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Abstract

Improved versions of the segmented all-electron relativistically contracted (SARC) basis sets for the lanthanides are presented. The second-generation SARC2 basis sets maintain efficient construction of their predecessors and their individual adaptation to the DKH2 and ZORA Hamiltonians, but feature exponents optimized with a completely new orbital shape fitting procedure and a slightly expanded f space that results in sizable improvement in CASSCF energies and in significantly more accurate prediction of spin–orbit coupling parameters. Additionally, an extended set of polarization/correlation functions is constructed that is appropriate for multireference correlated calculations and new auxiliary basis sets for use in resolution-of-identity (density-fitting) approximations in combination with both DFT and wave function based treatments. Thus, the SARC2 basis sets extend the applicability of the first-generation DFT-oriented basis sets to routine all-electron wave function-based treatments of lanthanide complexes. The new basis sets are benchmarked with respect to excitation energies, radial distribution functions, optimized geometries, orbital eigenvalues, ionization potentials, and spin–orbit coupling parameters of lanthanide systems and are shown to be suitable for the description of magnetic and spectroscopic properties using both DFT and multireference wave function-based methods.