This site was developed (primarily) as a class presentation tool for organic and physical chemistry courses. The Java-applet plugin is required to view the chemical structures and vibrational modes.

The molecular geometry and vibrational frequencies were calculated using the HyperChem program (Hypercube, Inc.) and the AM1 Hamiltonian. Animation files for the vibrational modes were created using the program hcvibs written by John J. Nash, Purdue University. Note that the calculated vibrational frequencies are provided for comparison purposes only - these calculated frequencies may differ from experimentally determined frequencies by 10-30% (too high).

The calculated infrared (IR) intensities for the vibrational modes are also provided. Note that the IR intensities are relative to the intensity of the vibrational mode with the greatest calculated intensity (e.g., IR intensity = 1.0). A vibrational mode that is labeled as "IR inactive" means that the vibrational mode would not be observed in the IR spectrum (due to the symmetry of the molecule).