How to choose a one-electron basis set to reliably describe a dipole-bound anion

The problem of choosing appropriate atomic orbital basis sets for ab initio calculations on dipole-bound anions has been examined. Such basis sets are usually constructed as combination of a standard valence-type basis, designed to describe the neutral molecular core, and an extra diffuse set designed to describe the charge distribution of the extra electron. As part of the present work, it has been found that the most commonly used valence-type basis sets (e.g., 6-31++G** or 6-311+G**), when so augmented, are subject to unpredictable under- or overestimating electron binding energies for dipole-bound anions. Whereas, when the aug-cc-pVDZ, aug-cc-pVTZ or other medium-size polarized (MSP) basis sets are so augmented, more reliable binding energies are obtained especially when the electron binding energy is calculated at the CCSD(T) level of theory. The issue of designing and centering the extra diffuse basis functions for the excess electron has also been studied, and our findings are discussed here. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 80: 1024–1038, 2000