A potential from quantum chemistry for thermodynamic property predictions for methanethiol

An ab initio potential for methanethiol is determined by computing quantum-chemical interaction energies for a range of orientations and center-of-mass separation distances. These energies are initially fitted to a pairwise-additive, site-site Morse-C6 intermolecular potential. Additional interaction energies were then calculated at separation distances determined to be important from the angle-averaged Mayer f function calculated with the initial potential. This expanded set of interaction energies is then fitted using Boltzmann-type weighting to obtain the final intermolecular potential. Although there are some discrepancies in the fit for a particular type of orientation, the phase behavior calculated from Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations using this final potential is in very good agreement with experimental data. The prescription used here for obtaining the optimum potential from quantum-chemical methods should be applicable to other systems.