Density functional theory study of vibrational spectra, and assignment of fundamental vibrational modes of succinimide and N-bromosuccinimide.

This work deals with the vibrational spectroscopy of succinimide and N-bromosuccinimide. The mid and far FTIR and FT-Raman spectra were measured in the condensed state. The fundamental vibrational frequencies and intensity of vibrational bands were evaluated using density functional theory (DFT) using standard B3LYP/6-31G(*) and B3LYP/6-311+G(**) methods and basis set combinations. The vibrational spectra were interpreted, with the aid of normal coordinate analysis based on a scaled quantum mechanical force field. The infrared and Raman spectra were also predicted from the calculated intensities. Comparison of simulated spectra with the experimental spectra provides important information about the ability of the computational method to describe the vibrational modes. Unambiguous vibrational assignment of all the fundamentals were made using the total energy distribution (TED).