Calculating bond dissociation energies of X-H (X=C, N, O, S) bonds of aromatic systems via density functional theory: a detailed comparison of methods.

In this study, the performance of 17 different density functional theory functionals was compared for the calculation of the bond dissociation energy (BDE) values of X-H (X=C, N, O, S) bonds of aromatic compounds. The effect of the size of the basis set (expansions of 6-31(G)) was also assessed for the initial geometry and zero-point energy calculations, followed by the single-point BDE calculations with different model chemistries with the 6-311 + (3df,2p) basis set. It was found that the size of the basis set for geometry optimization has a much smaller effect on the accuracy of BDE than the choice of functional for the following single-point calculations. The M06-2X, M05-2X and M08-HX functionals yielded highly accurate BDE values compared to experimental data (with the average mean unsigned error MUE = 1.2-1.5 kcal mol), performing better than any of the other functionals. The results suggest that geometry optimization may be performed with B3LYP functional and a small basis set, whereas the M06-2X, M05-2X and M08-HX density functionals with a suitably large basis set offer the best method for calculating BDEs of ArX-H (X=C, N, O, S) bonds.