Wave functions bonding

In practice, each CSF is a Slater determinant of molecular orbitals, which are divided into three types inactive (doubly occupied), virtual (unoccupied), and active (variable occupancy). The active orbitals are used to build up the various CSFs, and so introduce flexibility into the wave function by including configurations that can describe different situations. Approximate electronic-state wave functions are then provided by the eigenfunctions of the electronic Flamiltonian in the CSF basis. This contrasts to standard FIF theory in which only a single determinant is used, without active orbitals. The use of CSFs, gives the MCSCF wave function a structure that can be interpreted using chemical pictures of electronic configurations [229]. An interpretation in terms of valence bond sti uctures has also been developed, which is very useful for description of a chemical process (see the appendix in [230] and references cited therein). 

It is useful to represent the polyelectronic wave function of a compound by a valence bond (VB) structure that represents the bonding between the atoms. Frequently, a single VB structure suffices, sometimes it is necessary to use several. We assume for simplicity that a single VB stiucture provides a faithful representation. A common way to write down a VB structure is by the spin-paired determinant, that ensures the compliance with Pauli s principle (It is assumed that there are 2n paired electrons in the system)... 

You can also use aRIIPwave function with Cl for calculations involving bond breaking, instead of using a IfllF wave function (see also Bond Breaking" on page 46). 

Drowicz F W and W A Goddard IB 1977. The Self-Consistent Field Equations for Generalized Valence Bond and Open-Shell Hartree-Fock Wave Functions. In Schaeffer H F III (Editor). Modem Theoretical Chemistry III, New York, Plenum, pp. 79-127. 

Basis sets can be further improved by adding new functions, provided that the new functions represent some element of the physics of the actual wave function. Chemical bonds are not centered exactly on nuclei, so polarized functions are added to the basis set leading to an improved basis denoted p, d, or f in such sets as 6-31G(d), etc. Electrons do not have a very high probability density far from the nuclei in a molecule, but the little probability that they do have is important in chemical bonding, hence dijfuse functions, denoted - - as in 6-311 - - G(d), are added in some very high-level basis sets. 

Chemists are able to do research much more efficiently if they have a model for understanding chemistry. Population analysis is a mathematical way of partitioning a wave function or electron density into charges on the nuclei, bond orders, and other related information. These are probably the most widely used results that are not experimentally observable. 

Molecular orbitals are not unique. The same exact wave function could be expressed an infinite number of ways with different, but equivalent orbitals. Two commonly used sets of orbitals are localized orbitals and symmetry-adapted orbitals (also called canonical orbitals). Localized orbitals are sometimes used because they look very much like a chemist s qualitative models of molecular bonds, lone-pair electrons, core electrons, and the like. Symmetry-adapted orbitals are more commonly used because they allow the calculation to be executed much more quickly for high-symmetry molecules. Localized orbitals can give the fastest calculations for very large molecules without symmetry due to many long-distance interactions becoming negligible. 

MM methods are defined atom by atom. Thus, having a carbon atom without all its bonds does not have a significant affect on other atoms in the system. In contrast, QM calculations use a wave function that can incorporate second atom effects. An atom with a nonfilled valence will behave differently than with the valence filled. Because of this, the researcher must consider the way in which the QM portion of the calculation is truncated. 

It is a well-known fact that the Hartree-Fock model does not describe bond dissociation correctly. For example, the H2 molecule will dissociate to an H+ and an atom rather than two H atoms as the bond length is increased. Other methods will dissociate to the correct products however, the difference in energy between the molecule and its dissociated parts will not be correct. There are several different reasons for these problems size-consistency, size-extensivity, wave function construction, and basis set superposition error. 

Likewise, a basis set can be improved by uncontracting some of the outer basis function primitives (individual GTO orbitals). This will always lower the total energy slightly. It will improve the accuracy of chemical predictions if the primitives being uncontracted are those describing the wave function in the middle of a chemical bond. The distance from the nucleus at which a basis function has the most significant effect on the wave function is the distance at which there is a peak in the radial distribution function for that GTO primitive. The formula for a normalized radial GTO primitive in atomic units is... 

Electron correlation is often very important as well. The presence of multiple bonding interactions, such as pi back bonding, makes coordination compounds more sensitive to correlation than organic compounds. In some cases, the HF wave function does not provide even a qualitatively correct description of the compound. If the weight of the reference determinant in a single-reference CISD calculation is less than about 0.9, then the HF wave function is not qualitatively correct. In such cases, multiple-determinant, MSCSF, CASPT2, or MRCI calculations tend to be the most efficient methods. The alternative is... 

The C-H spin couplings (Jen) have been dealt with in numerous studies, either by determinations on samples with natural abundance (122, 168, 224, 231, 257, 262, 263) or on samples specifically enriched in the 2-, 4-, or 5-positions (113) (Table 1-39). This last work confirmed some earlier measurements and permitted the determination for the first time of JcH 3nd coupling constants. The coupling, between a proton and the carbon atom to which it is bonded, can be calculated (264) with summation rule of Malinovsky (265,266), which does not distinguish between the 4- and 5-positions, and by use of CNDO/2 molecular wave functions the numerical values thus - obtained are much too low, but their order agrees with experiment. The same is true for Jch nd couplings. 

Valence bond and molecular orbital theory both incorporate the wave description of an atom s electrons into this picture of H2 but m somewhat different ways Both assume that electron waves behave like more familiar waves such as sound and light waves One important property of waves is called interference m physics Constructive interference occurs when two waves combine so as to reinforce each other (m phase) destructive interference occurs when they oppose each other (out of phase) (Figure 2 2) Recall from Section 1 1 that electron waves m atoms are characterized by their wave function which is the same as an orbital For an electron m the most stable state of a hydrogen atom for example this state is defined by the Is wave function and is often called the Is orbital The valence bond model bases the connection between two atoms on the overlap between half filled orbifals of fhe fwo afoms The molecular orbital model assembles a sef of molecular orbifals by combining fhe afomic orbifals of all of fhe atoms m fhe molecule... 

The UHE wave function can also apply to singlet molecules. Usually, the results are the same as for the faster RHEmethod. That is, electrons prefer to pair, with an alpha electron sharing a molecular space orbital with a beta electron. Use the UHE method for singlet states only to avoid potential energy discontinuities when a covalent bond is broken and electrons can unpair (see Bond Breaking on page 46). 

If a covalent bond is broken, as in the simple case of dissociation of the hydrogen molecule into atoms, then theRHFwave function without the Configuration Interaction option (see Extending the Wave Function Calculation on page 37) is inappropriate. This is because the doubly occupied RHFmolecular orbital includes spurious terms that place both electrons on the same hydrogen atom, even when they are separated by an infinite distance. 

For Woodward-Hoffman allowed thermal reactions (such as the conrotatory ring opening of cyclobutane), orbital symmetry is conserved and there is no change in orbital occupancy. Even though bonds are made and broken, you can use the RHF wave function. 

Figure 1.13 Plot of potential energy, V(r), against bond length, r, for the harmonic oscillator model for vibration is the equilibrium bond length. A few energy levels (for v = 0, 1, 2, 3 and 28) and the corresponding wave functions are shown A and B are the classical turning points on the wave function for w = 28...

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