title: Proton Affinity Calculations with High Level Methods.
abstract: Proton affinities, stretching from small reference compounds, up to the methylbenzenes and naphthalene and anthracene, have been calculated with high accuracy computational methods, viz. W1BD, G4, G3B3, CBS-QB3, and M06-2X. Computed and the currently accepted reference proton affinities are generally in excellent accord, but there are deviations. The literature value for propene appears to be 6-7 kJ/mol too high. Reported proton affinities for the methylbenzenes seem 4-5 kJ/mol too high. G4 and G3 computations generally give results in good accord with the high level W1BD. Proton affinity values computed with the CBS-QB3 scheme are too low, and the error increases with increasing molecule size, reaching nearly 10 kJ/mol for the xylenes. The functional M06-2X fails markedly for some of the small reference compounds, in particular, for CO and ketene, but calculates methylbenzene proton affinities with high accuracy.
authors.affiliation: inGAP Center for Research Based Innovation, Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo , Blindern, P.O. Box 1033, 0315, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Stein
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kolboe