Description of the Methylene Amidogene Radical and Its Anion with an Economical Treatment of Correlation Effects Using Density Functional Theory Orbitals.

The ground and low-lying excited state electronic structural properties (such as equilibrium geometries, harmonic frequencies, excitation energies, barrier energy, and so on) of the methylene amidogene radical (H2CN) and its anion (H2CN-) have been studied using the CASCI (complete active space configuration interaction) and SSMRPT (state-specific multireference Møller-Plesset perturbation theory) methods with density function theory (DFT) orbitals. Here, the span of the active orbitals have been obtained from Kohn-Sham DFT using B3LYP exchange-correlation functionals in the CASCI (DFT-CASCI) approximation to describe nondynamic correlation associated with electronic degeneracies. The DFT-SSMRPT protocol provides an attractive way to deal with both dynamical and nondynamical correlation effects in strongly correlated systems such as H2CN and H2CN-. The present work clearly indicates that the electronic absorption band near 35,050 cm-1 corresponds to the B̃2A1 ← X̃2B2 transition. DFT-SSMRPT findings are in close agreement with high-level theoretical estimates. It is concluded that the transition at 1725 cm-1 could be due to the CN stretching of the trans-HCNH isomer which is originally assigned to the CN stretch of H2CN in the experiment. The present results confirm most of the previous vibrational assignments. It is not possible to definitively assign a transition to the 35,600 cm-1 band with the present estimations, suggesting further experiment is urgently called for.

A Fock space coupled cluster based probing of the single- and double-ionization profiles for the poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and conjugated polyenes.

Sequential formation of a poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) dication in the H I regions of the interstellar medium (ISM) is proposed to be a function of internal energy of the doubly ionized PAHs, which, in turn, is dependent on the single- and double-ionization potentials of the system. This sets a limit on the single- and double-ionization energies of the system(s) that can further undergo sequential absorption of two photons, leading to a dication (PAH+2). Here, we report the single-ionization (I+1) and double-ionization (I+2) energies and the I+2/I+1 ratio for some selected PAHs and conjugated polyenes obtained using the Fock space coupled cluster technique, enabling simultaneous consideration of several electronic states of different characters. The I+2 to I+1 ratio bears a constant ratio, giving allowance to determine I+2 from the knowledge of single-ionization (I+1) and vice versa. Our observations are in good agreement with the established literature findings, confirming the reliability of our estimates. The measured single- and double-ionization energies further demonstrate that the sequential formation and fragmentation of a PAH dication in the H I regions of the ISM for systems such as benzene and conjugated polyenes such as ethylene and butadiene are quite unlikely because I+2-I+1 for such system(s) is higher than the available photon energy in the H I regions of the ISM. Present findings may be useful to understand the formation and underlying decay mechanisms of multiply charged ions from PAHs and related compounds that may accentuate the exploration of the phenomenon of high-temperature superconductivity.

Taming the excited states of butadiene, hexatriene, and octatetraene using state specific multireference perturbation theory with density functional theory orbitals.

To compute the electronic excitation energies, a state-specific multireference Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (SSMRPT) with a complete active space configuration interaction reference function constructed using the orbitals obtained by the density functional theory (DFT) is presented as an accurate, as well as computationally affordable, and efficient protocol at the level of second order. The global hybrid B3LYP (Becke, 3-parameter, Lee-Yang-Parr) functional has been used to generate orbitals. The present method, called DFT-SSMRPT, uses perturbers that are individual Slater determinants and accounts for the coupling between the nondynamical and dynamical correlation effects. We have applied the new method to compute excitation energies in conjugated systems of π-electrons such as trans-1,3-butadiene, trans,trans-1,3,5-hexatriene, and all-trans-1,3,5,7-octatetraene. The ordering of the excited states is correctly reproduced by the DFT-SSMRPT calculations. The relative ordering of low-lying excited 1Bu and 1Ag states alters when the length of the polyene changes. The results match reasonably well with the literature including experimental and best theoretical findings. The accuracy of the method is sufficient to discern the energy gap between the close low-lying singlet and triplet states. The DFT-SSMRPT appears as an affordable computational ab initio avenue for a qualitatively correct description of excitation energies.

Fock-space multireference coupled cluster calculations of Auger energies of noble gas elements using relativistic spinors.

We report the Auger and Coster-Kronig transition energies (related to double ionization potentials) of noble gas elements obtained using the Fock-space multireference coupled cluster (FSMRCC) method with relativistic spinors. The resulting Auger and Coster-Kronig lines are found to be in agreement with the experimental data and with other reference theoretical estimates. To the best of our knowledge, no prior report of relativistic calculations is available for Auger transition energies at the FSMRCC level of theory. The ionization potentials resulted from this method with no extra cost are also found to be in agreement with experiment, particularly the outer-valence ones. Interestingly, the FSMRCC and the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock calculations exhibit an inversion in the 3P energy levels of the xenon atom for N4,5-O23O23 Auger transitions, where the 3Pj state energies appear in the order J = 1, 0, 2, a feature which can be verified experimentally.

A simplified ab initio treatment of diradicaloid structures produced from stretching and breaking chemical bonds.

The present investigation reports on the prospect of using state specific multireference perturbation theory (SSMRPT) with an improved virtual orbital complete active space configuration interaction (IVO-CASCI) reference function (IVO-SSMRPT) to generate potential energy surfaces (PESs) for molecular systems [such as CH4, C2H6, C2H4, H2O2, LiH, and KN] by stretching and breaking of suitable bonds with modest basis sets. We have also revisited the dissociation energy profile of triplet ketene which exhibits a step-like structure in the observed rate. The application of the method has also been made to the ionization energies of H2O. Although the perturbative corrections are obtained by the diagonalization of the effective Hamiltonian, in IVO-SSMRPT, only one physically relevant solution is achievable. It is parameter free and does not require any threshold to avoid the intruder problem. It is strictly size-extensive and size-consistent provided that local orbitals are used. The PESs obtained with our approach are smooth all along the reaction path. Our estimates are in close agreement with the available reference data indicating that IVO-SSMRPT is a robust paradigm for the accurate computation of ground, excited and ionized states as it captures the mutual inter-play of different flavors of correlation effects in a balanced and accurate way.

Four-Component Relativistic State-Specific Multireference Perturbation Theory with a Simplified Treatment of Static Correlation.

The relativistic multireference (MR) perturbative approach is one of the most successful tools for the description of computationally demanding molecular systems of heavy elements. We present here the ground state dissociation energy surfaces, equilibrium bond lengths, harmonic frequencies, and dissociation energies of Ag2, Cu2, Au2, and I2 computed using the four-component (4c) relativistic spinors based state-specific MR perturbation theory (SSMRPT) with improved virtual orbital complete active space configuration interaction (IVO-CASCI) functions. The IVO-CASCI method is a simple, robust, useful and lower cost alternative to the complete active space self-consistent field approach for treating quasidegenerate situations. The redeeming features of the resulting method, termed as 4c-IVO-SSMRPT, lies in (i) manifestly size-extensivity, (ii) exemption from intruder problems, (iii) the freedom of convenient multipartitionings of the Hamiltonian, (iv) flexibility of the relaxed and unrelaxed descriptions of the reference coefficients, and (v) manageable cost/accuracy ratio. The present method delivers accurate descriptions of dissociation processes of heavy element systems. Close agreement with reference values has been found for the calculated molecular constants indicating that our 4c-IVOSSMRPT provides a robust and economic protocol for determining the structural properties for the ground state of heavy element molecules with eloquent MR character as it treats correlation and relativity on equal footing.

A confinement induced spectroscopic study of noble gas atoms using equation of motion architecture: Encapsulation within fullerene's voids.

A relativistic study of spectroscopic properties of the endohedral fullerenes Ng@C60q (where Ng = He, Ne and q=0,±1,±2 are the charges) associated with the C60 molecule has been done using the equation of motion coupled cluster (EOM-CC) methodology. Specific properties estimated are the transition energies, dipole oscillator strengths, and transition probabilities for the low-lying excitations 1s2(1S0) → 1snp (1P1) (n = 2, 3, 4) for He@C60q and 1s22s22p6 (1S0) → 1s22s22p5ns∕nd (1P1) (n = 3, 4) for Ne@C60q, which have been compared with those for the isolated atom to depict the confinement effect of the host molecule on the encapsulated atom. This is accomplished by introducing an effective potential to the atomic Hamiltonian induced by the fullerene moiety and its charge. The EOM-CC results have been compared with those estimated with the random phase approximation (and configuration interaction singles) to understand the effect of electron correlation under such confinement. The systematic and interesting behavior of the properties is highlighted indicating the effect of fullerene cage potential on the redistribution of electron density of the guest atom.

Improved virtual orbitals in state specific multireference perturbation theory for prototypes of quasidegenerate electronic structure.

The state-specific multireference perturbation theory (SSMRPT) with an improved virtual orbital complete active space configuration interaction (IVO-CASCI) reference function [called as IVO-SSMRPT] is used to investigate the energy surface, geometrical parameters, molecular properties of spectroscopic interest for the systems/situations [such as BeH2, BeCH2, MgCH2, Si2H4, unimolecular dissociation of H2CO, and intramolecular reaction pathways of 1,3-butadiene] where the effect of quasidegeneracy cannot be neglected. The merit of using the IVO-CASCI rather than complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) is that it is free from iterations beyond those in the initial SCF calculation and the convergence difficulties that plague CASSCF calculations with increasing size of the CAS. While IVO-CASCI describes the non-dynamical correlation, the SSMRPT scheme is a good second-order perturbative approximation to account for the rest of the correlation energy. Our IVO-SSMRPT method is instrumental in avoiding intruder states in an size-extensive manner and allows the revision of the content of wave function in the model space. It can treat model as well as real systems with predictive accuracy, as is evident from the fairly nice accordance between our estimates, and high-level theoretical results. Our estimates also corroborate well with some experimental findings.

Communication: Viewing the ground and excited electronic structures of platinum and its ion through the window of relativistic coupled cluster method.

Highly accurate electronic structure calculations are often needed to supplement scant experimental data. We report the ground 3D3 and some selected low lying excited/ionized states of Pt and its ions obtained using the Fock space multireference coupled cluster method with four-component relativistic spinors. The present work establishes the stability of the 2S1/2 state of its negative ion and reproduces the binding energy of this state within 10 cm-1. The first ionization potential (cm-1) is estimated to be 72 005, deviating from the experiment by just 200 (0.3%). We also report the magnetic hyperfine coupling constants (A) of Pt and its ions. The present calculation provides the A value (GHz) of the 3D3 state of Pt to be 5.78 exhibiting very good agreement with the experimental data of 5.70. To our knowledge, this is the first relativistic ab initio calculation of the ionization potential and magnetic hyperfine coupling constant for the neutral and ionic states of Pt at a high level of correlation treatment.

Taming the Electronic Structure of Diradicals through the Window of Computationally Cost Effective Multireference Perturbation Theory.

Recently a state-specific multireference perturbation theory (SSMRPT) with an improved virtual orbitals complete active space configuration interaction (IVO-CASCI) reference function has been proposed for treating electronic structures of radicals such as methylene, m-benzyne, pyridyne, and pyridynium cation. This new development in MRPT, termed as IVO-SSMRPT, ensures that it is able to describe the structure of radicaloids with reasonable accuracy even with small reference spaces. IVO-SSMRPT is also capable of predicting the correct ordering of the lowest singlet-triplet gaps. Investigation of the first three electronic states of the oxygen molecule has also been used for rating our method. The agreement of our estimates with the available far more expensive benchmark state-of-the-art ab initio calculations is creditable. The IVO-SSMRPT method provides an effective avenue with manageable cost/accuracy ratio for accurately dealing with radicaloid systems possessing varying degrees of quasidegeneracy.

Relativistic state-specific multireference coupled cluster theory description for bond-breaking energy surfaces.

A four-component (4c) relativistic state specific multireference coupled cluster (4c-SSMRCC) method has been developed and applied to compute the ground state spectroscopic constants of Ag2, Cu2, Au2, and I2. The reference functions used in these calculations are obtained using computationally inexpensive improved virtual orbital-complete active space configuration interaction scheme. Rigorous size-extensivity and insensitivity towards the intruder state problem make our method an interesting choice for the calculation of the dissociation energy surface. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first implementation of the SSMRCC within the relativistic framework. The overall agreement of our results, employing the smallest model space, with both theoretical and experimental reference values indicates that the 4c-SSMRCC method can be fruitfully used to describe electronic structures and associated properties of systems containing heavy elements. We observe a relativistic bond stabilization for the coinage metal dimers while the I-I bond is weakened by the relativistic effects.

Relativistic state-specific multireference perturbation theory incorporating improved virtual orbitals: Application to the ground state single-bond dissociation.

Using four-component (4c) relativistic spinors, we present a computationally economical relativistic ab initio method for molecular systems employing our recently proposed second-order state-specific multireference perturbation theory (SSMRPT) incorporating the improved virtual orbital-complete active space configuration interaction (IVO-CASCI) reference wavefunction. The resulting method, 4c-IVO-SSMRPT [calculate one state at a time] is tested in pilot calculations on the homonuclear dimers including Li(2), Na(2), K(2), Rb(2), F(2), Cl(2), and Br(2) through the computations of the ground state potential energy curves (PECs). As SSMRPT curbs intruder effects, 4c-IVO-SSMRPT is numerically stable. To our knowledge, the SSMRPT in the 4c relativistic framework has not been explored in the past. Selective spectroscopic constants that are closely related to the correct shape and accuracy of the energy surfaces have been extracted from the computed PECs. For the halogen molecules, a relativistic destabilization of the bond has been found. Relativistic and electron correlation effects need to be incorporated to get reliable estimates. Our results are in good accordance with reference theoretical and experimental data which manifests the computational accuracy and efficiency of the new 4c-IVO-SSMRPT method. The method opens for an improved description of MR systems containing heavy elements. The inexpensiveness of IVO-CASCI makes 4c-IVO-SSMRPT method promising for studies on large systems of heavy elements.

State-specific multireference perturbation theory with improved virtual orbitals: taming the ground state of F2 , Be2, and N2.

Adaptation of improved virtual orbitals (IVOs) in state-specific multireference perturbation theory using Møller-Plesset multipartitioning of the Hamiltonian (IVO-SSMRPT) is examined in which the IVO-complete active space configuration interaction (CASCI) is used as an inexpensive alternative to the more involved CAS-self-consistent field (CASSCF) orbitals. Unlike the CASSCF approach, IVO-CASCI does not bear tedious and costly iterations beyond those in the initial SCF calculation. The IVO-SSMRPT is intruder-free, and explicitly size-extensive. In the present preliminary study, the IVO-SSMRPT method which relies on a small reference space is applied to study potential energy surfaces (PES) of the ground state of challenging, multiconfigurational F2 , Be2 , and N2 molecules. These systems provide a serious challenge to any ab initio methodology due to the presence of an intricate interplay of nondynamical and dynamical correlations to the entire PES. The quality of the computed PES has been judged by extracting spectroscopic parameters and vibrational levels. The reported results illustrate that the IVO-SSMRPT method has a potential to yield accuracies as good as the CASSCF-SSMRPT one with reduced computational labor. Even with small reference spaces, our estimates demonstrate a good agreement with the available experimental values, and some benchmark computations. The blend of accuracy and low computational cost of IVO-SSMRPT should deserve future attention for the accurate treatment of electronic states of small to large molecular systems for which the wavefunction is characterized by various configurations.

Taming the electronic structure of lead and eka-lead (flerovium) by the relativistic coupled cluster method.

Theoretical investigations of the superheavy elements (SHEs) are extremely challenging and are often the sole source of useful chemical information. Relativistic Fock-space multireference coupled cluster (RFS-MRCC) computations have been carried out for evaluating the ionization potential (IP), excitation energies (EE), nuclear magnetic hyperfine constant (A), lifetime (τ), and Landé g factor of singly ionized eka-lead (Fl II). To judge the accuracy of Fl II results, similar calculations are performed for Pb II, which shows a nice and consistent agreement with known experimental values. Thus, we believe that our predictions for Fl are reliable and useful for the simulation of experimental behavior. To the best of our knowledge, no prior theoretical and/or experimental information is available for A, τ, and g-factor of this SHE. The higher IPs and EEs of Fl II, with respect to Pb II, indicate the former to be more inert and less metallic than Pb. This is contingent on the effects of the relativistic stabilization of the 7s and 7p1/2 orbitals. The present analysis demonstrates the influence of higher-body cluster operators on atomic properties. The close agreement with the experiment (having an estimated error within 1-2%) indicates that the FS-MRCC method is a reliable predictive tool in cases where the experimental results are not readily available, such as the SHEs. The remaining source of error possibly stems out from the omission of the full-blown triple virtual excitations and the absence of Breit interaction.

Reappraisal of nuclear quadrupole moments of atomic halogens via relativistic coupled cluster linear response theory for the ionization process.

The coupled cluster based linear response theory (CCLRT) with four-component relativistic spinors is employed to compute the electric field gradients (EFG) of (35)Cl, (79)Br, and (127)I nuclei. The EFGs resulting from these calculations are combined with experimental nuclear quadrupole coupling constants (NQCC) to determine the nuclear quadrupole moments (NQM), Q of the halide nuclei. Our estimated NQMs [(35)Cl = -81.12 mb, (79)Br = 307.98 mb, and (127)I = -688.22 mb] agree well with the new atomic values [(35)Cl = -81.1(1.2), (79)Br = 302(5), and (127)I = -680(10) mb] obtained via Fock space multireference coupled cluster method with the Dirac-Coulomb-Breit Hamiltonian. Although our estimated Q((79)Br) value deviates from the accepted reference value of 313(3) mb, it agrees well with the recently recommended value, Q((79)Br) = 308.7(20) mb. Good agreement with current reference data indicates the accuracy of the proposed value for these halogen nuclei and lends credence to the results obtained via CCLRT approach. The electron affinities yielded by this method with no extra cost are also in good agreement with experimental values, which bolster our belief that the NQMs values for halogen nuclei derived here are reliable.

Theoretical studies of the ground and excited state structures of stilbene.

Optimized geometries are evaluated for the ground and low lying excited states of cis-stilbene, trans-stilbene, and 4a,4b-dihydrophenanthrene (DHP) from calculations performed with the improved virtual orbital, complete active space configuration interaction (IVO-CASCI) method. The calculations indicate that a nonplanar conformer of trans-stilbene is the most stable among the isomers. The calculated ground and low lying excited state geometries agree well with experiment and with prior theoretical estimates where available. Our IVO-CASCI based multireference Möller-Plesset (MRMP) computations place the (1)B(u) state of trans stilbene to be ∼4.0 eV above the ground X(1)A(g) state, which is in accord with experiment and with earlier theoretical estimates. The 1(1)B(u) state of trans-stilbene can be represented by the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) → lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) transition (ionic type) from the ground state, whereas its 2(1)B(u) state is dominated by the HOMO → LUMO+1 and HOMO-1 → LUMO transitions (covalent type). Likewise, the 1(1)B and 2(1)B states of cis-stilbene and DHP are also found to be of ionic and covalent types, respectively.

Second-order state-specific multireference Møller Plesset perturbation theory: Application to energy surfaces of diimide, ethylene, butadiene, and cyclobutadiene.

The complete active space spin-free state-specific multireference Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (SS-MRMPPT) based on the Rayleigh-Schrödinger expansion has proved to be very successful in describing electronic states of model and real molecular systems with predictive accuracy. The SS-MRMPPT method (which deals with one state while using a multiconfigurational reference wave function) is designed to avoid intruder effects along with a balanced description of both dynamic and static correlations in a size-extensive manner, which allows us to produce accurate potential energy surfaces (PESs) with a correct shape in bond-breaking processes. The SS-MRMPPT method is size consistent when localized orbitals on each fragment are used. The intruder state(s) almost inevitably interfere when computing the PESs involving the breaking of genuine chemical bonds. In such situations, the traditional effective Hamiltonian formalism often goes down, so that no physically acceptable solution can be obtained. In this work, we continue our analysis of the SS-MRMPPT method for systems and phenomena that cannot be described either with the conventional single-reference approach or effective Hamiltonian-based traditional MR methods. In this article, we investigate whether the encouraging results we have obtained at the SS-MRMPPT level in the study of cis-trans isomerization of diimide (N2H2), ethylene (C2H4), and 1,3-butadiene (C4H6) carry over to the study of chemical reactions. The energy surfaces of the double-bond flipping interconversion of the two equivalent ground and two lowest singlet state structures of cyclobutadiene have also been studied. All results have been discussed and assessed by comparing with other state-of-the-art calculations and corresponding experimental data whenever available.

Ab initio multireference investigation of disjoint diradicals: singlet versus triplet ground states.

We present improved virtual orbital (IVO) complete active space (CAS) configuration interaction (IVO-CASCI) and IVO-CASCI-based multireference Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MRMPPT) calculations with an aim to elucidate the electronic structure of tetramethyleneethane (TME) in its lowest singlet and triplet state and to quantify their order and extent of splitting. The potential surfaces of singlet and triplet states for the twisting of TME are also studied. We found that the triplet state is higher in energy than the singlet one in the whole range of twisting angles with the energy gap minimum at a twisting angle of about 45°. Harmonic vibrational frequencies of TME have also been calculated for both the states. We also report the ground to first excited triplet state transition energies. Our results are analyzed with respect to the results available in the literature to illustrate the efficacy of our methods employed. We also demonstrate that the spin character of the ground state of disjoint, TME-like diradicals can be manipulated by using appropriate selection of annulenic spacer to separate the allyl groups of TME.

Prediction of electronic structure of organic radicaloid anions using efficient, economical multireference gradient approach.

The improved virtual orbital-complete active space configuration interaction (IVO-CASCI) method enables an economical and reasonably accurate treatment of static correlation in systems with significant multireference character, even when using a moderate basis set. This IVO-CASCI method supplants the computationally more demanding complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method by producing comparable accuracy with diminished computational effort because the IVO-CASCI approach does not require additional iterations beyond an initial SCF calculation, nor does it encounter convergence difficulties or multiple solutions that may be found in CASSCF calculations. Our IVO-CASCI analytical gradient approach is applied to compute the equilibrium geometry for the ground and lowest excited state(s) of the theoretically very challenging 2,6-pyridyne, 1,2,3-tridehydrobenzene and 1,3,5-tridehydrobenzene anionic systems for which experiments are lacking, accurate quantum calculations are almost completely absent, and commonly used calculations based on single reference configurations fail to provide reasonable results. Hence, the computational complexity provides an excellent test for the efficacy of multireference methods. The present work clearly illustrates that the IVO-CASCI analytical gradient method provides a good description of the complicated electronic quasi-degeneracies during the geometry optimization process for the radicaloid anions. The IVO-CASCI treatment produces almost identical geometries as the CASSCF calculations (performed for this study) at a fraction of the computational labor. Adiabatic energy gaps to low lying excited states likewise emerge from the IVO-CASCI and CASSCF methods as very similar. We also provide harmonic vibrational frequencies to demonstrate the stability of the computed geometries.

Geometry optimization of radicaloid systems using improved virtual orbital-complete active space configuration interaction (IVO-CASCI) analytical gradient method.

The improved virtual orbital (IVO) complete active space (CAS) configuration interaction (IVO-CASCI) method is a simplified CAS self-consistent field (SCF), CASSCF, method. Unlike the CASSCF approach, the IVO-CASCI method does not require iterations beyond an initial SCF calculation, rendering the IVO-CASCI scheme computationally more tractable than the CASSCF method and devoid of the convergence problems that sometimes plague CASSCF calculations as the CAS size increases, while retaining all the essential positive benefits of the CASSCF method. Earlier applications demonstrate that the IVO-CASCI energies are at least as accurate as those from the CASSCF and provide the impetus for our recent development of the analytical derivative procedures that are necessary for a wide applicability of the IVO-CASCI approach. Here we test the ability of the analytic energy gradient IVO-CASCI approach (which can treat both closed- and open-shell molecules of arbitrary spin multiplicity) to compute the equilibrium geometries of four organic radicaloid species, namely, (i) the diradicals trimethylenemethane (TMM), 2,6-pyridyne, and the 2,6-pyridynium cation and (ii) a triradical 1,2,3-tridehydrobenzene (TDB), using various basis sets and different choices for the active space. Although these systems and related molecules have fascinated theoretical chemists for many years, their strong multireference character makes their description quite difficult with most standard many-body approaches. Thus, they provide ideal tests to assess the performance of the IVO-CASCI method. The present work demonstrates consistent agreement with far more expensive benchmark state-of-the-art ab initio calculations and thereby indicates that this new gradient method is able to describe the geometries of various radicaloids very accurately, even when small, but qualitatively correct, reference spaces are used. For example, the IVO-CASCI method leads to a monocyclic structure for the 2,6-isomers of the didehydropyridinium (pyridynium) cation and of didehydropyridine (pyridyne), while SCF and single-reference CCSD computations predict an incorrect bicyclic structure. The IVO-CASCI structures and relative stability for the ground (2)A(1) and excited (2)B(2) states of TDB also accord with the experimentally observed IR spectra and with other highly sophisticated theoretical calculations. The blend of accuracy and reduction in computational cost offered by the present IVO-CASCI analytical gradient method clearly demonstrates that the method provides a practical avenue for studying the geometries of various radicaloid species of different levels of complexity.