Multiconfiguration Pair-density Functional Theory Research Articles

Reconciling Accuracy and Feasibility for Barrierless Reaction Steps by the PCS/DDCI/MC-PDFT Protocol: Methane and Ethylene Dissociations as Case Studies.

Several enhancements have been introduced into state-of-the-art computational protocols for the treatment of barrierless reaction steps in the framework of variable reaction coordinate variational transition state theory. The first step is the synergistic integration of the Iterative Difference Dedicated Configuration Interaction (I-DDCI) and Pisa Composite Scheme, which defines a reduced cost, yet very accurate, computational workflow. This approach provides a near black box tool for obtaining 1D reference potentials. Then, a general strategy has been devised for tuning the level of theory used in Monte Carlo (MC) sampling, employing Multiconfiguration Pair Density Functional Theory (MC-PDFT) with dynamically adjusted Hartree-Fock exchange. Concurrently, partial geometry optimizations during the MC simulations account for the coupling between the reaction coordinates and conserved modes. The protocol closely approaches full size consistency and yields highly accurate results, with several test computations suggesting rapid convergence of the I-DDCI correction with the basis set dimensions. The capabilities of the new platform are illustrated by two case studies (the hydrogen dissociation from CH4 and C2H4), which highlight its flexibility in handling different carbon hybridizations (sp3 and sp2). The remarkable accuracy of the computed rate constants confirms the robustness of the proposed method. Together with their intrinsic interest, these results pave the way for systematic investigations of complex gas-phase reactions through a reliable, user-friendly tool accessible to specialists and nonspecialists alike.

The Use of Effective Core Potentials with Multiconfiguration Pair-Density Functional Theory.

The reliable and accurate prediction of chemical properties is a key goal in quantum chemistry. Transition-metal-containing complexes can often pose difficulties to quantum mechanical methods for multiple reasons, including many electron configurations contributing to the overall electronic description of the system and the large number of electrons significantly increasing the amount of computational resources required. Often, multiconfigurational electronic structure methods are employed for such systems, and the cost of these calculations can be reduced by the use of an effective core potential (ECP). In this work, we explore both theoretical considerations and performances of ECPs applied in the context of multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT). A mixed-basis set approach is used, using ECP basis sets for transition metals and all-electron basis sets for nonmetal atoms. We illustrate the effects that an ECP has on the key parameters used in the computation of MC-PDFT energies, and we explore how ECPs affect the prediction of physical observables for chemical systems. The dissociation curve for a metal dimer was explored, and ionization energies for transition metal-containing diatomic systems were computed and compared to experimental values. In general, we find that ECP approaches employed with MC-PDFT are able to predict ionization energies with improved accuracy compared to traditional Kohn-Sham density functional theory approaches.

Electronic Structure Methods for Simulating Flavin's Spectroscopy and Photophysics: Comparison of Multi-reference, TD-DFT, and Single-Reference Wave Function Methods.

The use of flavins and flavoproteins in photocatalytic, sensing, and biotechnological applications has led to a growing interest in computationally modeling the excited-state electronic structure and photophysics of flavin. However, there is limited consensus regarding which computational methods are appropriate for modeling flavin's photophysics. We compare the energies of low-lying excited states of flavin computed with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT), equation-of-motion coupled cluster (EOM-EE-CCSD), scaled opposite-spin configuration interaction [SOS-CIS(D)], multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT), and several multireference perturbation theory (MR-PT2) methods. In the first part, we focus on excitation energies of the first singlet excited state (S1) of five different redox and protonation states of flavin, with the goal of finding a suitable active space for MR-PT2 calculations. In the second part, we construct two sets of one-dimensional potential energy surfaces connecting the S0 and S1 equilibrium geometries (S0-S1 path) and the S1 (π,π*) and S2 (n,π*) equilibrium geometries (S1-S2 path). The first path therefore follows a Franck-Condon active mode of flavin while the second path maps crossings points between low-lying singlet and triplet states in flavin. We discuss the similarities and differences in the TD-DFT, EOM-EE-CCSD, SOS-CIS(D), MC-PDFT and MR-PT2 energy profiles along these paths. We find that (TD-)DFT methods are suitable for applications such as simulating the spectra of flavins but are inconsistent with several other methods when used for some geometry optimizations and when describing the energetics of dark (n,π*) states. MR-PT2 methods show promise for the simulation of flavin's low-lying excited states, but the selection of orbitals for the active space and the number of roots used for state averaging must be done carefully to avoid artifacts. Some properties, such as the intersystem crossing geometry and energy between the S1 (π,π*) and T2 (n,π*) states, may require additional benchmarking before they can be determined quantitatively.

Chelate Complexes of 3d Transition Metal Ions─A Challenge for Electronic-Structure Methods?

Different electronic-structure methods were assessed for their ability to predict two important properties of the industrially relevant chelating agent nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA): its selectivity with respect to six different first-row transition metal ions and the spin-state energetics of its complex with Fe(III). The investigated methods encompassed density functional theory (DFT), the random phase approximation (RPA), coupled cluster (CC) theory, and the auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC) method, as well as the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method and the respective on-top methods: second-order N-electron valence state perturbation theory (NEVPT2) and multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT). Different strategies for selecting active spaces were explored, and the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) approach was used to solve the largest active spaces. Despite somewhat ambiguous multi-reference diagnostics, most methods gave relatively good agreement with experimental data for the chemical reactions connected to the selectivity, which only involved transition-metal complexes in their high-spin state. CC methods yielded the highest accuracy followed by range-separated DFT and AFQMC. We discussed in detail that even higher accuracies can be obtained with NEVPT2, under the prerequisite that consistent active spaces along the entire chemical reaction can be selected, which was not the case for reactions involving Fe(III). A bigger challenge for electronic-structure methods was the prediction of the spin-state energetics, which additionally involved lower spin states that exhibited larger multi-reference diagnostics. Conceptually different, typically accurate methods ranging from CC theory via DMRG-NEVPT2 in combination with large active spaces to AFQMC agreed well that the high-spin state is energetically significantly favored over the other spin states. This was in contrast to most DFT functionals and RPA which yielded a smaller stabilization and some common DFT functionals and MC-PDFT even predicting the low-spin state to be energetically most favorable.

Minimum-Energy Conical Intersections by Compressed Multistate Pair-Density Functional Theory.

Compressed multistate pair-density functional theory (CMS-PDFT) is a multistate version of multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory that can capture the correct topology of coupled potential energy surfaces (PESs) around conical intersections. In this work, we develop interstate coupling vectors (ISCs) for CMS-PDFT in the OpenMolcas and PySCF/mrh electronic structure packages. Yet, the main focus of this work is using ISCs to calculate minimum-energy conical intersections (MECIs) by CMS-PDFT. This is performed using the projected constrained optimization method in OpenMolcas, which uses ISCs to restrain the iterations to the conical intersection seam. We optimize the S1/S0 MECIs for ethylene, butadiene, and benzene and show that CMS-PDFT gives smooth PESs in the vicinities of the MECIs. Furthermore, the CMS-PDFT MECIs are in good agreement with the MECI calculated by the more expensive XMS-CASPT2 method.

Analogies between photochemical reactions and ground-state post-transition-state bifurcations shed light on dynamical origins of selectivity.

Revealing the origins of kinetic selectivity is one of the premier tasks of applied theoretical organic chemistry, and for many reactions, doing so involves comparing competing transition states. For some reactions, however, a single transition state leads directly to multiple products, in which case non-statistical dynamic effects influence selectivity control. The selectivity of photochemical reactions-where crossing between excited-state and ground-state surfaces occurs near ground-state transition structures that interconvert competing products-also should be controlled by the momentum of the reacting molecules as they return to the ground state in addition to the shape of the potential energy surfaces involved. Now, using machine-learning-assisted non-adiabatic molecular dynamics and multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory, these factors are examined for a classic photochemical reaction-the deazetization of 2,3-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-2-ene-for which we demonstrate that momentum dominates the selectivity for hexadiene versus [2.2.2] bicyclohexane products.

Variational Active Space Selection with Multiconfiguration Pair-Density Functional Theory.

The selection of an adequate set of active orbitals for modeling strongly correlated electronic states is difficult to automate because it is highly dependent on the states and molecule of interest. Although many approaches have shown some success, no single approach has worked well in all cases. In light of this, we present the "discrete variational selection" (DVS) approach to active space selection, in which one generates multiple trial wave functions from a diverse set of systematically constructed active spaces and then selects between these wave functions variationally. We apply this DVS approach to 207 vertical excitations of small-to-medium-sized organic and inorganic molecules (with 3 to 18 atoms) in the QUESTDB database by (i) constructing various sets of active space orbitals through diagonalization of parametrized operators and (ii) choosing the result with the lowest average energy among the states of interest. This approach proves ineffective when variationally selecting between wave functions using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) or complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) energy but is able to provide good results when variationally selecting between wave functions using the energy of the translated PBE (tPBE) functional from multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT). Applying this DVS-tPBE approach to selection among state-averaged DMRG wave functions, we obtain a mean unsigned error of only 0.17 eV using hybrid MC-PDFT. This result matches that of our previous benchmark without the need to filter out poor active spaces and with no further orbital optimization following active space selection of the SA-DMRG wave functions. Furthermore, we find that DVS-tPBE is able to robustly and effectively select between the new SA-DMRG wave functions and our previous SA-CASSCF results.

Linearized Pair-Density Functional Theory for Vertical Excitation Energies.

Multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT) is a computationally efficient method that computes the energies of electronic states in a state specific or state average framework via an on-top functional. However, MC-PDFT does not include state interaction among these states since the final energies do not come from the diagonalization of an effective model-space Hamiltonian. Recently, multistate extensions such as linearized PDFT (L-PDFT) have been developed to accurately model the potentials near conical intersections and avoided crossings. However, there has not been any systematic study evaluating their performance for predicting vertical excitations at the equilibrium geometry of a molecule, when the excited states are generally well separated. In this paper, we report the performance of L-PDFT on the extensive QUESTDB data set of vertical excitations using a database of automatically selected active spaces. We show that L-PDFT performs well on all these excitations and successfully reproduces the performance of MC-PDFT. These results further demonstrate the potential of L-PDFT, as its scaling is constant with the number of states included in the state-average manifold, whereas MC-PDFT scales linearly in this regard.

Understanding Antiferromagnetic and Ligand Field Effects on Spin Crossover in a Triple-Decker Dimeric Cr(II) Complex.

Two possible explanations for the temperature dependence of spin-crossover (SCO) behavior in the dimeric triple-decker Cr(II) complex ([(η5-C5Me5)Cr(μ2:η5-P5)Cr(η5-C5Me5)]+) have been offered. One invokes variations in antiferromagnetic interactions between the two Cr(II) ions, whereas the other posits the development of a strong ligand-field effect favoring the low-spin ground state. We perform multireference electronic structure calculations based on the multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory to resolve these effects. We find quintet, triplet, and singlet electronic ground states, respectively, for the experimental geometries at high, intermediate, and low temperatures. The ground-state transition from quintet to triplet at an intermediate temperature derives from increased antiferromagnetic interactions between the two Cr(II) ions. By contrast, the ground-state transition from triplet to singlet at low temperature can be attributed to increased ligand-field effects, which dominate with continued variations in antiferromagnetic coupling. This study provides quantitative detail for the degree to which these two effects can act in concert for the observed SCO behavior in this complex and others subject to temperature-dependent variations in geometry.

Density Matrix Embedding Using Multiconfiguration Pair-Density Functional Theory.

We present a quantum embedding method for ground and excited states of extended systems that uses multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT) with densities provided by periodic density matrix embedding theory (pDMET). We compute local excitations in oxygen mono- and divacancies on a magnesium oxide (100) surface and find absolute deviations within 0.05 eV between pDMET using the MC-PDFT, denoted as pDME-PDFT, and the more expensive, nonembedded MC-PDFT approach. We further use pDME-PDFT to calculate local excitations in larger supercells for the monovacancy defect, for which the use of nonembedded MC-PDFT is prohibitively costly.

A Combined Wave Function and Density Functional Approach for K-Edge X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Spectroscopy: A Case Study of Hydrated First-Row Transition Metal Ions.

The prediction of X-ray absorption spectra (XAS) of transition metal complexes has important and broad application areas in chemistry and biology. In this letter, we have investigated the predictive ability of multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT) for X-ray absorption spectra by calculating the metal K pre-edge features of aquated 3d transition metal ions in common oxidation states. MC-PDFT results were compared with experimentally measured spectra as well as analyzed against results from restricted active-space second-order perturbation theory (RASPT2) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). As expected, TDDFT performs well for excited states that can be accurately represented by singly excited configurations but fails for excited states where higher order excitations become important. On the other hand, both RASPT2 and MC-PDFT provide quantitatively accurate results for all excited states irrespective of their character. While core-level spectroscopy with RASPT2 is accurate, it is computationally expensive. Our results show that MC-PDFT performs equally well with significantly lower computational cost and is an encouraging alternate approach for X-ray spectroscopies.

Linearized Pair-Density Functional Theory.

Multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT) is a post-SCF multireference method that has been successful at computing ground- and excited-state energies. However, MC-PDFT is a single-state method in which the final MC-PDFT energies do not come from diagonalization of a model-space Hamiltonian matrix, and this can lead to inaccurate topologies of potential energy surfaces near locally avoided crossings and conical intersections. Therefore, in order to perform physically correct ab initio molecular dynamics with electronically excited states or to treat Jahn-Teller instabilities, it is necessary to develop a PDFT method that recovers the correct topology throughout the entire nuclear configuration space. Here we construct an effective Hamiltonian operator, called the linearized PDFT (L-PDFT) Hamiltonian, by expanding the MC-PDFT energy expression to first order in a Taylor series of the wave function density. Diagonalization of the L-PDFT Hamiltonian gives the correct potential energy surface topology near conical intersections and locally avoided crossings for a variety of challenging cases including phenol, methylamine, and the spiro cation. Furthermore, L-PDFT outperforms MC-PDFT and previous multistate PDFT methods for predicting vertical excitations from a variety of representative organic chromophores.

Magnetic Interactions in a [Co(II)3Er(III)(OR)4] Model Cubane through Forefront Multiconfigurational Methods

Strong electron correlation effects are one of the major challenges in modern quantum chemistry. Polynuclear transition metal clusters are peculiar examples of systems featuring such forms of electron correlation. Multireference strategies, often based on but not limited to the concept of complete active space, are adopted to accurately account for strong electron correlation and to resolve their complex electronic structures. However, transition metal clusters already containing four magnetic centers with multiple unpaired electrons make conventional active space based strategies prohibitively expensive, due to their unfavorable scaling with the size of the active space. In this work, forefront techniques, such as density matrix renormalization group (DMRG), full configuration interaction quantum Monte Carlo (FCIQMC), and multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MCPDFT), are employed to overcome the computational limitation of conventional multireference approaches and to accurately investigate the magnetic interactions taking place in a [Co(II)3Er(III)(OR)4] (chemical formula [Co(II)3Er(III)(hmp)4(μ2-OAc)2(OH)3(H2O)], hmp = 2-(hydroxymethyl)-pyridine) model cubane water oxidation catalyst. Complete active spaces with up to 56 electrons in 56 orbitals have been constructed for the seven energetically lowest different spin states. Relative energies, local spin, and spin-spin correlation values are reported and provide crucial insights on the spin interactions for this model system, pivotal in the rationalization of the catalytic activity of this system in the water-splitting reaction. A ferromagnetic ground state is found with a very small, ∼50 cm-1, highest-to-lowest spin gap. Moreover, for the energetically lowest states, S = 3-6, the three Co(II) sites exhibit parallel aligned spins, and for the lower states, S = 0-2, two Co(II) sites retain strong parallel spin alignment.

Importance of Dispersion in the Molecular Geometries of Mn(III) Spin-Crossover Complexes

The computational investigation of the molecular geometries of a pair of manganese(III) spin-crossover complexes is reported. For the geometry of the quintet high-spin state, density functionals significantly overestimate Mn-Namine bond distances, although the geometry for the triplet intermediate-spin state is well described. Comparisons with several wave function-based methods demonstrate that this error is due to the limited ability of commonly used density functionals to recover dispersion beyond a certain extent. Among the methods employed for geometry optimization, restricted open-shell Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) appropriately describes the high-spin geometry but results in a slightly shorter Mn-O distance in both spin states. On the other hand, extended multistate complete active space second-order perturbation theory (XMS-CASPT2) provides a good description of the geometry for the intermediate-spin state but also sufficiently recovers dispersion, performing well for the high-spin state. Despite the fact that the electronic structure of both spin states is dominated by one-electron configuration, XMS-CASPT2 offers a balanced approach, leading to molecular geometries with much better agreement with experiment than MP2 and DFT. A scan along the Mn-Namine bond demonstrates that for these complexes coupled cluster methods (i.e., DLPNO-CCSD(T)) also yield bond distances in agreement with experiment while multiconfiguration pair density functional theory (MC-PDFT) is unable to recover dispersion well enough, analogous to single-reference DFT.

Application of Multiconfiguration Pair-Density Functional Theory to the Diels-Alder Reaction.

Transition states for Diels-Alder reactions are strongly correlated, as evidenced by high-to-very-high M diagnostics, and therefore they require treatment by multireference methods. Multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT) combines a multiconfiguration wave function with a functional of the electron density and the on-top pair density to calculate the electronic energy for strongly correlated systems at a much lower cost than wave function methods that do not employ density functionals. Here we apply MC-PDFT to the Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction of 1,3-butadiene with ethylene, where two kinds of reaction paths have been widely studied: concerted synchronous paths and diradical stepwise paths. The lowest-energy reaction path is now known to be a concerted synchronous one, and a method's ability to predict this is an important test. By comparison to the best available theoretical results in the literature, we test the accuracy of MC-PDFT with several choices of on-top functional for geometries and enthalpies of stable structures along both paths and for the transition state geometries. We also calculate the Arrhenius activation energies for both paths and compare these to experiment. We also compare to Kohn-Sham density functional theory (KS-DFT) with selected exchange-correlation functionals. CAS-PDFT gives consistently good energies and geometries for both the concerted and stepwise mechanisms, but none of the KS-DFT functionals gives accurate activation energies for both. The stepwise transition state is very strongly correlated, and MC-PDFT can treat it, but KS-DFT (which involves a single-configuration treatment) has larger errors. The results confirm that using a multiconfigurational reference function for strongly correlated transition states can significantly improve the reliability and that MC-PDFT can provide good accuracy at a much lower computational cost than competing multireference methods.

Global Potential Energy Surfaces by Compressed-State Multistate Pair-Density Functional Theory: The Lowest Doublet States Responsible for the N(4Su) + C2(a 3Πu) → CN(X 2Σ+) + C(3Pg) Reaction.

Global potential energy surfaces (PESs) for the 1 2A' and 1 2A″ states of the C2N system responsible for the N(4Su) + C2(a 3Πu) → CN(X 2Σ+) + C(3Pg) reaction are mapped using compressed-state multistate pair-density functional theory (CMS-PDFT), which is a multi-state version of multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT). Calculations are also performed at selected geometries by explicitly correlated multireference configuration interaction with quadruple corrections, MRCI-F12+Q, and the comparison of the two sets of calculations shows that CMS-PDFT describes the globally reactive PESs well, including the bond-breaking asymptotes. We conclude that CMS-PDFT is an efficient method for constructing PESs for strongly correlated reactive systems. The PESs for producing CN + C are found to be barrierless and proceed through intermediate complexes. The CMS-PDFT PESs were fitted with a neural network method, and quasiclassical trajectories were computed on the resulting analytic PESs. These trajectories predict that the reaction produces vibrationally excited CN.

Large-Scale Benchmarking of Multireference Vertical-Excitation Calculations via Automated Active-Space Selection.

We have calculated state-averaged complete-active-space self-consistent-field (SA-CASSCF), multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT), hybrid MC-PDFT (HMC-PDFT), and n-electron valence state second-order perturbation theory (NEVPT2) excitation energies with the approximate pair coefficient (APC) automated active-space selection scheme for the QUESTDB benchmark database of 542 vertical excitation energies. We eliminated poor active spaces (20–40% of calculations) by applying a threshold to the SA-CASSCF absolute error. With the remaining calculations, we find that NEVPT2 performance is significantly impacted by the size of the basis set the wave functions are converged in, regardless of the quality of their description, which is a problem absent in MC-PDFT. Additionally, we find that HMC-PDFT is a significant improvement over MC-PDFT with the translated PBE (tPBE) density functional and that it performs about as well as NEVPT2 and second-order coupled cluster on a set of 373 excitations in the QUESTDB database. We optimized the percentage of SA-CASSCF energy to include in HMC-PDFT when using the tPBE on-top functional, and we find the 25% value used in tPBE0 to be optimal. This work is by far the largest benchmarking of MC-PDFT and HMC-PDFT to date, and the data produced in this work are useful as a validation of HMC-PDFT and of the APC active-space selection scheme. We have made all the wave functions produced in this work (orbitals and CI vectors) available to the public and encourage the community to utilize this data as a tool in the development of further multireference model chemistries.

Analytic gradients for compressed multistate pair-density functional theory

Photochemical reactions often involve states that are closely coupled due to near degeneracies, for example by proximity to conical intersections. Therefore, a multistate method is used to accurately describe these states; for example, ordinary perturbation theory is replaced by quasidegenerate perturbation theory. Multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT) provides an efficient way to approximate the full dynamical correlation energy of strongly correlated systems, and we recently proposed compressed multistate pair-density functional theory (CMS-PDFT) to treat closely coupled states. In the present paper, we report the implementation of analytic gradients for CMS-PDFT in both OpenMolcas and PySCF, and we illustrate the use of these gradients by applying the method to the excited states of formaldehyde and phenol.

Multiconfiguration Pair-Density Functional Theory for Chromium(IV) Molecular Qubits.

Pseudotetrahedral organometallic complexes containing chromium(IV) and aryl ligands have been experimentally identified as promising molecular qubit candidates. Here we present a computational protocol based on multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory for computing singlet–triplet gaps and zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameters in Cr(IV) aryl complexes. We find that two multireference methods, multistate complete active space second-order perturbation theory (MS-CASPT2) and hybrid multistate pair-density functional theory (HMS-PDFT), perform better than Kohn–Sham density functional theory for singlet–triplet gaps. Despite the very small values of the ZFS parameters, both multireference methods performed qualitatively well. MS-CASPT2 and HMS-PDFT performed particularly well for predicting the trend in the ratio of the rhombic and axial ZFS parameters, |E/D|. We have also investigated the dependence and sensitivity of the calculated ZFS parameters on the active space and the molecular geometry. The methodologies outlined here can guide future prediction of ZFS parameters in molecular qubit candidates.

Multireference Study of Optically Addressable Vanadium-Based Molecular Qubit Candidates.

Molecular electron spin qubits with optical manipulation schemes are some of the most promising candidates for modern quantum technologies. Key values that determine a compound's viability for optical-spin initialization and readout include its singlet-triplet gap and zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameters. Generally, these values are very small in magnitude and are thus difficult to reproduce with theoretical methods. Here, we study a previously identified optically addressable molecular qubit, (C6F5)3trenVCNtBu (tren = tris(2-aminoethyl)amine), using the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) and post-CASSCF methods: complete active space second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2), multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT), and hybrid MC-PDFT (HMC-PDFT). Of those methods, we successfully reproduce the singlet-triplet gap and ZFS parameters with reasonable accuracy using 0.5 HMC-PDFT and CASPT2. Four additional V3+ complexes with differing ligands were also investigated. We found that the ligands have minimal effect on the spin properties of the molecule and propose them to be optically addressable qubit candidates. These potential qubits are further analyzed in terms of ab initio ligand field theory (AILFT) to understand the influence of the ligands on the singlet-triplet gap and ZFS parameters.