Semiempirical Methods for Molecular Systems in Strong Magnetic Fields

A general scheme is presented to extend semiempirical methods to include the effects of arbitrary strength magnetic fields, while maintaining computational efficiency. The approach utilizes three main modifications; a London atomic orbital (LAO) basis set is introduced, field-dependent kinetic energy corrections are added to the model Hamiltonian, and spin-Zeeman interaction energy terms are included. The approach is applied to the widely available density-functional tight-binding method GFN1-xTB. Considering the basis set requirements for the kinetic energy corrections in a magnetic field leads to two variants: a single-basis approach GFN1-xTB-M0 and a dual-basis approach GFN1-xTB-M1. The LAO basis in the latter includes the appropriate nodal structure for an accurate representation of the kinetic energy corrections. The variants are assessed by benchmarking magnetizabilities and nuclear magnetic resonance shielding constants calculated using weak magnetic fields. Remarkably, the GFN1-xTB-M1 approach also exhibits excellent performance for strong fields, |B | ≤ 0.2B0 (B0 = 2.3505 × 105 T), recovering exotic features such as the para- to dia-magnetic transition in the BH molecule and the preferred electronic configuration, molecular conformation, and orientation of benzene. At stronger field strengths, |B | > 0.2B0, a degradation in the quality of the results is observed. The utility of GFN1-xTB-M1 is demonstrated by performing conformer searches in a range of field strengths for the cyclooctatetraene molecule, with GFN1-xTB-M1 capturing the transition from tub to planar conformations at high field, consistent with much more computationally demanding current-density functional theory calculations. Magnetically induced currents are also shown to be well described for the benzene and infinitene molecules, the latter demonstrating the flexibility and computational efficiency of the approach. The GFN1-xTB-M1 approach is a useful tool for the study of structure, conformation, and dynamics of large systems in magnetic fields at the semiempirical level as well as for preoptimization of molecular structure in ab initio calculations, enabling more efficient exploration of complex potential energy surfaces and reactivity in the presence of external fields.

NOTE ON HYDROGENIC ATOMIC ORBITALS TO EVALUATE SENSITIVE PROPERTIES OF MOLECULES: AN EXAMPLE OF NMR CHEMICAL SHIFTS

Now that the problems surrounding ab initio calculations over a Slater Type Orbital basis have been solved, it is available in several software packages.

For general structures the STOP package (Slater Type Orbital Package) has offered ab initio SCF molecular properties since 1996, the requisite integrals all being evaluated analytically, including the four center term available since 1994. SMILES (Slater Molecular Integrals for Large Electronic Systems) has offered various basis sets, geometry optimization and CI since 2001. For density functional work, ADF, the Amsterdam Density Functional suite of programs, is a project dating from the 1970s with a 2003 edition.

In this work the preferred ETOs (Exponential Type Orbitals) will be shown to be the hydrogenic orbitals and similar Coulomb Sturmians. Slater Type Functions (STFs) will be compared to them and suitable equivalent combinations, which are rarely used, given.

The correct shielding of the nucleus, resulting from radial factors of hydrogenic orbitals is shown to be essential in the evaluation of precise nuclear shielding tensors for NMR spectroscopy of molecules using ab initio or DFT methods.

The case study of benzothiazoles using natural abundance 15N is re-examined and compared with previous work including measurements.

Suitable basis sets for accurate NMR chemical shift calculations: an application to in vivo studies of benzothiazole metabolites

This paper describes atomic orbitals which have direct physical interpretation, i.e. Coulomb Sturmians and hydrogen-like orbitals. The radial nodes are shown to be essential in obtaining accurate nuclear shielding tensors for NMR work. The method is applied ab initio to chemical shifts for (15) N NMR, which can also be measured. This procedure is shown to be a useful tool in structure determination for benzothiazoles, some of which are used as pesticides and represent a challenging use of biodegradation. The measurements may be made in biological media, for which a rudimentary simulation is provided by including a few discrete solvent molecules.