Running IRC Calculations

In Gaussian, a reaction path calculation is requested with the IRC keyword in the route section. Before you can run one, however, certain requirements must be met. An IRC calculation begins at a transition structure and steps along the reaction path a fixed number of times (the default is 6) in each direction, toward the two minima that it connects. However, in most cases, it will not step all the way to the minimum on either side of the path. 

Exploring Chemistry with Electronic Structure Methods 

4- Optimize the starting transition structure (discussed in Chapter 3). 

4 Run a frequency calculation on the optimized transition structure. This is done for several reasons  

4 Perform the IRC calculation (requested with the IRC keyword). This job will help you to verify that you have the correct transition state for the reaction when you examine the structures that are downhill from the saddle point. In some cases, however, you will need to increase the number of steps taken in the IRC in order to get closer to the minimum the AAoxPoinb option specifies the number of steps to take in each direction as its argument. You can also continue an IRC calculation by using the lRC=(ReStorhMaxPointe=n) keyword, setting n to some appropriate value (provided, of course, that you have saved the checkpoint file). 

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