Computing Bulk Phase Raman Optical Activity Spectra from ab initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations

We present our novel methodology for computing Raman optical activity (ROA) spectra of liquid systems from ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations. The method is built upon the recent developments to obtain magnetic dipole moments from AIMD and to integrate molecular properties by using radical Voronoi tessellation. These techniques are used to calculate optical activity tensors for large and complex periodic bulk phase systems. Only AIMD simulations are required as input, and no time-consuming perturbation theory is involved. The approach relies only on the total electron density in each time step and can readily be combined with a wide range of electronic structure methods. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first computed ROA spectra for a periodic bulk phase system. As an example, the experimental ROA spectrum of liquid (R)-propylene oxide is reproduced very well.