Calculation of indirect nuclear spin-spin coupling constants within the regular approximation for relativistic effects

A new method for calculating the indirect nuclear spin-spin coupling constant within the regular approximation to the exact relativistic Hamiltonian is presented. The method is completely analytic in the sense that it does not employ numeric integration for the evaluation of relativistic corrections to the molecular Hamiltonian. It can be applied at the level of conventional wave function theory or density functional theory. In the latter case, both pure and hybrid density functionals can be used for the calculation of the quasirelativistic spin-spin coupling constants. The new method is used in connection with the infinite-order regular approximation with modified metric (IORAmm) to calculate the spin-spin coupling constants for molecules containing heavy elements. The importance of including exact exchange into the density functional calculations is demonstrated. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.