Basis-Set dependence of exterior electron distributions of molecular orbitals

Interior electron densities are divided from exterior electron densities (EED ), when an effective boundary is introduced. The EED concept was used to study the quality of wavefunction tails; the basis-set dependence of ab initio MO for NH₃ was studied from EED . The EED for the nonbonding orbital (3a₁) increases dramatically with the size of basis sets, whereas that for the bonding orbital (1e) shows saturation even at the double zeta class. Although inclusion of polarization functions always gives the better total energy the EED (3a₁) may either increase or decrease or decrease depending on the choice of the smaller or the larger exponents. The conventional choice of the polarization functions for 6-311G* and 6-311G* was found to yield worse wavefunction tails than the case of 6-311G. Much better results were obtained with the more diffuse polarization functions. The (11s7p)/[5s4p] set designed for Rydberg states as well as the 6-311 + G set proposed for negative ions gave excellent results comparable to the case of the near Hartree-Fock calculation with 56 CGTO. Considerable improvements were also achieved for 4-31G and 6-311G sets, when the exponent for the outermost s-type function was modified. The largest EED (3a₁) gave the best agreement with the experimental ratio of EED 's derived from Penning ionization electron spectroscopy.     

Analysis of exponent values in Gaussian‐type functions for development of protonic and deuteronic basis functions

We analyzed the exponent (α) values in Gaussian‐type functions (GTF) for protons and deuterons in BH₃, CH₄, NH₃, H₂O, HF, and their deuterated molecules for the development of nuclear basis functions, which are used for molecular orbital (MO) calculations that directly include nuclear quantum effects. The optimized α (α_opt) value in the single s‐type ([1s]) GTF for protons is changed due to the difference in flexibility of the electronic basis sets. The difference between the energy obtained by using the α_opt value for each molecule and that obtained by using the average α (α_ave) value for these exponents with the 6‐31G(d,p) electronic basis function is only 2 × 10^?5 a.u. The α_ave values of protonic and deuteronic [1s] GTFs by the present calculation are 24.1825 and 35.6214, respectively. We found that the α_ave values enable the evaluation of the total energy and the geometrical changes in hydrogen bonding, such as O…H? O, O…H? N, and O…H? C, while the α_opt value became small by forming a hydrogen bond. The result using only the [1s] GTF for the protonic and deuteronic basis functions is sufficient to explain the differences of energy and geometry induced by the H/D isotope effect, although the total energy of ～5 × 10^?4 a.u. was improved by using the s‐, p‐, and d‐type ([1s1p1d]) GTFs for protons and deuterons. We clearly demonstrate that the protonic and deuteronic basis functions based on the α_ave value enable us to apply the method to other sample molecules (glycine, malonaldehyde, and formic acid dimer). The protonic and deuteronic basis functions we developed treat the quantum effects of protons and deuterons effectively and extend the application range of the MO calculation to include nuclear quantum effects. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006     

High-quality Gaussian basis sets for fourth-row atoms

Summary Energy-optimized Gaussian basis sets of triple-zeta quality for the atoms Rb-Xe have been derived. Two series of basis sets are developed; (24s 16p 10d) and (26s 16p 10d) sets which we expand to 13d and 19p functions as the 4d and 5p shells become occupied. For the atoms lighter than Cd, the (24s 16p 10d) sets with triple-zeta valence distributions are higher in energy than the corresponding double-zeta distribution. To ensure a triple-zeta distribution and a global energy minimum the (26s 16p 10d) sets were derived. Total atomic energies from the largest basis sets are between 198 and 284E _H above the numerical Hartree-Fock energies.     

Substituent effects in second-row molecules: Basis set performance in calculations of normal valency phosphorus and sulfur compounds

Ab inito molecular orbital calculations of the phosphorus- and sulfur-containing series PH₂X, PH₃X⁺, SHX, and SH₂X⁺ (X = H, CH₃, NH₂, OH, F) have been carried out over a range of Gaussian basis sets and the results (optimized geometrical structures, relative energies, and electron distributions) critically compared. As in first-row molecules there are large discrepancies between substituent interaction energies at different basis set levels, particularly in electron-rich molecules; use of basis sets lower than the supplemented 6-31G basis incurs the risk of obtaining substituent stabilizations with large errors, including the wrong sign. Only a small part of the discrepancies is accounted for by structural differences between the optimized geometries. Supplementation of low level basis sets by d functions frequently leads to exaggerated stabilization energies for π-donor substituents. Poor performance also results from the use of split valence basis sets in which the valence shell electron density is too heavily concentrated in diffuse component of the valence shell functions, again likely to occur in electron-rich molecules. Isodesmic reaction energies are much less sensitive to basis set variation, but d function supplementation is necessary to achieve reliable results, suggesting a marginal valence role for d functions, not merely polarization of the bonding density. Optimized molecular geometries are relatively insensitive to basis set and electron population analysis data, for better-than-minimal bases, are uniform to an unexpected degree.     

A Systemic DFT Study on Several 5<Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>-Electron Element Dimers: Hf<Subscript>2</Subscript>, Ta<Subscript>2</Subscript>, Re<Subscript>2</Subscript>, W<Subscript>2</Subscript>, and Hg<Subscript>2</Subscript>

Eleven kinds of density functionals in conjunction with three different basis sets are employed to investigate the homonuclear 5d-electron dimers: Hf₂, Ta₂, Re₂, W₂ and Hg₂. The computed bond lengths, vibrational frequencies and dissociation energies of these molecules are used to compare with available experimental data to find the appropriate combination of functional and basis set. The different functionals and basis sets favor different ground electronic state for Hf₂ and Re₂ molecules, indicating that these two dimers are sensitive to the functionals used. The molecular properties of Hg₂ dimer depend strongly on both functionals and basis sets used. It is found that the BP86 and PBEPBE functionals are generally successful in describing the 5d-electron dimers. For the ground states of these dimers, the bonding patterns are determined by natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. Natural electron configurations show that the 6s and 5d orbitals in the bonding atoms hybrid with each other for the studied dimers except for Hg₂.     

Cubic-grid Gaussian basis sets for electron scattering calculations. I. Definition and construction

We propose a new type of Gaussian basis sets for use in calculations of electron scattering by molecules. Instead of locating the basis-set functions on the atomic centers of the target molecule, we place primitive s-type Gaussians at the positions of a cubic lattice with a regular grid. The grid and the Gaussian exponent are fixed so as to give the best representation of the plane-wave function. Plane-wave functions and Green functions obtained by means of the cubic-grid basis set are tested graphically against exact functions and functions expressed by means of a conventional Gaussian basis set. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Density matrix averaged atomic natural orbital (ANO) basis sets for correlated molecular wave functions

Summary Generally contracted basis sets for first row atoms have been constructed using the Atomic Natural Orbital (ANO) approach, with modifications for allowing symmetry breaking and state averaging. The ANOs are constructed by averaging over several atomic states, positive and negative ions, and atoms in an external electric field. The contracted basis sets give virtually identical results as the corresponding uncontracted sets for the atomic properties, which they have been designed to reproduce. The design objective has been to describe the ionization potential, the electron affinity, and the polarizability as accurately as possible. The result is a set of well-balanced basis sets for molecular calculations. The starting primitive sets are 8s4p3d for hydrogen, 9s4p3d for helium, and 14s9p4d3f for the heavier first row atoms.     

Radial limit of lithium revisited

Configuration interaction (CI) calculations are carried out for the ground state of lithium using a thoroughly optimized basis set of s-type Slater functions. They establish that the radial limit of the nonrelativistic energy of the ground ²S state of lithium is no higher than −7.448666443E_h. Thus, radial correlation accounts for 35.2% of the total correlation energy. The radial CI wave function predicts a significantly more accurate Fermi contact parameter than the Hartree-Fock wave function. However, the imbalanced treatment of electron correlation in the radial CI wave function leads to an excessively diffuse electron density that is worse than that of the Hartree-Fock wave function. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A partially projected wave function for radicals

A partially projected wave function for odd electron systems with quantum number M=1/2, containing μu spin functions α and μ spin functions α, with fractional spin component αS_z=1/2 and 3/2 are derived from the totally projected wave function. To obtain these wave functions new symmetry relations between Sanibel coefficients for the odd electron case have been found, as well as the relations between primitive spin functions and their spin permutations. The wave function for the doublet state is shown not to contain contamination of the quadruplet state, and the wave function for the quadruplet does not have contamination of the duplet. Both wave functions exhibit equal forms except in the signs of their summation terms. The number of primitive spin functions depends on the number of electrons (n_s), it grows linearly as n_s=(N+3)/2. It can be considered as a generalization of the half projected Hartree–Fock wave function to the odd electron case. The HPHF wave function is defined for even electron systems and consists of only two Slater determinants, it has been shown to introduce some correlation effects and it has been successfully applied to calculate the low-lying excited states of molecules. Therefore, this investigation is the first step to propose a method to calculate the excited states of radicals when other methods are impracticable. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Reliability of atomic natural orbital basis sets in calculations involving pseudopotentials

The performance of Atomic Natural Orbital (ANO) basis sets for calculations involving nonempirical core pseudopotentials has been studied by comparing the results for atomic and molecular nitrogen obtained using contracted ANO basis sets with those obtained using both the primitive set and a segmented one. The primitive set has been optimized at the SCF level for atomic N treated as a five-electron pseudo-atom, and consists of 7s and 7p primitive GTOs supplemented by 2d and 1f GTOs optimized at the CI level. From this primitive set three contracted [3s 3p 2d 1f] sets have been obtained. The first one has been derived from the ANOs of the neutral atom, the second has been obtained from an averaged density matrix and the third one is a segmented set. For the atom, the segmented set gives a zero contraction error at the SCF level as it must be in valence-only calculations. The ANO basis sets show some small contraction error at the SCF level but perform better in CI calculations. However, for the diatomic N₂ molecule the ANO basis sets exhibit a rather large contraction error in the calculated SCF energy. A detailed analysis of the origin of this error is reported, which shows that the conventional strategy used to derive ANO basis sets does not work very well when pseudopotentials are involved.     

Infinite Basis Set Extrapolation for Double Hybrid Density Functional Theory 2: Effect of Adding Diffuse Basis Functions

We applied the Infinite Basis (IB) set extrapolation and Double Hybrid Density Functional Theory (DHDF) to calculate the electron affinities, reaction barrier heights, proton affinities, non‐covalent interactions, atomization, ionization, and alkyl bond dissociation energies. We previously found that the mean unsigned error of the B2KPLYP‐IB calculation with the combination of cc‐pVTZ and cc‐pVQZ reach the chemical accuracy limit (～2 kcal/mol) where the largest deviation occurred in the electron affinity calculations and the weak interactions between noble gases and nonpolar molecules. Here, we investigated the basis set effect using the B2KPLYP‐IB extrapolation scheme that involves (1) the addition of extra tight d basis functions to the second row elements (i.e. cc‐pV(L+d)Z), (2) the addition of extra s, p, and d diffuse basis functions, and (3) a comparison between Dunning's Correlation Consistent and Jensen's Polarization Consistent (pc‐L) basis sets. We found that the addition of extra s and p diffuse basis functions formed the minimal augmented basis sets proposed by Truhlar. This addition permitted the B2KPLYP‐IB to reach the chemical accuracy limit with the combination of the double ζ and triple ζ basis sets. Adding extra s, p diffuse functions to the pc‐L series permitted only a small improvement. This small improvement is due to the fact that the pc‐L basis sets already contain a large number of functions for the p block elements. Taken together, the results suggest that this minimal augmented basis sets is useful for due to its accuracy and affordable computational cost.     

Ab initio CPHF calculations of the static polarizability and second hyperpolarizability of small molecules: Comparisons between standard and moderately large basis sets augmented with diffuse functions

Static polarizability and second hyperpolarizability have been calculated for a number of small molecules? CO₂, OCS, CS₂, C₂H₂, C₂H₆, C₃H₈, cyclo-C₃H₆, C₃H₄, C₃H₆, SiH₄, Si₂H₆? in the framework of the coupled-perturbed Hartree-Fock (CPHF ) theory. The linear and nonlinear coefficients have been calculated with standard Gaussian basis sets and 3-21G bases moderately enlarged with diffuse functions. It is shown that the parallel component of the polarizability saturates rapidly, which suggests that a 3-21G basis containing s and p diffuse functions is sufficient to reproduce α_zz. For the α_xx and α_yy components, a 3-21G basis with s, p, and d diffuse functions is required. In general, the concordance between α computed with this basis set and the experimental static polarizability is at least of the order of 80%. On the contrary, the computation of the second hyperpolarizability with the same basis set for CO₂, CS₂, and C₂H₂ gives values that are 30% too low, compared to the experimental value. Better results are observed for ethane, propane, and cyclopropane for which the error is lower than 50%. The better agreement observed for the saturated compounds can probably be explained by their saturated character.     

A time-dependent molecular orbital approach to electron transfer in ion–metal surface collisions

A time-dependent molecular orbital method has been developed to study charge transfer in collisions of ions with metal surfaces at energies between 1 and 100 au. A set of localized basis functions consisting of generalized Wannier functions for the surface and s- and p-atomic functions for the ion, is used to separate the system into primary and secondary regions. An effective Hamiltonian and time-dependent equations for the electron density matrix are obtained in the primary region, where most charge transfer occurs. The equations for the electron density matrix are solved with a linearization scheme. The method is suitable to study atomic orbital orientation for collisions of ions and surfaces. A model calculation for Na⁺ + W(110) collisions with a prescribed trajectory is presented. The interaction potentials between the W(110) surface and Na⁺ 3s and 3p orbitals are calculated from Na⁺ pseudopotentials. Results show that the yield of neutralized atoms in 3p states changes as the collision energy is lowered.     

Radial dependence of exterior electron distributions of molecular orbitals

A molecular surface is introduced to divide interior electron densities from exterior electron densities (EED). The radial distribution of EED (RADEED) is defined for each molecular orbital as a function of the distance from the molecular surface. Logarithmic plots of RADEED for NH₃ using various basis sets in ab initio MO calculations revealed some important features: (i) the Hartree-Fock limit for the orbital function tail may be suggested and thus qualities of basis sets can be discussed, and (ii) the slope of the curve shows the decay rate of the orbital which can be compared with the curve derived from the theoretical behavior of the long-range asymptotic form involving either the lowest ionization potential or the orbital energy of the highest occupied orbital.Dedicated to Professor J. Koutecký on the occasion of his 65th birthday