Abstract: | The most efficient optimization methods implemented in the semiempirical package AMPAC are presented. They concern the minimization of the energy or of the gradient norm by either pseudo-Newton or quadratic procedures, the search for transition states, and the intrinsic reaction coordinate in conjunction with variational transition-state theories. Nonlocal methods such as simulated annealing are also introduced. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |