A Mountaineering Strategy to Excited States: Accurate Vertical Transition Energies and Benchmarks for Substituted Benzenes

Understand

To expand the existing QUEST database of accurate vertical transition energies [\href{https://doi.org/10.1002/wcms.1517}{V\'eril et al.~\textit{WIREs Comput.~Mol.~Sci.} \textbf{2021}, \textit{11}, e1517}], we have modeled more than 100 electronic excited states of different natures (local, charge-transfer, Rydberg, singlet, and triplet) in a dozen of mono- and di-substituted benzenes, including aniline, benzonitrile, chlorobenzene, fluorobenzene, nitrobenzene, among others.

• To establish theoretical best estimates for these vertical excitation energies, we have employed advanced coupled-cluster methods including iterative triples (CC3 and CCSDT) and, when technically possible, iterative quadruples (CC4).
• These high-level computational approaches provide a robust foundation for benchmarking a series of popular wave function methods.
• The evaluated methods all include contributions from double excitations (ADC(2), CC2, CCSD, CIS(D), EOM-MP2, STEOM-CCSD), along with schemes that also incorporate perturbative or iterative triples (ADC(3), CCSDR(3), CCSD(T)(a)$^\star$, and CCSDT-3).