An energy decomposition analysis for intermolecular interactions from an absolutely localized molecular orbital...

We propose a wave function-based method for the decomposition of intermolecular interaction energies into chemically-intuitive components, isolating both mean-field- and explicit correlation-level contributions. We begin by solving the locally-projected self-consistent field for molecular interactions equations for a molecular complex, obtaining an intramolecularly polarized reference of self-consistently optimized, absolutely-localized molecular orbitals (ALMOs), determined with the constraint that each fragment MO be composed only of atomic basis functions belonging to its own fragment. As explicit inter-electronic correlation is integral to an accurate description of weak forces underlying intermolecular interaction potentials, namely, coordinated fluctuations in weakly interacting electronic densities, we add dynamical correlation to the ALMO polarized reference at the coupled-cluster singles and doubles level, accounting for explicit dispersion and charge-transfer effects, which map naturally onto the cluster operator. We demonstrate the stability of energy components with basis set extension, follow the hydrogen bond-breaking coordinate in the C(s)-symmetry water dimer, decompose the interaction energies of dispersion-bound rare gas dimers and other van der Waals complexes, and examine charge transfer-dominated donor-acceptor interactions in borane adducts. We compare our results with high-level calculations and experiment when possible.