Intriguing Electrostatic Potential of CO: Negative Bond-ends and Positive Bond-cylindrical-surface

The strong electronegativity of O dictates that the ground state of singlet CO has positively charged C and negatively charged O, in agreement with ab initio charge analysis, but in disagreement with the dipole direction. Though this unusual phenomenon has been fairly studied, the study of electrostatic potential (EP) for noncovalent interactions of CO is essential for better understanding. Here we illustrate that both C and O atom-ends show negative EP (where the C end gives more negative EP), favoring positively charged species, whereas the cylindrical surface of the CO bond shows positive EP, favoring negatively charged ones. This is demonstrated from the interactions of CO with Na+, Cl-, H2O, CO and benzene. It can be explained by the quadrupole driven electrostatic nature of CO (like N2) with very weak dipole moment. The EP is properly described by the tripole model taking into account the electrostatic multipole moments, which has a large negative charge at a certain distance protruded from C, a large positive charge on C, and a small negative charge on O. We also discuss the EP of the first excited triplet COopen0

Complete basis set limit of ab initio binding energies and geometrical parameters for various typical types of complexes

Using basis-set extrapolation schemes for a given data set, we evaluated the binding energies and geometries at the complete basis set (CBS) limit at the levels of the second order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) and the coupled cluster theory with singles, doubles, and perturbative triples excitations [CCSD(T)]. The systems include the hydrogen bonding (water dimer), aromatic interaction (benzene dimer), pi-H interaction (benzene-water), cation-water, anion-water, pi-cation interaction (cation-benzene), and pi-anion interaction (anion-triazine). One extrapolation method is to exploit both BSSE-corrected and BSSE-uncorrected binding energies for the aug-cc-pVNZ (N = 2, 3, 4,...) basis set in consideration that both binding energies give the same CBS limit (CBSB). Another CBS limit (CBSC) is to use the commonly known extrapolation approach to exploit that the electron correlation energy is proportional to N-3. Since both methods are complementary, they are useful for estimating the errors and trend of the asymptotic values. There is no significant difference between both methods. Overall, the values of CBSC are found to be robust because of their consistency. However, for small N (in particular, for N = 2, 3), CBSNB is found to be slightly better for water-water interactions and cation-water and cation-benzene interactions, whereas CBSNC is found to be more reliable for bezene-water and anion-water interactions. We also note that the MP2 CBS limit value based on N = 2 and 3 combined with the difference between CCSD(T) and MP2 at N = 2 would be exploited to obtain a CCSD(T)/CBS value for aromatic-aromatic interactions and anion-pi interactions, but not for cationic complexes. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.close989

Theory and Applications of Quantum Monte Carlo

With the development of peta-scale computers and exa-scale only a few years away, the quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method, with favorable scaling and inherent parrallelizability, is poised to increase its impact on the electronic structure community. The most widely used variation of QMC is the diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) method. The accuracy of the DMC method is only limited by the trial wave function that it employs. The effect of the trial wave function is studied here by initially developing correlation-consistent Gaussian basis sets for use in DMC calculations. These basis sets give a low variance in variance Monte Carlo calculations and improved convergence in DMC. The orbital type used in the trial wave function is then investigated, and it is shown that Brueckner orbitals result in a DMC energy comparable to a DMC energy with orbitals from density functional theory and significantly lower than orbitals from Hartree-Fock theory. Three large weakly interacting systems are then studied; a water-16 isomer, a methane clathrate, and a carbon dioxide clathrate. The DMC method is seen to be in good agreement with MP2 calculations and provides reliable benchmarks. Several strongly correlated systems are then studied. An H4 model system that allows for a fine tuning of the multi-configurational character of the wave function shows when the accuracy of the DMC method with a single Slater-determinant trial function begins to deviate from multi-reference benchmarks. The weakly interacting face-to-face ethylene dimer is studied with and without a rotation around the π bond, which is used to increase the multi-configurational nature of the wave function. This test shows that the effect of a multi-configurational wave function in weakly interacting systems causes DMC with a single Slater-determinant to be unable to achieve sub-chemical accuracy. The beryllium dimer is studied, and it is shown that a very large determinant expansion is required for DMC to predict a binding energy that is in close agreement with experiment. Finally, water interacting with increasingly large acenes is studied, as is the benzene and anthracene dimer. Deviations from benchmarks are discussed