Intramolecular proton transfer reaction dynamics using machine learned ab initio potential energy surfaces

Hydrogen bonding interactions central to various physicochemical processes are investigated in the present study using ab initio-based machine learning potential energy surfaces. Abnormally strong intramolecular O-H...O hydrogen bonds occurring in beta-diketone enols of malonaldehyde, and its derivatives with substituents ranging from various electron-withdrawing to electron-donating functional groups are studied. Machine learning force fields were constructed by using a kernel-based force learning model employing ab initio molecular dynamics reference data. These models were used for molecular dynamics simulations at finite temperature, and dynamical properties were determined by computing their proton transfer free energy surfaces. Chemical systems studied here show progression towards forming barrierless proton transfer events at an accuracy of highly correlated electronic structure methods. Markov state models of the conformational states indicate shorter intramolecular hydrogen bonds exhibiting higher proton transfer rates. We demonstrate how functional group substitution can modulate the strength of intramolecular hydrogen bonds by studying their thermodynamic and kinetic properties.