A density functional theory exchange-correlation functional for the exploration of reaction mechanisms is proposed. This functional, denoted BMK (Boese-Martin for Kinetics), has an accuracy in the 2 kcal/mol range for transition state barriers but, unlike previous attempts at such a functional, this improved accuracy does not come at the expense of equilibrium properties. This makes it a general-purpose functional whose domain of applicability has been extended to transition states, rather than a specialized functional for kinetics. The improvement in BMK rests on the inclusion of the kinetic energy density together with a large value of the exact exchange mixing coefficient. For this functional, the kinetic energy density appears to correct "back" the excess exact exchange mixing for ground-state properties, possibly simulating variable exchange.

The results of the sixth blind test of organic crystal structure prediction methods are presented and discussed, highlighting progress for salts, hydrates and bulky flexible molecules, as well as on-going challenges.

We are proposing a new computational thermochemistry protocol denoted W3 theory, as a successor to W1 and W2 theory proposed earlier [Martin and De Oliveira, J. Chem. Phys. 111, 1843 (1999)]. The new method is both more accurate overall (error statistics for total atomization energies approximately cut in half) and more robust (particularly towards systems exhibiting significant nondynamical correlation) than W2 theory. The cardinal improvement rests in an approximate account for post-CCSD(T) correlation effects. Iterative T3 (connected triple excitations) effects exhibit a basis set convergence behavior similar to the T3 contribution overall. They almost universally decrease molecular binding energies. Their inclusion in isolation yields less accurate results than CCSD(T) nearly across the board: It is only when T4 (connected quadruple excitations) effects are included that superior performance is achieved. T4 effects systematically increase molecular binding energies. Their basis set convergence is quite rapid, and even CCSDTQ/cc-pVDZ scaled by an empirical factor of 1.2532 will yield a quite passable quadruples contribution. The effect of still higher-order excitations was gauged for a subset of molecules (notably the eight-valence electron systems): T5 (connected quintuple excitations) contributions reach 0.3 kcal/mol for the pathologically multireference X 1Sigmag+ state of C2 but are quite small for other systems. A variety of avenues for achieving accuracy beyond that of W3 theory were explored, to no significant avail. W3 thus appears to represent a good compromise between accuracy and computational cost for those seeking a robust method for computational thermochemistry in the kJ/mol accuracy range on small systems.

A new “HCTH” generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functional is presented. Its 15 parameters have been refined against data from a training set containing 407 atomic and molecular systems. We believe that the much enhanced training set means that the new functional HCTH/407 has a much greater universality than previous GGA functionals. Statistical data is presented for the 407 set for the new functional, as well as other functionals.

New density functionals, using the kinetic-energy density Tau are reported. The newly introduced variable enhances the performance of previous functionals, leading to highly accurate functionals with and without the use of exact exchange. All these functionals are compared to commonly used functionals for a large test set, looking also at reactions and hydrogen bonded systems. Furthermore, their physical plausibility is discussed.

The performance of a wide variety of DFT exchange-correlation functionals for a number of late-transition-metal reaction profiles has been considered. Benchmark ab-initio reference data for the prototype reactions Pd + H2, Pd + CH4, Pd + C2H6 (both C-C and C-H activation), and Pd + CH3Cl are presented, while ab-initio data of lesser quality were obtained for the catalytic hydrogenation of acetone and for the low-oxidation-state and high-oxidation-state mechanisms of the Heck reaction. "Kinetics" functionals such as mPW1K, PWB6K, BB1K, and BMK clearly perform more poorly for late-transition-metal reactions than for main-group reactions, as well as compared to general-purpose functionals. There is no single "best functional" for late-transition-metal reactions, but rather a cluster of several functionals (PBE0, B1B95, PW6B95, and TPSS25B95) that perform about equally well; if main-group thermochemical performance is additionally considered, then B1B95 and PW6B95 emerge as the best performers. TPSS25B95 and TPSS33B95 offer attractive performance compromises if weak interactions and main-group barrier heights, respectively, are also important. In the ab-initio calculations, basis set superposition errors (BSSE) can be greatly reduced by ensuring that the metal spd shell has sufficient radial flexibility in the high-exponent range. Optimal HF percentages in hybrid functionals depend on the class of systems considered, increasing from anions to neutrals to cations to main-group barrier heights; transition-metal barrier heights represent an intermediate situation. The use of meta-GGA correlation functionals appears to be quite beneficial.

New generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functionals are reported, using the expansion form of A. D. Becke, J. Chem. Phys. 107, 8554 (1997), with 15 linear parameters. Our original such GGA functional, called HCTH, was determined through a least squares refinement to data of 93 systems. Here, the data are extended to 120 systems and 147 systems, introducing electron and proton affinities, and weakly bound dimers to give the new functionals HCTH/120 and HCTH/147. HCTH/120 has already been shown to give high quality predictions for weakly bound systems. The functionals are applied in a comparative study of the addition reaction of water to formaldehyde and sulfur trioxide, respectively. Furthermore, the performance of the HCTH/120 functional in Car–Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations of liquid water is encouraging.

Comparisons with the results of coupled cluster calculations were made to assess the quality of density functionals in predicting the electronic binding energies of H-bonded complexes. A variety of di †erent density functionals, namely B3LYP, B97-1, PBE0, HCTH, BLYP, PBE, LDA and a recently derived improvement of the HCTH functional (HCTH38), as well as the standard ab initio HartreeÈFock and second-order perturbation theory methods were applied using a triple-f plus double polarisation basis set. MÔllerÈPlesset Equilibrium structures, counterpoise corrected binding energies and harmonic frequencies were calculated for the (CO)(HF), (OC)(HF), and (HF)Although the hybrid methods performed well in general, the new HCTH38 functional as a pure GGA predicted binding energies of better quality than the B3LYP functional. Bond length changes and frequency shifts were compared to MP2 results.