Complete active space valence bond

H. Nakano, K. Sorakubo, K. Nakayama, K. Hirao, in Valence Bond Theory, D. L. Cooper, Ed. Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2002, pp. 55-77. Complete Active Space Valence Bond (CASVB) Method and its Application in Chemical Reactions. 

Complete active space valence bond (CASVB) method and its application to chemical reactions... 

The complete active space valence bond (CASVB) method is an approach for interpreting complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) wave functions by means of valence bond resonance structures built on atom-like localized orbitals. The transformation from CASSCF to CASVB wave functions does not change the variational space, and thus it is done without loss of information on the total energy and wave function. In the present article, some applications of the CASVB method to chemical reactions are reviewed following a brief introduction to this method unimolecular dissociation reaction of formaldehyde, H2CO — H2+CO, and hydrogen exchange reactions, H2+X — H+HX (X=F, Cl, Br, and I). 

The complete active space valence bond (CASVB) method [1,2] is a solution to this problem. Classical valence bond (VB) theory is very successful in providing a qualitative explanation for many aspects. Chemists are familiar with the localized molecular orbitals (LMO) and the classical VB resonance concepts. 

Valence-bond methods have increased its applicability recently. One example is the CASVB (complete active space valence bond) method. A CASVB wave function can be obtained simply by transforming a canonical CASSCF function and readily interpreted in terms of the well-known classical VB resonance structures. The total CASVB wave function is identical to the canonical CASSCF wave function. In other words, the MO description and the VB description are equivalent, at least at the level of CASSCF. The CASVB method provides an alternative tool for describing the correlated wave functions. 

An MCSCF calculation in which all combinations of the active space orbitals are included is called a complete active space self-consistent held (CASSCF) calculation. This type of calculation is popular because it gives the maximum correlation in the valence region. The smallest MCSCF calculations are two-conhguration SCF (TCSCF) calculations. The generalized valence bond (GVB) method is a small MCSCF including a pair of orbitals for each molecular bond. 

The combination of modem valence bond theory, in its spin-coupled (SC) form, and intrinsic reaction coordinate calculations utilizing a complete-active-space self-consistent field (CASSCF) wavefunction, is demonstrated to provide quantitative and yet very easy-to-visualize models for the electronic mechanisms of three gas-phase six-electron pericyclic reactions, namely the Diels-Alder reaction between butadiene and ethene, the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of fulminic acid to ethyne, and the disrotatory electrocyclic ringopening of cyclohexadiene. 

Amovilli et al. [20] presented a method to carry out VB analysis of complete active space-self consistent field wave functions in aqueous solution by using the DPCM approach [3], A Generalized Valence Bond perfect pairing (GVB-PP) level... 

Nondynamical electron correlation effects are generally important for reaction path calculations, when chemical bonds are broken and new bonds are formed. The multiconfiguration self-consistent field (MCSCF) method provides the appropriate description of these effects [25], In the last decade, the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method [26] has become the most widely employed MCSCF method. In the CASSCF method, a full configuration interaction (Cl) calculation is performed within a limited orbital space, the so-called active space. Thus all near degeneracy (nondynamical electron correlation) effects and orbital relaxation effects within the active space are treated at the variational level. A full-valence active space CASSCF calculation is expected to yield a qualitatively reliable description of excited-state PE surfaces. For larger systems, however, a full-valence active space CASSCF calculation quickly becomes intractable. 

Fock molecular orbital (HF-MO), Generalized Valence Bond (GVB) [49,50] and the Complete Active Space Self-consistent Filed (CASSCF) [50,51], and full Cl methods. [51] Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations [52-54] are also incorporated into AIMD. One way to perform liquid-state AIMD simulations, is presented in the paper by Hedman and Laaksonen, [55], who simulated liquid water using a parallel computer. Each molecule and its neighbors, kept in the Verlet neighborlists, were treated as clusters and calculated simultaneously on different processors by invoking the standard periodic boundary conditions and minimum image convention. 

Bernardi, F., Olivucci, M., McDouall, J.J.W. and Robb, M.A. (1988) Parameterization of a Heitler-London Valence Bond Hamiltonian from Complete-Active-Space Self-Consistent-Field Computations An Application to Chemical Reactivity, J. Chem. Phys. 89, 6365-6375. 

The choice of reference space for MRCI calculations is a complex problem. First, a multieonfigurational Hartree-Fock (MCSCF) approach must be chosen. Common among these are the generalized valence-bond method (GVB) and the complete active space SCF (CASSCF) method. The latter actually involves a full Cl calculation in a subspace of the MO space—the active space. As a consequence of this full Cl, the number of CSFs can become large, and this can create very long Cl expansions if all the CASSCF CSFs are used as reference CSFs. This problem is exacerbated when it becomes necessary to correlate valence electrons in the Cl that were excluded from the CASSCF active space. It is very common to select reference CSFs, usually by their weight in the CASSCF wave function. Even more elaborate than the use of a CASSCF wave function as the reference space is the seeond-order Cl, in which the only restriction on the CSFs is that no more than two electrons occupy orbitals empty in the CASSCF wave function. Such expansions are usually too long for practical calculations, and they seldom produce results different from a CAS reference space MRCI. 

Valence bond description of complete active space self-consistent field function... 

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