A Mountaineering Strategy to Excited States: Accurate Vertical Transition Energies and Benchmarks for Substituted Benzenes

Abstract: To expand the existing QUEST database of accurate vertical transition energies [\href{https://doi.org/10.1002/wcms.1517}{V\'eril et al.~\textit{WIREs Comput.~Mol.~Sci.} \textbf{2021}, \textit{11}, e1517}], we have modeled more than 100 electronic excited states of different natures (local, charge-transfer, Rydberg, singlet, and triplet) in a dozen of mono- and di-substituted benzenes, including aniline, benzonitrile, chlorobenzene, fluorobenzene, nitrobenzene, among others. To establish theoretical best estimates for these vertical excitation energies, we have employed advanced coupled-cluster methods including iterative triples (CC3 and CCSDT) and, when technically possible, iterative quadruples (CC4). These high-level computational approaches provide a robust foundation for benchmarking a series of popular wave function methods. The evaluated methods all include contributions from double excitations (ADC(2), CC2, CCSD, CIS(D), EOM-MP2, STEOM-CCSD), along with schemes that also incorporate perturbative or iterative triples (ADC(3), CCSDR(3), CCSD(T)(a)$^\star$, and CCSDT-3). This systematic exploration not only broadens the scope of the QUEST database but also facilitates a rigorous assessment of different theoretical approaches in the framework of a homologous chemical series, offering valuable insights into the accuracy and reliability of these methods in such cases. We found that both ADC(2.5) and CCSDT-3 can provide consistent estimates, whereas among less expensive methods SCS-CC2 is likely the most effective approach. Importantly, we show that some lower order methods may offer reasonable trends in the homologous series while providing quite large average errors, and \emph{vice versa}. Consequently, benchmarking the accuracy of a model based solely on absolute transition energies may not be meaningful for applications involving a series of similar compounds.