On the theoretical determination of the electron affinity of ozone

Summary Multiconfigurational electron correlation methods have been analyzed in order to theoretically compute the electron affinity (EA) of ozone. The near-degeneracy correlation effects, which are so important in O₃ and O₃^–, have been described using complete active space (CAS) SCF wave functions. Remaining dynamic correlation effects are computed using second-order perturbation theory (the CASPT2 method). The best calculated adiabatic value (including zero-point energy corrections), 2.19 eV, is about 0.09 eV larger than the experimental value. Comparative studies using size-consistent coupled pair functional approaches (CPF and ACPF) have also been performed. The harmonic frequencies in O₃^– have been determined to be: ₁=992, ₂=572, and ₃=879 cm^–1, which gives a zero-point energy of 0.151 eV.