As Structure command this will be done for you.

Select the File → New command
Click No (do not save changes)

Build methane
Replace three of the hydrogens by chloride atoms and pre-optimize
Delete the remaining hydrogen
Select the central carbon atom
Use the StructTool → Save As Structure … command
Enter a name like trichloromethyl
Note that the selected atom (currently the C atom) will be used as anchor
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-5-trichloromethyl.png

The new structure will appear in the structures menu and can be directly used.

Using dummy atoms

Dummy (“Xx”) atoms are treated differently when used in structures. A dummy atom will not replace an existing atom when it is defined as the ‘replacing atom’. Instead, the double-clicked atom will remain and will accept the bonds that the dummy atom had in the structure.

Build a methane molecule
Replace the carbon atom by a nitrogen atom
Select one of the hydrogens and replace it by a dummy atom (the Xx atom type, in the periodic system)
Select the dummy atom
Save the structure using the StructTool → Save As Structure … command
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-5-dummy-nh3.png

Now you can select the structure from the structures menu and directly use it.

Select your new structure from the structures menu
Double-click on one of the hydrogens

Notice that the hydrogen atom is not removed and that the NH3 group is attached to it. Similar behavior has been demonstrated with the bidentate ligands, where the dummy atoms are also used.

If you want to clean up your structures, you can use the StructTool → Manage Structures… command. If you use it, AMSjobs will open and show the contents of your Structures directory. As the structures are just (simplified) .ams files, you can open them using AMSinput. And using AMSjobs you can rename them or delete them.

A sphere of Cu atoms, cut out of the crystal

We start making a Cu crystal, using a super cell so we have many real Cu atoms.

To build the crystal, we need to use the periodic tools. These will work only for programs supporting periodicity.

Start AMSinput (or use File → New in the currently open AMSinput window)
Search (Search) for ‘copper’
Click on ‘Cu’ in the Crystals section of the search results
Edit → Crystal → Generate Super Cell…
Enter ‘5’ to change left top element to 5 (the other diagonal elements should automatically adjust)
Click OK in the pop-up-window
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-blockofcu.png

Now we have a block of Cu, with explicit Cu atoms (that is using a super cell). Next we will center this block, and select a sphere of atoms around the origin.

Make sure the origin is in the center of the block: Edit → Set Origin
Select → Select Atom Close To Origin
Select → Select Within Radius
Click OK
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-sphereselected.png
Select → Invert Selection
Press the Backspace key to delete the selected atoms
If it does not respond: click once in the drawing area to focus on it, and press the Backspace key again
Switch to ADF: panel bar BAND → ADF (BAND might be a different like DFTB, ReaxFF or UFF)
Rotate a little

As you can see, you have a (very small) sphere consisting of Cu atoms in the molecular ADF program:

/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-cusphere.png

Obviously, by making a bigger super-cell and selecting atoms within a larger radius you can make bigger spheres.

A carbon nanotube

A small piece of nanotube is included in the molecule database, so you can just search for it and use it. However, typically one wants some specific nanotube structure. And make it infinite (periodic in one dimension). This can conveniently be done by importing the structure as found on the web:

Use a web browser to go to the TubeGen nanotube structure generator
Request CIF format as output, leave other options at the default values
Click generate

In the browser windows we get the nanotube structure in CIF format, something like the following:

data_nanotube

_audit_creation_method       '(3,3) Nanotube -- TubeGen 3.3, J T Frey, University of Delaware'

_cell_length_a         7.4762
_cell_length_b         7.4762
_cell_length_c         2.4643
_cell_angle_alpha     90.00
_cell_angle_beta      90.00
_cell_angle_gamma    120.00

_symmetry_space_group_name_H-M   'P 1'
_symmetry_Int_Tables_number       1

loop_
_atom_site_label
_atom_site_fract_x
_atom_site_fract_y
_atom_site_fract_z
C         0.7762    0.5000    0.0000
C         0.8138    0.7061    0.0000
C         0.7762    0.7762    0.5000
C         0.6077    0.8138    0.5000
C         0.5000    0.7762    0.0000
C         0.2939    0.6077    0.0000
C         0.2238    0.5000    0.5000
C         0.1862    0.2939    0.5000
C         0.2238    0.2238    0.0000
C         0.3923    0.1862    0.0000
C         0.5000    0.2238    0.5000
C         0.7061    0.3923    0.5000

Next we want to get this structure into AMSinput:

Select the CIF information in your browser
Copy

Start AMSinput
Edit → Paste
View → Axes
Edit → Set Origin
View → Periodic → Repeat Unit Cells
Rotate to get a good view
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-rawnanotube.png

We see a piece of nanotube, repeated in all directions. Actually nine nanotubes are visible.

Notice that the nanotubes are oriented along the Z-axes.

The GUI can handle one-dimensional systems. However, in case of a one dimensional system (a chain) the lattice vector is always along the X direction. So to change our nanotube in a nice periodic one-dimensional structure we need to rotate it (including the lattice vectors) such that the tube is along the X-axes.

Use the Edit → Rotate 90 menu command to make the nanotube lie along the X-axes (hint: rotate around the Y-axes)
Switch to a one-dimensional system (chain)
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-smallnanotube.png

The Rotate 90 command did not only rotate the coordinates of the atoms, but also the lattice vectors. Now we have a small piece of nanotube (remember it already is repeated 3 times for visualization purposes). This might be sufficient for your purposes, but it is easy to make a bigger piece:

Edit → Crystal → Generate Super Cell
Enter 10 in the topleft cell
Click OK to repeat the unit cell 10 times
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-mediumnanotube.png

Switch to some non-periodic code (like ADF) if you wish to treat this piece of nanotube without infinite symmetry.

If you have a large system you can sometimes get a better view by introducing Fog. This works best with a white background.

View → Background → White
View → Fog
Click the Done button (or play with the sliders first if you want to change the fog parameters)
/scm-uploads/doc.2022/Tutorials/_images/t4-fogtube.png