Classical Magnetic Dipole Moments for the Simulation of Vibrational Circular Dichroism by ab Initio Molecular Dynamics

We present a new approach for calculating vibrational circular dichroism spectra by ab initio molecular dynamics. In the context of molecular dynamics, these spectra are given by the Fourier transform of the cross-correlation function of magnetic dipole moment and electric dipole moment. We obtain the magnetic dipole moment from the electric current density according to the classical definition. The electric current density is computed by solving a partial differential equation derived from the continuity equation and the condition that eddy currents should be absent. In combination with a radical Voronoi tessellation, this yields an individual magnetic dipole moment for each molecule in a bulk phase simulation. Using the chiral alcohol 2-butanol as an example, we show that experimental spectra are reproduced very well. Our approach requires knowing only the electron density in each simulation step, and it is not restricted to any particular electronic structure method.