STUDY OF ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE OF RADICALS BY CI METHOD .2. GROUND STATE OF BENZYL RADICAL

Results are presented which were obtained in the π-electronic approximation for the ground state properties of the benzyl radical (total energy, distribution of the electronic and spin density) by the CI method on closed and open shell SCF orbitals taking into account all singly and some doubly excited configurations. Some of the singly excited configurations which in the first order perturbation theory do not interact with the ground state configuration contribute to the ground state more than some of those which interact with the latter. Certain doubly excited configurations contribute more than some singly ones. The consideration of all singly excited configurations leads to a lower ground state energy if the closed shell orbitals are used compared with the open shell ones. The former bring about the non-uniform electron density distribution becoming more smooth as the set of the basis configurations becomes larger. The spin density distribution strongly depends on the number of the configurations as well as on the orbitals used for their construction. The computation of the benzyl radical done by Hinchliffe by the CI method on open shell orbitals is believed to be wrong. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.