Quantum mechanics electron correlation methods

The molecular electronic polarizability is one of the most important descriptors used in QSPR models. Paradoxically, although it is an electronic property, it is often easier to calculate the polarizability by an additive method (see Section 7.1) than quantum mechanically. Ah-initio and DFT methods need very large basis sets before they give accurate polarizabilities. Accurate molecular polarizabilities are available from semi-empirical MO calculations very easily using a modified version of a simple variational technique proposed by Rivail and co-workers [41]. The molecular electronic polarizability correlates quite strongly with the molecular volume, although there are many cases where both descriptors are useful in QSPR models. 

The problem with most quantum mechanical methods is that they scale badly. This means that, for instance, a calculation for twice as large a molecule does not require twice as much computer time and resources (this would be linear scaling), but rather 2" times as much, where n varies between about 3 for DFT calculations to 4 for Hartree-Fock and very large numbers for ab-initio techniques with explicit treatment of electron correlation. Thus, the size of the molecules that we can treat with conventional methods is limited. Linear scaling methods have been developed for ab-initio, DFT and semi-empirical methods, but only the latter are currently able to treat complete enzymes. There are two different approaches available. 

The electron alfinity (FA) and ionization potential (IP) can be computed as the difference between the total energies for the ground state of a molecule and for the ground state of the appropriate ion. The difference between two calculations such as this is often much more accurate than either of the calculations since systematic errors will cancel. Differences of energies from correlated quantum mechanical techniques give very accurate results, often more accurate than might be obtained by experimental methods. 

Density functional theory-based methods ultimately derive from quantum mechanics research from the 1920 s, especially the Thomas-Fermi-Dirac model, and from Slater s fundamental work in quantum chemistry in the 1950 s. The DFT approach is based upon a strategy of modeling electron correlation via general functionals of the electron density. 

In standard quantum-mechanical molecular structure calculations, we normally work with a set of nuclear-centred atomic orbitals Xi< Xi CTOs are a good choice for the if only because of the ease of integral evaluation. Procedures such as HF-LCAO then express the molecular electronic wavefunction in terms of these basis functions and at first sight the resulting HF-LCAO orbitals are delocalized over regions of molecules. It is often thought desirable to have a simple ab initio method that can correlate with chemical concepts such as bonds, lone pairs and inner shells. A theorem due to Fock (1930) enables one to transform the HF-LCAOs into localized orbitals that often have the desired spatial properties. 

In this paper a method [11], which allows for an a priori BSSE removal at the SCF level, is for the first time applied to interaction densities studies. This computational protocol which has been called SCF-MI (Self-Consistent Field for Molecular Interactions) to highlight its relationship to the standard Roothaan equations and its special usefulness in the evaluation of molecular interactions, has recently been successfully used [11-13] for evaluating Eint in a number of intermolecular complexes. Comparison of standard SCF interaction densities with those obtained from the SCF-MI approach should shed light on the effects of BSSE removal. Such effects may then be compared with those deriving from the introduction of Coulomb correlation corrections. To this aim, we adopt a variational perturbative valence bond (VB) approach that uses orbitals derived from the SCF-MI step and thus maintains a BSSE-free picture. Finally, no bias should be introduced in our study by the particular approach chosen to analyze the observed charge density rearrangements. Therefore, not a model but a theory which is firmly rooted in Quantum Mechanics, applied directly to the electron density p and giving quantitative answers, is to be adopted. Bader s Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAM) [14, 15] meets nicely all these requirements. Such a theory has also been recently applied to molecular crystals as a valid tool to rationalize and quantitatively detect crystal field effects on the molecular densities [16-18]. 

L-A. With polarizable charges obtained by an approximate quantum mechanical method including electron correlation or by a Class IV charge model. 

The Hartree-Fock approach derives from the application of a series of well defined approaches to the time independent Schrodinger equation (equation 3), which derives from the postulates of quantum mechanics [27]. The result of these approaches is the iterative resolution of equation 2, presented in the previous subsection, which in this case is solved in an exact way, without the approximations of semiempirical methods. Although this involves a significant increase in computational cost, it has the advantage of not requiring any additional parametrization, and because of this the FIF method can be directly applied to transition metal systems. The lack of electron correlation associated to this method, and its importance in transition metal systems, limits however the validity of the numerical results. 

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