When does a functional correctly describe both the structure and the energy of the transition state?

J Mol Model. 2017 Feb;23(2):65. doi: 10.1007/s00894-017-3229-8. Epub 2017 Feb 9.

Abstract

Requiring that several properties are well reproduced is a severe test on density functional approximations. This can be assessed through the estimation of joint and conditional success probabilities. An example is provided for a small set of molecules, for properties characterizing the transition states (geometries and energies).

Keywords: Benchmarks; Density functional theory; Method selection; Uncertainty quantification.