Computational chemistry extended Hiickel method

The continued success of the extended Hiickel method in transition metal chemistry, where it was the method of choice until the mid 1980 s is surely related to the problems of other semiempirical methods in this area of chemistry. While methods like MOP AC [21] or AMI [22] have been extremely productive in the field of organic chemistry, they have found little success in transition metal chemistry. These methods are based in equation 2, similar to 1, but with the very significant difference that the Fock matrix F is computed from the molecular orbitals, in an iterative way, though through an approximate formula. 

Abstract A historical view demystifies the subject. The focus is strongly on chemistry. The application of quantum mechanics (QM) to computational chemistry is shown by explaining the Schrodinger equation and showing how this equation led to the simple Hiickel method, from which the extended Hiickel method followed. This sets the stage well for ab initio theory, in Chapter 5. 

By the middle of the 1960s, computers had improved, but they were still incredibly slow by today s standards. Therefore, the quantum chemistry of the time was dominated by semiempirical methods, such as the Pople-Pariser-Parr Method, the Wolfsberg-Helmholtz Method, and the Extended Hiickel Method. 

Several other chemists who have won the Nobel Prize did not receive it for their computational chemistry per se, but nevertheless were extremely influential in computational chemistry. Among these scientists is Professor William N. Lipscomb, Jr., of Harvard University. He received the 1976 Prize for his work on the bonding of boron hydrides,but it was also in his laboratory where the extended Hiickel method first evolved, as well as other original molecular orbital treatments. ... 

For TT-electron systems, this was the Hiickel method proposed by Erich Hiickel. For all valence electron systems, the extended Hiickel method was proposed by Roald Hoffmann. Semi-empirical calculations are much faster than their ab initio coxmter-parts. Their results, however, can be very wrong if the molecule being computed is not similar enough to the molecules in the database used to parametrize the method. Semi-empirical calculations have been most successful in the description of organic chemistry, where only a few elements are used extensively and molecules are of moderate size. However, semi-empirical methods were also appHed to solids and nanostructures but with different parameterization. As with empirical methods, we can distinguish if ... 

This survey of theoretical methods for a qualitative description of homogeneous catalysis would not be complete without a mention to the Hartree-Fock-Slater, or Xot, method [36]. This approach, which can be formulated as a variation of the LDA DFT, was well known before the formal development of density functional theory, and was used as the more accurate alternative to extended Hiickel in the early days of computational transition metal chemistry. 

Extended Hiickel Theory (EHT) uses the highest degree of approximation of any of the approaches we have already considered. The Hamiltonian operator is the least complex and the basis set of orbitals includes only pure outer atomic orbitals for each atom in the molecule. Many of the interactions that would be considered in semi-empirical MO theory are ignored in EHT. EHT calculations are the least computationally expensive of all, which means that the method is often used as a quick and dirty means of obtaining electronic information about a molecule. EHT is suitable for all elements in the periodic table, so it may be applied to organometallic chemistry. Although molecular orbital energy values and thermodynamic information about a molecule are not accessible from EHT calculations, the method does provide useful information about the shape and contour of molecular orbitals. 

Professors Kenichi Fukui (Kyoto University) and Roald Hoffmann (Cornell University) received the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their quantum mechanical studies of chemical reactivity. Their applied theoretical chemistry research is certainly at the core of computational chemistry by today s yardstick. Professor Fukui s name is associated with frontier electrons, which govern the transition states in reactions, while that of Hoffmann is often hyphenated to R. B. Woodward s name in regard to their orbital symmetry rules. In addition, Professor Hoffmann s name is strongly identified with the extended Hiickel molecular orbital method. Not only was he a pioneer in the development of the method, he has continued to use it in almost all of his over 300 papers. 

Molecular orbital (MO) theory includes a series of quantum mechanical methods for describing the behavior of electrons in molecules by combining the familiar s, p, d, and / atomic orbitals (AOs) of the individual atoms to form MOs that extend over the molecule as a whole. The accuracy of the calculations critically depends on the way the interactions between the electrons (electron correlation) are handled. More exact treatments generally require more computer time, so the problem is to find methods that give acceptable accuracy for systems of chemical interest without excessive use of computer time. For many years, the extended Hiickel (EH) method was widely used in organometallic chemistry, largely thanks to the exceptionally insightful contributions of Roald Hoffmann. The EH method allowed structural and reactivity trends to be discussed in terms of the interactions of specific molecular orbitals. Fenske-Hall methods also proved very useful in this period. ... 

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