Ab initio calculations of zero-field splitting parameters in linear polyacenes

Abstract The results of ab initio calculations of zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameters are presented for the linear polyacenes from benzene to pentacene. We show how the electron spin–spin (SS) parameters can be efficiently obtained from restricted high-spin open-shell wave functions (ROHF), and present calculations of these, comparing with the results of a recent multi-configurational self-consistent field approach. The SS parameters are obtained from electron SS coupling strengths evaluated as expectation values over the wave functions and from state-to-state spin–orbit (SO) interactions. The results for the two lowest triplet states of naphthalene demonstrate that excellent values can b…