Development of polarization consistent basis sets for spin-spin coupling constant calculations for the atoms Li, Be,...

The pcJ-n basis set, optimized for spin-spin coupling constant calculations using density functional theory methods, are expanded to also include the s-block elements Li, Be, Na, and Mg, by studying several small molecules containing these elements. This is done by decontracting the underlying pc-n basis sets, followed by augmentation with additional tight functions. As was the case for the p-block elements, the convergence of the results can be significantly improved by augmentation with tight s-functions. For the p-block elements, additional tight functions of higher angular momentum were also needed, but this is not the case for the s-block elements. A search for the optimum contraction scheme is carried out using the criterion that the contraction error should be lower than the inherent error of the uncontracted pcJ-n relative to the uncontracted pcJ-4 basis set. A large search over possible contraction schemes is done for the Li₂ and Na₂ molecules, and based on this search contracted pcJ-n basis sets for the four atoms are recommended. This work shows that it is more difficult to contract the pcJ-n basis sets, than the underlying pc-n basis sets. However, it also shows that the pcJ-n basis sets for Li and Be can be more strongly contracted than the pcJ-n basis sets for the p-block elements. For Na and Mg, the contractions are to the same degree as for the p-block elements.