Transition structure modeling by intersecting potential energy surfaces

A previously proposed method of modeling force field transition structures as the lowest energy structure on the seam of two intersecting potential energy surfaces is improved with respect to the force field expression and the efficiency of the optimization algorithm. Comparison with ab initio and experimental results show that the force field method may have the potential of achieving almost quantitative results. It appears that the results from transition state modeling are currently limited by the accuracy of the underlying force field.