Quantum chemistry in solution by combining 3D integral equation theory with a cluster embedding approach

Free energy changes associated with chemical reactions in solution are treated by integral equation theory in the form of the 3D reference interaction site model (RISM) in combination with quantum-chemical calculations via an embedded cluster approach (EC-RISM). The electronic structure of the solute is computed self-consistently with the solvent structure by mapping the charge distribution of the solvent onto a set of discrete background point charges that are added to the molecular Hamiltonian. The EC-RISM procedure yields chemical accuracy in free energy predictions for several benchmark systems without adjusting empirical parameters. We apply the method to the standard reaction free energy for the gauche-trans equilibrium of 1,2-dichloroethane in water and to pK(a) shift calculations for trifluoroacetic acid/acetic acid and 4-nitroaniline/aniline in water.