AM1* parameters for phosphorus, sulfur and chlorine

An extension of the AM1 semiempirical molecular orbital technique, AM1*, is introduced. AM1* uses AM1 parameters and theory unchanged for the elements H, C, N, O and F. The elements P, S and Cl have been reparameterized using an additional set of d orbitals in the basis set and with two-center core-core parameters, rather than the Gaussian functions used to modify the core-core potential in AM1. Voityuk and Rösch's AM1(d) parameters have been adopted unchanged for AM1* with the exception that new core-core parameters are defined for Mo-P, Mo-S and Mo-Cl interactions. Thus, AM1* gives identical results to AM1 for compounds with only H, C, N, O, and F, AM1(d) for compounds containing Mo, H, C, N, O and F only, but differs for molybdenum compounds containing P, S or Cl. The performance and typical errors of AM1* are discussed.