Self-consistent field for molecular interactions

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]. 

We have already presented [17,18] the SCF-Ml (Self Consistent Field for Molecular Interactions) method, based on the idea that BSSE can be avoided a priori provided the MOs of each fragment are expanded only using basis functions located on each subsystem. In the present work we propose a multiconfiguration extension (MCSCF-MI) of the same technique, particularly suited to deal with systems for which proton transfer processes must be considered. 

Roothaan equations have been modified in a previous work with the aim of avoiding BSSE at the Hartree-Fock level of theory. The resulting scheme, called SCF-MI (Self Consistent Field for Molecular Interactions), underlines its special usefulness for the computation of intermolecular interactions. 

SCF-MI (Self Consistent Field for Molecular Interactions) and non orthogonal Cl were used to determine a water-water interaction potential, from which BSSE is excluded in an a priori fashion. The new potential has been employed in molecular dynamics simulation of liquid water at 25°C. The simulations were performed using MOTECC suite of programs. The results were compared with experimental data for water in the liquid phase, and good accordance was found, both in radial distribution functions and thermodynamic properties, as well as in geometric parameters. 

Many problems in force field investigations arise from the calculation of Coulomb interactions with fixed charges, thereby neglecting possible mutual polarization. With that obvious drawback in mind, Ulrich Sternberg developed the COSMOS (Computer Simulation of Molecular Structures) force field [30], which extends a classical molecular mechanics force field by serai-empirical charge calculation based on bond polarization theory [31, 32]. This approach has the advantage that the atomic charges depend on the three-dimensional structure of the molecule. Parts of the functional form of COSMOS were taken from the PIMM force field of Lindner et al., which combines self-consistent field theory for r-orbitals ( nr-SCF) with molecular mechanics [33, 34]. 

A configuration interaction calculation uses molecular orbitals that have been optimized typically with a Hartree-Fock (FIF) calculation. Generalized valence bond (GVB) and multi-configuration self-consistent field (MCSCF) calculations can also be used as a starting point for a configuration interaction calculation. 

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