Utilizing relativistic effective core potentials for accurate calculations of molecular polarizabilities on transition metal compounds

The requirements necessary to extend an ECP basis set for the calculation of electric and linear optical properties to the transition metals are studied. Previously an augmentation of the SBK basis set for 39 elements with s and p electron only valences (H-Rn, excluding Ga, In, and Tl) [J. Comput. Chem., 2005, 26, 1464-1471] was presented. In this work, electric dipole moments, polarizabilities, and anisotropies of selected metal hydrides, sulfides, and bromides, cisplatin, and the Fe, Ru, and Os metallocene derivatives along with many other systems are calculated and discussed. ECP calculations of molecules containing 3d and 4d metal centers among main group atoms have good agreement, often within 1-2% of the all-electron result at the time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF)/Sadlej level of theory. Molecules with a 5d metal center have a large difference from and are more accurate than the all-electron results due to the inclusion of relativistic effects in the ECPs. The polarizability as calculated with and without ECPs of metallic clusters and surfaces is increasingly different as atomic number increases, again due to a lack of relativistic effects in the all-electron calculations. The augmented ECP calculations are consistent with relativistic all-electron results, while the Sadlej calculations are consistent with other nonrelativistic results. Both relativistic and basis set effects are less noticeable when the metal is in a formally positive state.