Use of locally dense basis sets for nuclear magnetic resonance shielding calculations

Abstract

AbstractThe locally dense basis set approach to the calculation of nuclear magnetic resonance shieldings is one in which a sufficiently large or dense set of basis functions is used for an atom or molecular fragment containing the resonant nucleus or nuclei of interest and fewer or attenuated sets of basis functions employed elsewhere. Provided the dense set is of sufficient size, this approach is capable of determining chemical shieldings nearly as well as a calculation with a balanced basis set of quality equal to the locally dense set, but with considerable savings of CPU time. Detailed comparisons are provided of locally dense and balanced calculations in the gauge including atomic orbital (GIAO) method for the individual principal values, the isotropic shieldings, and the tensor orientations for hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, and phosphorus nuclei. It is seen that chemical functional groups can often define the appropriate molecular fragment to be taken locally dense. While the present test cases are for the most part small molecules, the value of the method is that it will allow calculations on systems that would otherwise presently be computationally expensive or inaccessible. © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.