On-Top Ratio for Atoms and Molecules

Rebecca K. Carlson, Donald G. Truhlar, Laura Gagliardi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The on-top ratio, R, is the ratio of the on-top pair density to the square of half the total density. Here, we explore the on-top ratio as a tool to understand different types of bonds, including covalent, polar covalent, ionic, and dispersion-dominated weak interactions. We show for several diatomic molecules and for ethylene that the partial derivative of R is a useful indicator of covalent-bond breaking. R also presents a local maximum for each electron shell when all electrons are correlated.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry A
DOIs
StatePublished - May 5 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to Prachi Sharma for helpful discussions. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation by grant no. CHE-1746186.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Chemical Society.

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