A theory of molecules in molecules

SCF wave functions have been calculated using a minimal atomic basis set of Gaussian lobe functions for the para-, meta-, and ortho-forms of the molecules C₆H₄XY, where X, Y can be either of CN, OH, or F. It is found that in all cases the total energies increase in the sequence meta-, para-, ortho-compound. For the molecules containing the CN group the energy differences are extremely small (0.1–1 kcal/mole) for the other molecules they are one to two orders of magnitude larger. The reliability of these results is discussed. The theory of molecules in molecules is applied to these cases. The wave function of C₆H₄XY is constructed from the fragments C₆H₅X and HY by transferring some of the localized orbitals of the wave functions of the fragments and recalculating the orbitals in the region of interaction. For the molecules containing the CN group the energy differences are too small so that they are not correctly reproduced except by the most exact calculations, which involve no approximations other than the transfer of localized orbitals. For the other molecules satisfactory results are obtained.