Schrodinger equation semiempirical methods

We have seen three broad techniques for calculating the geometries and energies of molecules molecular mechanics (Chapter 3), ab initio methods (Chapter 5), and semiempirical methods (Chapters 4 and 6). Molecular mechanics is based on a balls-and-springs model of molecules. Ab initio methods are based on the subtler model of the quantum mechanical molecule, which we treat mathematically starting with the Schrodinger equation. Semiempirical methods, from simpler ones like the Hiickel and extended Hiickel theories (Chapter 4) to the more complex SCF semiempirical theories (Chapter 6), are also based on the Schrodinger equation, and in fact their empirical aspect comes from the desire to avoid the mathematical... 

Very large biological molecules are studied mainly with molecular mechanics, because other methods quantum mechanical methods, based on the Schrodinger equation semiempirical, ab initio and DFT) would take too long. Novel molecules, with unusual structures, are best investigated with ab initio or possibly DFT calculations, since the parameterization inherent in MM or semiempirical methods makes them unreliable for molecules that are very different from those used in the parameterization. DFT is relatively new and its limitations are still unclear. 

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. 

Fig. 3.2). The bond angle in H20, for instance, is the angle (104.5°) between the two O—H bonds. Molecular shape, bond angles, and bond lengths can now be predicted by calculations based on the Schrodinger equation. These calculations are sometimes based partly on experimental information, when they are called semiempirical methods, and sometimes are purely theoretical predictions, when they are called ab initio methods. We shall see some of their output later in the chapter. 

For anything but the most trivial systems, it is not possible to solve the electronic Schrodinger equation exactly, and approximate techniques must instead be used. There exist a variety of approximate methods, including Hartree-Fock (HF) theory, single- and multireference correlated ab initio methods, semiempirical methods, and density functional theory. We discuss each of these in turn. In Hartree-Fock theory, the many-electron wavefunction vF(r1, r2,..., r ) is approximated as an antisymmetrized product of one-electron wavefunctions, ifijfi) x Pauli principle. This antisymmetrized product is known as a Slater determinant. 

Density functional calculations (DFT calculations, density functional theory) are, like ab initio and semiempirical calculations, based on the Schrodinger equation However, unlike the other two methods, DFT does not calculate a conventional wavefunction, but rather derives the electron distribution (electron density function) directly. Afunctional is a mathematical entity related to a function. 

Semiempirical methods - based on approximate solutions of the Schrodinger equation with appeal to fitting to experiment (i.e. using parameterization) Density functional theory (DFT) methods - based on approximate solutions of the Schrodinger equation, bypassing the wavefunction that is a central feature of ab initio and semiempirical methods Molecular dynamics methods study molecules in motion. 

The quantum mechanical methods described in this book are all molecular orbital (MO) methods, or oriented toward the molecular orbital approach ab initio and semiempirical methods use the MO method, and density functional methods are oriented toward the MO approach. There is another approach to applying the Schrodinger equation to chemistry, namely the valence bond method. Basically the MO method allows atomic orbitals to interact to create the molecular orbitals of a molecule, and does not focus on individual bonds as shown in conventional structural formulas. The VB method, on the other hand, takes the molecule, mathematically, as a sum (linear combination) of structures each of which corresponds to a structural formula with a certain pairing of electrons [16]. The MO method explains in a relatively simple way phenomena that can be understood only with difficulty using the VB method, like the triplet nature of dioxygen or the fact that benzene is aromatic but cyclobutadiene is not [17]. With the application of computers to quantum chemistry the MO method almost eclipsed the VB approach, but the latter has in recent years made a limited comeback [18],... 

The electron distribution around an atom can be represented in several ways. Hydrogenlike functions based on solutions of the Schrodinger equation for the hydrogen atom, polynomial functions with adjustable parameters, Slater functions (Eq. 5.95), and Gaussian functions (Eq. 5.96) have all been used [34]. Of these, Slater and Gaussian functions are mathematically the simplest, and it is these that are currently used as the basis functions in molecular calculations. Slater functions are used in semiempirical calculations, like the extended Hiickel method (Section 4.4) and other semiempirical methods (Chapter 6). Modem molecular ab initio programs employ Gaussian functions. 

We have already seen examples of semiempirical methods, in Chapter 4 the simple Hiickel method (SHM, Erich Hiickel, ca. 1931) and the extended Hiickel method (EHM, Roald Hoffmann, 1963). These are semiempirical ( semi-experimental ) because they combine physical theory with experiment. Both methods start with the Schrodinger equation (theory) and derive from this a set of secular equations which may be solved for energy levels and molecular orbital coefficients (most efficiently... 

Driven by the impossibility of solving the electronic Schrodinger equation accurately except for simple models and hydrogenic species, chemists turn to approximate methods to calculate the potential energy ab initio, semi-theoretical, semiempirical, and empirical. 

Ab initio quantum mechanical (QM) calculations represent approximate efforts to solve the Schrodinger equation, which describes the electronic structure of a molecule based on the Born-Oppenheimer approximation (in which the positions of the nuclei are considered fixed). It is typical for most of the calculations to be carried out at the Hartree—Fock self-consistent field (SCF) level. The major assumption behind the Hartree-Fock method is that each electron experiences the average field of all other electrons. Ab initio molecular orbital methods contain few empirical parameters. Introduction of empiricism results in the various semiempirical techniques (MNDO, AMI, PM3, etc.) that are widely used to study the structure and properties of small molecules. 

In general, quantum chemical calculations may be divided into three broadly defined subdisciplines based on the approaches taken to solve the Schrodinger equation a) semiempirical-based methods b) ab initio-based methods and c) density functional theory. John Pople, ab initio methods, and Walter Kohn, density functional theory (DFT), received the 1998 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their pioneering work in computational quantum chemistry. 

In general, ab initio QM methods are those, of whatever type, that seek to obtain solutions of the time-independent Schrodinger equation within a given theory without making any further approximations. In contrast, semiempirical QM methods are ones that use a quantum mechanical formalism to define the form of the potential and its fashion of calculation but which employ approximations to simplify and, hence, speed up numerical calculations. The methods must be parameterized with data from experiment or more sophisticated QM calculations to ensure that they give acceptable results [38, 39]. 

Because they are so computationally intensive, ab initio and semiempirical studies are limited to models that are about 10 rings or less. In order to study more reahstic carbon structures, approximations in the form of the Hamiltonian (i.e., Schrodinger equation) are necessary. The tight-binding method, in which the many-body wave function is expressed as a product of individual atomic orbitals, localized on the atomic centers, is one such approximation that has been successfully applied to amorphous and porous carbon systems [47]. 

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