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Effect of dispersion corrections on covalent and non-covalent interactions in DFTB calculations

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Abstract

Dispersion corrections in quantum mechanical methods with the focus on non-covalent interactions have been extensively investigated in the past decade. In this paper, we elucidate the role of dispersion corrections in both non-covalent and covalent interactions within the density functional tight binding (DFTB) method. Our results suggest that two dispersion correction models, D3(BJ) and D3(CSO), generally improve different properties including barrier heights, isomerization energies, bond dissociation energies, and non-covalent binding energies. The D3(CSO) model, with fewer dispersion coefficients and DFTB-dependent parameters, was shown to perform as well as the D3(BJ) model.

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Professor Tobias Schwabe for sharing the D3(CSO) code and for helpful comments. Chehelamirani would like to thank Dr. Maurício C. da Silva and Said Jalife Jacobo for helpful discussions. The authors would also like to acknowledge financial support from the Centre for Molecular Simulation (CMS) at the University of Calgary. D. R. S. is grateful to NSERC for ongoing Discovery Grant support. Simulations were performed using the computing resources provided by WestGrid and Compute/Calcul Canada.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Centre for Molecular Simulation (CMS) and Institute for Quantum Science and Technology (IQST), University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Morteza Chehelamirani & Dennis R. Salahub

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  1. Morteza Chehelamirani
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  2. Dennis R. Salahub
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Correspondence to Morteza Chehelamirani.

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This paper is dedicated to Professor Lou Massa on the occasion of his Festschrift: A Path through Quantum Crystallography

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Chehelamirani, M., Salahub, D.R. Effect of dispersion corrections on covalent and non-covalent interactions in DFTB calculations. Struct Chem 28, 1399–1407 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11224-017-0976-1

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