Learning from the 4-(dimethylamino)benzonitrile twist: Two-parameter range-separated local hybrid functional with high accuracy for triplet and charge-transfer excitations.

The recent ωLH22t range-separated local hybrid (RSLH) is shown to provide outstanding accuracy for the notorious benchmark problem of the two lowest excited-state potential energy curves for the amino group twist in 4-(dimethylamino)benzonitrile (DMABN). However, the design of ωLH22t as a general-purpose functional resulted in less convincing performance for triplet excitations, which is an important advantage of previous LHs. Furthermore, ωLH22t uses 8 empirical parameters to achieve broad accuracy. In this work, the RSLH ωLH23ct-sir is constructed with minimal empiricism by optimizing its local mixing function prefactor and range-separation parameter for only 8 excitation energies. ωLH23ct-sir maintains the excellent performance of ωLH22t for the DMABN twist and charge-transfer benchmarks but significantly improves the errors for triplet excitation energies (0.17 vs 0.24 eV). Additional test calculations for the AE6BH6 thermochemistry test set and large dipole moment and static polarizability test sets confirm that the focus on excitation energies in the optimization of ωLH23ct-sir has not caused any dramatic errors for ground-state properties. Although ωLH23ct-sir cannot replace ωLH22t as a general-purpose functional, it is preferable for problems requiring a universally good description of localized and charge-transfer excitations of both singlet and triplet multiplicity. Current limitations on the application of ωLH23ct-sir and other RSLHs to the study of singlet-triplet gaps of emitters for thermally activated delayed fluorescence are discussed. This work also includes the first systematic analysis of the influence of the local mixing function prefactor and the range-separation parameter in an RSLH on different types of excitations.

Importance of imposing gauge invariance in time-dependent density functional theory calculations with meta-generalized gradient approximations.

It has been known for more than a decade that the gauge variance of the kinetic energy density τ leads to additional terms in the magnetic orbital rotation Hessian used in linear-response time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), affecting excitation energies obtained with τ-dependent exchange-correlation functionals. While previous investigations found that a correction scheme based on the paramagnetic current density has a small effect on benchmark results, we report more pronounced effects here, in particular, for the popular M06-2X functional and for some other meta-generalized gradient approximations (mGGAs). In the first part of this communication, this is shown by a reassessment of a set of five Ni(II) complexes for which a previous benchmark study that did not impose gauge invariance has found surprisingly large errors for excitation energies obtained with M06-2X. These errors are more than halved by restoring gauge invariance. The variable importance of imposing gauge invariance for different mGGA-based functionals can be rationalized by the derivative of the mGGA exchange energy integrand with respect to τ. In the second part, a large set of valence excitations in small main-group molecules is analyzed. For M06-2X, several selected n → π* and π→π⊥ * excitations are heavily gauge-dependent with average changes of -0.17 and -0.28 eV, respectively, while π→π‖ * excitations are marginally affected (-0.04 eV). Similar patterns, but of the opposite signs, are found for SCAN0. The results suggest that reevaluation of previous gauge variant TDDFT results based on M06-2X and other mGGA functionals is warranted.

Quantum Interference in Mixed-Valence Complexes: Tuning Electronic Coupling Through Substituent Effects.

Whilst 2- or 5-OMe groups on the bridging phenylene ring in [{Cp*(dppe)RuC≡C}2 (µ-1,3-C6 H4 )]+ have little influence on the electronic structure of this weakly coupled mixed-valence complex, a 4-OMe substituent enhances ground state electron delocalization, and increases the intensity of the IVCT transition. Vibrational frequency and TDDFT calculations (LH20t-D3(BJ), def2-SVP, COSMO (CH2 Cl2 )) on ([{Cp*(dppe)RuC≡C}2 (µ-1,3-C6 H3 -n-OMe)]+ (n=2, 4, 5) models are in excellent agreement with the experimental results. The stronger ground state coupling is attributed to the change in composition of the ß-HOSO brought about by the 4-OMe group, which is ortho or para to each of the metal fragments. The intensity of the IVCT transition increases with the greater overlap of the ß-HOSO and ß-LUSO, whilst the relative phases of the ß-HOSO and ß-LUSO in the 4-OMe substituted complex are consistent with predictions of constructive quantum interference from molecular circuit rules.

Reliable TDDFT Protocol Based on a Local Hybrid Functional for the Prediction of Vibronic Phosphorescence Spectra Applied to Tris(2,2'-bipyridine)-Metal Complexes.

An efficient computational protocol for the prediction of vibrationally resolved phosphorescence spectra is developed and validated for five tris(2,2'-bipyridine)-metal complexes ([M(bpy)3]n+, where M = Zn, Ru, Rh, Os, Ir). The outstanding feature of this protocol is the use of full linear-response time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) for the excited-state triplet calculation, i.e., the commonly seen strategies employing the Tamm-Dancoff approximation (TDA) or unrestricted density functional theory (DFT) calculations for the T1 state are not needed. This is achieved by the use of a local hybrid functional (LH12ct-SsirPW92) that features a real-space dependent admixture of exact exchange governed by a local mixing function. The excellent performance of this LH for triplet excitation energies known from previous studies transfers to a remarkable mean absolute error of 0.06 eV for the phosphorescence 0-0 energies investigated herein, while the popular B3PW91 functional gives an error of 0.27 eV in TDDFT and 0.09 eV in unrestricted DFT calculations, respectively. The advantages of the local hybrid are particularly apparent for excited states with a mixed-valence character. The influence of spin-orbit coupling was found to be significant for [Os(bpy)3]2+ red-shifting the 0-0 energy for phosphorescence by 0.17 eV, while the effect is negligible for the other complexes (<0.03 eV). The influence of the basis-set and integration-grid sizes is evaluated, and a computationally lighter protocol is validated that leads to drastic savings in computation time with negligible loss in accuracy.

Assessment of hybrid functionals for singlet and triplet excitations: Why do some local hybrid functionals perform so well for triplet excitation energies?

The performance of various hybrid density functionals is assessed for 105 singlet and 105 corresponding triplet vertical excitation energies from the QUEST database. The overall lowest mean absolute error is obtained with the local hybrid (LH) functional LH12ct-SsirPW92 with individual errors of 0.11 eV (0.11 eV) for singlet (triplet) n → π* excitations and 0.29 eV (0.17 eV) for π → π* excitations. This is slightly better than with the overall best performing global hybrid M06-2X [n → π*: 0.13 eV (0.17 eV), π → π*: 0.30 eV (0.20 eV)], while most other global and range-separated hybrids and some LHs suffer from the "triplet problem" of time-dependent density functional theory. This is exemplified by correlating the errors for singlet and triplet excitations on a state-by-state basis. The excellent performance of LHs based on a common local mixing function, i.e., an LMF constructed from the spin-summed rather than the spin-resolved semilocal quantities, is systematically investigated by the introduction of a spin-channel interpolation scheme that allows us to continuously modulate the fraction of opposite-spin terms used in the LMF. The correlation of triplet and singlet errors is systematically improved for the n → π* excitations when larger fractions of the opposite-spin-channel are used in the LMF, whereas this effect is limited for the π → π* excitations. This strongly supports a previously made hypothesis that attributes the excellent performance of LHs based on a common LMF to cross-spin-channel nondynamical correlation terms.

Two π-Electrons Make the Difference: From BODIPY to BODIIM Switchable Fluorescent Dyes.

(aza-)BODIPY dyes (boron dipyrromethene dyes) are well-established fluorophores due to their large quantum yields, stability, and diversity, which led to promising applications including imaging techniques, sensors, organic (opto)electronic materials, or biomedical applications. Although the control of the optical properties in (aza-)BODIPY dyes by peripheral functional groups is well studied, we herein present a novel approach to modify the 12 π-electron core of the dipyrromethene scaffold. The replacement of two carbon atoms in the ß-position of a BODIPY dye by two nitrogen atoms afforded a 14 π-electron system, which was termed BODIIM (boron diimidazolylmethene) in systematic analogy to the BODIPY dyes. Remarkably, the BODIIM dye was obtained with a BH2 -rigidifying entity, which is currently elusive and highly sought after for the BODIPY dye class. DFT-Calculations confirm the [12+2] π-electron relationship between BODIPY and BODIIM and reveal a strong shape correlation between LUMO in the BODIPY and the HOMO of the BODIIM. The modification of the π-system leads to a dramatic shift of the optical properties, of which the fluorescent emission is most noteworthy and occurs at much larger Stokes shift, that is, ≈500 cm-1 in BODIPY versus >4170 cm-1 in BODIIM system in all solvents investigated. Nucleophilic reactivity was found at the meso-carbon atom in the formation of stable borane adducts with a significant shift of the fluorescent emission, and this behavior contrasts the reactivity of conventional BODIPY systems. In addition, the reverse decomplexation of the borane adducts was demonstrated in reactions with a representative N-heterocyclic carbene to retain the strongly fluorescent BODIIM compound, which suggests applications as fully reversible fluorescent switch.

Evaluation of Local Hybrid Functionals for Electric Properties: Dipole Moments and Static and Dynamic Polarizabilities.

Local hybrid functionals are a class of exchange-correlation functionals that feature a real-space dependent admixture of exact (Hartree-Fock like) exchange governed by a local mixing function. Recently we reported the LH20t functional with wide chemical applicability and excellent performance for the GMTKN55 main-group energetics test suite (M. Haasler et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2020, 16, 5645-5657). Here, we present a systematic evaluation of earlier and recent local hybrid functionals for large test sets of dipole moments and static polarizabilities and for a smaller set of dynamic polarizabilities for heterocycles. Comparisons with coupled-cluster benchmark data show robust performance of all investigated local hybrids for dipole moments and polarizabilities. The two best local hybrids are the new LH20t and LH14t-calPBE. LH20t gives a percentage-relative mean-square deviation of 5.87% for the dipole moment test set and one of 4.30% for static polarizabilities. This is only slightly inferior to the currently best performances among rung 4 functionals. Most notably, no large outliers are observed in contrast to some other hybrid functionals. This shows that the current most highly parametrized (nine-parameter) LH20t functional clearly produces not only good energetics but also accurate electron densities and electric-field responses. The influences of various aspects of local hybrids are examined to aid in the further development of this class of functionals.

TURBOMOLE: Modular program suite for ab initio quantum-chemical and condensed-matter simulations.

TURBOMOLE is a collaborative, multi-national software development project aiming to provide highly efficient and stable computational tools for quantum chemical simulations of molecules, clusters, periodic systems, and solutions. The TURBOMOLE software suite is optimized for widely available, inexpensive, and resource-efficient hardware such as multi-core workstations and small computer clusters. TURBOMOLE specializes in electronic structure methods with outstanding accuracy-cost ratio, such as density functional theory including local hybrids and the random phase approximation (RPA), GW-Bethe-Salpeter methods, second-order Møller-Plesset theory, and explicitly correlated coupled-cluster methods. TURBOMOLE is based on Gaussian basis sets and has been pivotal for the development of many fast and low-scaling algorithms in the past three decades, such as integral-direct methods, fast multipole methods, the resolution-of-the-identity approximation, imaginary frequency integration, Laplace transform, and pair natural orbital methods. This review focuses on recent additions to TURBOMOLE's functionality, including excited-state methods, RPA and Green's function methods, relativistic approaches, high-order molecular properties, solvation effects, and periodic systems. A variety of illustrative applications along with accuracy and timing data are discussed. Moreover, available interfaces to users as well as other software are summarized. TURBOMOLE's current licensing, distribution, and support model are discussed, and an overview of TURBOMOLE's development workflow is provided. Challenges such as communication and outreach, software infrastructure, and funding are highlighted.

A novel model for smectic liquid crystals: Elastic anisotropy and response to a steady-state flow.

By means of a combination of equilibrium Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics we investigate the ordered, uniaxial phases (i.e., nematic and smectic A) of a model liquid crystal. We characterize equilibrium behavior through their diffusive behavior and elastic properties. As one approaches the equilibrium isotropic-nematic phase transition, diffusion becomes anisotropic in that self-diffusion D⊥ in the direction orthogonal to a molecule's long axis is more hindered than self-diffusion D∥ in the direction parallel to that axis. Close to nematic-smectic A phase transition the opposite is true, D∥ < D⊥. The Frank elastic constants K1, K2, and K3 for the respective splay, twist, and bend deformations of the director field n̂ are no longer equal and exhibit a temperature dependence observed experimentally for cyanobiphenyls. Under nonequilibrium conditions, a pressure gradient applied to the smectic A phase generates Poiseuille-like or plug flow depending on whether the convective velocity is parallel or orthogonal to the plane of smectic layers. We find that in Poiseuille-like flow the viscosity of the smectic A phase is higher than in plug flow. This can be rationalized via the velocity-field component in the direction of the flow. In a sufficiently strong flow these smectic layers are not destroyed but significantly bent.

Comment on: "Toward Accurate Two-Photon Absorption Spectrum Simulations: Exploring the Landscape beyond the Generalized Gradient Approximation".

A recent benchmark study of two-photon absorption (2PA) strengths using meta-generalized gradient approximation (MGGA) exchange-correlation functionals by Ahmadzadeh, Li, Rinkevicius, Norman, and Zalesny (ALRNZ24) [ J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2024, 15, 969] misrepresents the state of the field in this area. Not only was an assessment of 2PA strengths for the exact same benchmark published previously; ALRNZ24 also uses a gauge-variant form of MGGA response theory which produces erratic behavior for certain benchmark systems. Applications of MGGAs to optical and magnetic response properties should use a gauge-invariant extension of MGGA functionals such as paramagnetic current-dependent MGGAs.

A DFT perspective on organometallic lanthanide chemistry.

Computational studies of the coordination chemistry and bonding of lanthanides have grown in recent decades as the need for understanding the distinct physical, optical, and magnetic properties of these compounds increased. Density functional theory (DFT) methods offer a favorable balance of computational cost and accuracy in lanthanide chemistry and have helped to advance the discovery of novel oxidation states and electronic configurations. This Frontier article examines the scope and limitations of DFT in interpreting structural and spectroscopic data of low-valent lanthanide complexes, elucidating periodic trends, and predicting their properties and reactivity, presented through selected examples.

Exploring sulfur donor atom coordination chemistry with La(II), Nd(II), and Tm(II) using a terphenylthiolate ligand.

To expand the range of donor atoms known to stabilize 4fn5d1 Ln(II) rare-earth metal (Ln) ions beyond the C, N, and O first row main group donor atoms, the Ln(III) sulfur donor terphenylthiolate iodide complexes, LnIII(SAriPr6)2I (AriPr6 = C6H3-2,6-(C6H2-2,4,6-iPr3)2, Ln = La, Nd) were reduced to form LnII(SAriPr6)2 complexes. These Ln(II) species were structurally characterized, analyzed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and compared to Tm(SAriPr6)2, which was synthesized from TmI2(DME)3.

Gauge-Invariant Excited-State Linear and Quadratic Response Properties within the Meta-Generalized Gradient Approximation.

Gauge invariance is a fundamental symmetry connected to charge conservation and is widely accepted as indispensable for any electronic structure method. Hence, the gauge variance of the time-dependent kinetic energy density τ used in many meta-generalized gradient approximations (MGGAs) to the exchange-correlation (XC) functional presents a major obstacle for applying MGGAs within time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). Replacing τ by the gauge-invariant generalized kinetic energy density τ̂ significantly improves the accuracy of various functionals for vertical excitation energies [R. Grotjahn, F. Furche, and M. Kaupp. J. Chem. Phys. 2022, 157, 111102]. However, the dependence of the resulting current-MGGAs (cMGGAs) on the paramagnetic current density gives rise to new exchange-correlation kernels and hyper-kernels ignored in previous implementations of quadratic and higher-order response properties. Here we report the first implementation of cMGGAs and hybrid cMGGAs for excited-state gradients and dipole moments, as well as an extension to quadratic response properties including dynamic hyperpolarizabilities and two-photon absorption cross sections. In the first comprehensive benchmark study of MGGAs and cMGGAs for two-photon absorption cross sections, the M06-2X functional is found to be superior to the GGA hybrid PBE0. Additionally, two case studies from the literature for the practical prediction of nonlinear optical properties are revisited and potential advantages of hybrid (c)MGGAs compared to hybrid GGAs are discussed. The effect of restoring gauge invariance varies depending on the employed MGGA functional, the type of excitation, and the property under investigation: While some individual excited-state equilibrium structures are significantly affected, on average, these changes result in marginal improvements when compared against high-level reference data. Although the gauge-variant MGGA quadratic response properties are generally close to their gauge-invariant counterparts, the resulting errors are not bounded and significantly exceed typical method errors in some of the cases studied. Despite the limited effects seen in benchmark studies, gauge-invariant implementations of cMGGAs for excited-state properties are desirable from a fundamental perspective, entail little additional computational cost, and are necessary for response properties consistent with cMGGA linear response calculations such as excitation energies.

Full Implementation, Optimization, and Evaluation of a Range-Separated Local Hybrid Functional with Wide Accuracy for Ground and Excited States.

We report the first full and efficient implementation of range-separated local hybrid functionals (RSLHs) into the TURBOMOLE program package. This enables the computation of ground-state energies and nuclear gradients as well as excitation energies. Regarding the computational effort, RSLHs scale like regular local hybrid functionals (LHs) with system or basis set size and increase timings by a factor of 2-3 in total. An advanced RSLH, ωLH22t, has been optimized for atomization energies and reaction barriers. It is an extension of the recent LH20t local hybrid and is based on short-range PBE and long-range HF exchange-energy densities, a pig2 calibration function to deal with the gauge ambiguity of exchange-energy densities, and reoptimized B95c correlation. ωLH22t has been evaluated for a wide range of ground-state and excited-state quantities. It further improves upon the already successful LH20t functional for the GMTKN55 main-group energetics test suite, and it outperforms any global hybrid while performing close to the top rung-4 functional, ωB97M-V, for these evaluations when augmented by D4 dispersion corrections. ωLH22t performs excellently for transition-metal reactivity and provides good balance between delocalization errors and left-right correlation for mixed-valence systems, with a somewhat larger bias toward localized states compared to LH20t. It approaches the accuracy of the best local hybrids to date for core, valence singlet and triplet, and Rydberg excitation energies while improving strikingly on intra- and intermolecular charge-transfer excitations, comparable to the most successful range-separated hybrids available.

TURBOMOLE: Today and Tomorrow.

TURBOMOLE is a highly optimized software suite for large-scale quantum-chemical and materials science simulations of molecules, clusters, extended systems, and periodic solids. TURBOMOLE uses Gaussian basis sets and has been designed with robust and fast quantum-chemical applications in mind, ranging from homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis to inorganic and organic chemistry and various types of spectroscopy, light-matter interactions, and biochemistry. This Perspective briefly surveys TURBOMOLE's functionality and highlights recent developments that have taken place between 2020 and 2023, comprising new electronic structure methods for molecules and solids, previously unavailable molecular properties, embedding, and molecular dynamics approaches. Select features under development are reviewed to illustrate the continuous growth of the program suite, including nuclear electronic orbital methods, Hartree-Fock-based adiabatic connection models, simplified time-dependent density functional theory, relativistic effects and magnetic properties, and multiscale modeling of optical properties.

Validation of Local Hybrid Functionals for Excited States: Structures, Fluorescence, Phosphorescence, and Vibronic Spectra.

Local hybrid functionals are evaluated in linear-response TDDFT computations for a broad range of excited-state properties including excited-state structures, fluorescence, and phosphorescence energies and the vibronic shape of absorption and phosphorescence spectra. Computation of such properties requires the optimization of excited states, which is facilitated by the recent implementation of excited-state gradients for local hybrid functionals in the TURBOMOLE program (Grotjahn, R.; Furche, F.; Kaupp, M. J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2019, 15, 5508). Comparison with coupled-cluster reference values reveals competitive performance of local hybrids for excited-state bond lengths with particular advantages for carbon-halogen, carbon-carbon, and carbon-nitrogen bonds. As with most global and range-separated hybrid functionals, carbonyl and thionyl bonds in n → π* excited states are found to be too compact. For the emission energies, results depend on the multiplicity of the excited state. While the local hybrid functionals tested perform moderately well, comparable to global hybrids, for singlet states (fluorescence energies), they provide outstanding accuracy for triplet states (phosphorescence energies), only matched by those from the highly empirical M06-2X hybrid functional. The assessment of the shape of vibronic spectra reveals rather small differences between local hybrid functionals and conventional hybrid functionals with comparable exact-exchange admixture. The advantages for phosphorescence energies and the robust performance for the shape of vibronic spectra are combined to showcase the potential of local hybrid functionals for the prediction of phosphorescence spectra.

A Local Hybrid Functional with Wide Applicability and Good Balance between (De)Localization and Left-Right Correlation.

A new local hybrid functional, LH20t, with a position-dependent exact-exchange admixture governed by a simple local mixing function (g(r) = b·τW(r)/τ(r)), combined with gradient-corrected (PBE) exchange and meta-GGA (B95) correlation, as well as a second-order GGA-based pig2 calibration function to address the ambiguity of exchange-energy densities, has been constructed. The adjustable parameters of LH20t have been optimized in a multistep procedure based on thermochemical kinetics data and measures of spurious nondynamical correlation. LH20t has subsequently been evaluated for the full GMTKN55 main-group energetics test suite, with and without an added DFT-D4 dispersion correction. Performance of the new functional in the GMTKN55 tests is excellent, better than any global hybrid so far, approaching the best results for any rung-4 functional, without any noticeable artifacts due to the gauge ambiguity. The robust performance across the board is combined with enhanced exact-exchange admixtures of >70% near the nuclei and asymptotically (but low admixture in bonds). This helps to provide excellent performance for a wide variety of excitation classes (core, valence singlet and triplet, Rydberg, short-range intervalence charge-transfer) in TDDFT evaluations. Notably, LH20t is the first functional that provides simultaneously the correct description for the most extreme localized and delocalized cases of the MVO-10 test set of gas-phase mixed-valence systems. This outstanding performance for mixed-valence systems, which signals a very fine balance between reduced delocalization errors and a reasonable description of left-right correlation, is corroborated by tests on ground- and excited-state properties for organic and organometallic mixed-valence systems in solution.

Development and Implementation of Excited-State Gradients for Local Hybrid Functionals.

Local hybrid functionals are a relatively recent class of exchange-correlation functionals that use a real-space dependent admixture of exact exchange. Here, we present the first implementation of time-dependent density functional theory excited-state gradients for these functionals. Based on the ansatz of a fully variational auxiliary Lagrangian of the excitation energy, the working equations for the case of a local hybrid functional are deduced. For the implementation, we derive the third-order functional derivatives used in the hyper-kernel and kernel-gradients following a seminumerical integration scheme. The first assessment for a test set of small molecules reveals competitive performance for excited-state structural parameters with typical mean absolute errors (MAEs) of 1.2 pm (PBE0: 1.4 pm) for bond lengths as well as for vibrational frequencies with typical MAEs of 81 cm-1 (PBE0: 76 cm-1). Excellent performance was found for adiabatic triplet excitation energies with typical MAEs of 0.08 eV (PBE0: 0.32 eV). In a detailed case analysis of the first singlet and triplet excited states of formaldehyde the conceptional (dis-)advantages of the local hybrid scheme for excited-state gradients are exposed.

Development of a TDDFT-Based Protocol with Local Hybrid Functionals for the Screening of Potential Singlet Fission Chromophores.

Chromophores suitable for singlet fission need to meet specific requirements regarding the relative energies of their S0, S1, and T1 (and T2) electronic states. Accurate quantum-chemical computations of the corresponding energy differences are thus highly desirable for materials design. Methods based on density functional theory (DFT) have the advantage of being applicable to larger, often more relevant systems compared to more sophisticated post-Hartree-Fock methods. However, most exchange-correlation functionals do not provide the needed accuracy, in particular, due to an insufficient description of the T1 state. Here we use a recent singlet fission chromophore test set ( Wen , J. ; Havlas , Z. ; Michl , J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015 , 137 , 165 - 172 ) to evaluate a wide range of DFT-based methods, with an emphasis on local hybrid functionals with a position-dependent exact-exchange admixture. New reference vertical CC2/CBS benchmark excitation energies for the test set have been generated, which exhibit somewhat more uniform accuracy than the previous CASPT2-based data. These CC2 reference data have been used to evaluate a wide range of functionals, comparing full linear-response TDDFT, the Tamm-Dancoff approximation (TDA), and ΔSCF calculations. Two simple two-parameter local hybrid functionals and the more empirical M06-2X global meta-GGA hybrid provide the overall best accuracy. Due to its lower empiricism and wide applicability, the Lh12ct-SsifPW92 local hybrid is suggested as the main ingredient of an efficient computational protocol for prediction of the relevant excitation energies in singlet fission chromophores. Full TDDFT for the S1, S2, and T2 excitations is combined with ΔSCF for the T1 excitations. Making use also of some error compensation with suitable DFT-optimized structures, even the most critical T1 excitations can be brought close to the target accuracy of 0.20 eV, while the other excitation energies are obtained even more accurately. This fully DFT-based protocol should become a useful tool in the field of singlet fission.