Relativistic energy corrections which arise from the use of the Dirac-Coulomb Hamiltonian, and the Gaunt and Breit interaction operators, plus Lamb-shift effects have been determined for the global minima of the ground electronic states of C₂H₆, NH₃, H₂O, [H,C,N], HNCO, HCOOH, SiC₂, SiH⁻ ₃, and H₂S, and for barrier characteristics for these molecular systems (inversion barrier of NH₃ and SiH⁻ ₃, barrier to linearity of H₂O, H₂S, and HNCO, rotational barrier of C₂H₆, difference between conformations of HCOOH (Z/E) and SiC₂ (linear/T-shaped), and isomerization barrier of HCN/HNC). The relativistic calculations performed at the Hartree-Fock and the highly correlated CCSD(T) levels employed a wide variety of basis sets. Comparison of the perturbational and the four-component fully variational results indicate that the Coulomb-Pauli Hamiltonian and the lowest order Hamiltonian of direct perturbation theory (DPT(2)) are highly successful for treating the relativistic energy effects in light molecular systems both at a single point on the potential energy hypersurface and along the surface. Electron correlation contributions to the relativistic corrections are relatively small for the systems studied, and are comparable with the 2-electron Darwin correction. Corrections beyond the Dirac-Coulomb treatment are usually rather small, but may become important for high accuracy ab initio calculations.

We have measured the IR and UV spectra of cytosine in a low-temperature argon matrix. An attempt was made to determine the tautomeric ratios existing in the matrix, making use of the matrix-isolation IR spectrum and computed IR intensities of the tautomers in a least squares fitting procedure. The mole fractions are about 0.22 for oxo(-amino) form, 0.26 and 0.44 for the two rotamers, respectively, of the hydroxy(-amino) form and 0.08 for the (oxo-)imino tautomer. These ratios were then used to simulate the matrix-isolation UV spectrum as a composite of the individual spectra, the latter calculated ab initio at high levels of electron correlation theory. The agreement between simulated and experimental UV spectra seems satisfactory. This indicates that, in contrast to the solid state and solution spectra described up to now by the oxo(-amino) form alone, the reproduction of the matrix-isolation UV spectrum needs at least the hydroxy(-amino) and oxo(-amino) forms, and probably also the (oxo-)imino form.

A simple approach is presented for approximating Lamb shifts, the leading quantum electrodynamical (QED) effects, in molecules containing light elements. The Lamb-shift contributions to the electronic energies are estimated from scaled nuclear and electronic Darwin terms. QED effects on the rovibrational states of water are found to be significantly larger than current experimental uncertainties, and only one order of magnitude smaller than current computational uncertainties.

Conformer ttc/VIp of glycine and glycine-N,N,O-d₃ has been prepared in low-temperature Ar, Kr, Xe, and N₂ matrices by near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation of the first OH stretching overtone of conformer ttt/Ip. Glycine (and glycine-N,N,O-d₃) ttc/VIp was found to convert back to ttt/Ip in the dark by hydrogen-atom tunneling. The observed half-lives of ttc/VIp in Ar, Kr, and Xe matrices at 12 K were 4.4 ± 1 s (50.0 ± 1 h), 4.0 ± 1 s (48.0 ± 1 h), and 2.8 ± 1 s (99.3 ± 2 h), respectively. In correspondence with the observation for the cis-to-trans conversion of formic and acetic acid, the tunneling half-life of glycine ttc/VIp in a N₂ matrix is more than 3 orders of magnitude longer (6.69 × 10³ and 1.38 × 10⁴ s for two different sites) than in noble gas matrices due to complex formation with the host molecules. The present results are important to understand the lack of experimental observation of some computationally predicted conformers of glycine and other amino acids.