Deorthogonalization of atomic originals in the CNDO approach

Abstract The procedure for deorthogonalization (D) of atomic orbitals in the semiempirical CNDO approach is reviewed. For comparative studies, CNDO/2, CNDO/2D, and STO‐3G calculations of molecular dipole moments and Mulliken populations are carried out on 35 prototype molecules containing H, C, N, O, and F atoms. The calculated values are assessed on the basis of how well they agree with experimental trends, chemical bonding theories, and ab initio molecular orbital (MO) values. Results of analyses indicate that the CNDO/2D values for dipole moments are in reasonable agreement with experimental values, and those for net atomic charges and electron populations bear greater resemblance to the ab initio (STO‐3G and 6‐31G**) values than the original CNDO/2 values. These findings, together with those of previous investigators, demonstrate unequivocally the advantages of incorporating deorthogonalization into routine CNDO/2 or INDO calculations as a means to obtain reasonable estimates of charge distributions.