Molpro is a general purpose quantum chemistry software package with a long development history. It was originally focused on accurate wavefunction calculations for small molecules but now has many additional distinctive capabilities that include, inter alia, local correlation approximations combined with explicit correlation, highly efficient implementations of single-reference correlation methods, robust and efficient multireference methods for large molecules, projection embedding, and anharmonic vibrational spectra. In addition to conventional input-file specification of calculations, Molpro calculations can now be specified and analyzed via a new graphical user interface and through a Python framework.

High-level ab initio calculations (DF-LCCSD­(T)-F12a//B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ) are performed on a range of stabilized Criegee intermediate (sCI)–alcohol reactions, computing reaction coordinate energies, leading to the formation of α-alkoxyalkyl hydroperoxides (AAAHs). These potential energy surfaces are used to model bimolecular reaction kinetics over a range of temperatures. The calculations performed in this work reproduce the complicated temperature-dependent reaction rates of CH2OO and (CH3)2COO with methanol, which have previously been experimentally determined. This methodology is then extended to compute reaction rates of 22 different Criegee intermediates with methanol, including several intermediates derived from isoprene ozonolysis. In some cases, sCI–alcohol reaction rates approach those of sCI–(H2O)2. This suggests that in regions with elevated alcohol concentrations, such as urban Brazil, these reactions may generate significant quantities of AAAHs and may begin to compete with sCI reactions with other trace tropospheric pollutants such as SO2. This work also demonstrates the ability of alcohols to catalyze the 1,4-H transfer unimolecular decomposition of α-methyl substituted sCIs.

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The performance of quasi-variational coupled-cluster (QV) theory applied to the calculation of activation and reaction energies has been investigated. A statistical analysis of results obtained for six different sets of reactions has been carried out, and the results have been compared to those from standard single-reference methods. In general, the QV methods lead to increased activation energies and larger absolute reaction energies compared to those obtained with traditional coupled-cluster theory.

Linear and quadratic approximations to the internally contracted multireference coupled-cluster (icMRCC) method are implemented and analyzed by using the linked and unlinked coupled-cluster formalisms. This includes methods based on perturbation theory as well as the coupled-electron pair approximation, CEPA(0). The similarities and differences between all the approximations serve to highlight and provoke discussion about methodological peculiarities of the icMRCC ansatz. When calculating potential energy curves (PECs), discontinuities are observed for the linear icMRCC energies. Using a diagrammatic representation, the terms that cause but also reduce these discontinuities are identified. For benchmarking test cases such as calculating PECs, singlet-triplet splittings, and barrier heights, the multireference CEPA(0) approximation performs well; however, it suffers from a lack of size consistency and so cannot represent a step forward to the goal of developing a computationally cheap and accurate icMRCC method.