skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: An efficient computational scheme for electronic excitation spectra of molecules in solution using the symmetry-adapted cluster–configuration interaction method: The accuracy of excitation energies and intuitive charge-transfer indices

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4897561· OSTI ID:22436594
;  [1]
  1. Institute for Molecular Science and Research Center for Computational Science, 38 Nishigo-naka, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585 (Japan)

Solvent effects on electronic excitation spectra are considerable in many situations; therefore, we propose an efficient and reliable computational scheme that is based on the symmetry-adapted cluster-configuration interaction (SAC-CI) method and the polarizable continuum model (PCM) for describing electronic excitations in solution. The new scheme combines the recently proposed first-order PCM SAC-CI method with the PTE (perturbation theory at the energy level) PCM SAC scheme. This is essentially equivalent to the usual SAC and SAC-CI computations with using the PCM Hartree-Fock orbital and integrals, except for the additional correction terms that represent solute-solvent interactions. The test calculations demonstrate that the present method is a very good approximation of the more costly iterative PCM SAC-CI method for excitation energies of closed-shell molecules in their equilibrium geometry. This method provides very accurate values of electric dipole moments but is insufficient for describing the charge-transfer (CT) indices in polar solvent. The present method accurately reproduces the absorption spectra and their solvatochromism of push-pull type 2,2{sup ′}-bithiophene molecules. Significant solvent and substituent effects on these molecules are intuitively visualized using the CT indices. The present method is the simplest and theoretically consistent extension of SAC-CI method for including PCM environment, and therefore, it is useful for theoretical and computational spectroscopy.

OSTI ID:
22436594
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 141, Issue 15; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English