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Updated: Aug 5, 2026

Multiscale Sampling of a Heterogeneous Water/Metal Catalyst Interface using Density Functional Theory and Force-Field Molecular Dynamics
Published on: April 12, 2019
Many density functional theory approaches fail to give reliable large hydrocarbon isomer energy differences
Peter R Schreiner1, Andrey A Fokin, Robert A Pascal
1Institute of Organic Chemistry, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 58, 35392 Giessen, Germany. prs@org.chemie.uni-giessen.de
Abstract:
[structure: see text] Several DFT methods were found to be unreliable for computing hydrocarbon isomer energy differences. The errors grow with system size up to 20 kcal mol(-1) for the relative energies of the (CH)12 isomers; octahedrane is the most stable (CH)12 hydrocarbon. While DFT geometries generally are good, problems arise for structures with single bonds only, especially for small rings. We recommend the use of higher level, non-DFT energy single points computed at DFT-optimized structures.
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