Pseudopotential-Based Correlation Consistent Composite Approach (rp-ccCA) for First- and Second-Row Transition Metal Thermochemistry

The relativistic-pseudopotential correlation consistent composite approach (rp-ccCA) was used to determine the enthalpy of formation (ΔH f) of 24 first row (3d) transition metal compounds. The rp-ccCA-derived ΔH f’s were compared to ΔH f’s previously obtained with an all-electron composite method for transition metals (ccCA-TM). For the 3d metal systems, rp-ccCA achieves transition metal accuracy, within 3 kcal/mol of reliable experimental data, overall. By utilizing pseudopotentials within the rp-ccCA methodology, we observed a significant computational time savings (53%) in comparison to the all-electron basis sets employed within ccCA-TM. With the proven reliability and accuracy of rp-ccCA, the methodology was employed to construct a calibration set of 210 second-row (4d) transition metal compounds and their ΔH f’s. The 4d calibration set is referred to as 4dHf-210. Within the 4dHf-210 set, there were 61 molecules with available experimental data. The average experimental uncertainty was 4.05 kcal/mol and the mean absolute deviation of rp-ccCA was 3.64 kcal/mol, excluding outliers (10 total). This study provides a large set of energetics that can be used to gauge existing and future computational methodologies and to aid experimentalists in reaction design.