Improving “difficult” reaction barriers with self-interaction corrected density functional theory

Abstract

We examined 11 difficult reactions with self-interaction corrected density (SIC) functional theory. The data set includes dissociation of radicals into symmetric fragments (H2+→H+H+, He2+→He+He+), radical hydrogen abstraction (H+H2→H2+H, H+HCl→H2+Cl, H+N2H2→N2H+H2, CH3+H2→CH4+H), proton transfer [HC(OH)CHC(O)H→HC(O)CHC(OH)H], SN2 halogen exchange (X−+CH3X→CH3X+X−, X=F,Cl,Br), and closed-shell unimolecular dissociation of tetrasine (C2N4H2→N2+2HCN). Calculated self-interaction energies cancel, almost identically, for the reaction energies (ΔER), so that SIC functionals do not lead to a systematic improvement in ΔER. Self-interaction correction increases for reaction transition structures, leading to higher calculated activation barriers (ΔE≠). The average absolute deviation in ΔE≠, from ab initio and experimental barriers, is reduced from 14 kcal/mol for Vosko–Wilk–Nusair (VWN) or 12 kcal/mol for revised Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (revPBE) functionals to 5.4 (SIC-VWN) or 3.4 (SIC-revPBE) kcal/mol. Reorganization of the electron density, due to removal of self-interaction, appears to be important. When SIC is included as a perturbation, using self-consistent densities of the parent functional, the average absolute deviations for the barriers increase to 7.5 (VWN+SIC) or 5.3 (revPBE+SIC) kcal/mol. Gradient-corrected functionals (revPBE, BP86) reduce the magnitude of the total self-interaction correction, by improving the description of the core orbitals. For the valence orbitals, both the magnitudes of the self-interaction corrections, and their change between reagents and transition structures, are similar for VWN local density approximation, and generalized gradient approximation functionals. Reducing the magnitude of the self-interaction energy for valence electrons thus appears to be a promising direction for the development of chemically accurate exchange-correlation functionals.