MOPAC NOTES


See also How to use MOPAC with PCMODEL

At the IU MolViz Facility, we use PCMODEL to prepare an input file for MOPAC, and to evaluate the molecular model generated by MOPAC. Methods for geometry optimization and transition state calculations are listed on this MOPAC-PCMODEL page.


The following table lists useful MOPAC keywords. A more complete description of these keywords and additional keywords are listed in the MOPAC hardcopy manual. The MOPAC keywords are specified on the top line of the MOPAC input file. See the Example MOPAC input file for details.

KEYWORD Description
Hamiltonians
PM3 Use the PM3 Hamiltonian
AM1 Use the AM1 Hamiltonian
MNDO Use the MNDO Hamiltonian
MNDO/3 Use the MNDO/3 Hamiltonian
CHARGE=## Total molecular charge
MMOK If system contains a peptide linkage, add 14 kcal/mol rotation energy barrier as an additional correction
NOMM Do not add the 14 kcal/mol rotation energy barrier to the peptide linkage
Routines
NLLSQ Non Linear Lease Squares routine. More prone to finding a local minimum or transition state "hilltop" than EF, but less likely to diverge
EF Eigenvector Following Routine---faster than NLLSQ, but can fail if far from minimum
DMAX Maximum step size for EF routine
HESS=1 Pre-calulates the Hessian matrix in the EF routine, which saves time
RECALC=# Recalculates the Hessian matriz for the EF routine every # steps.
RECALC=10 and DMAX=0.1 can be useful for difficult cases.
RECALC=1 and DMAX=0.05 will always find a stationary point if it exists.
GNORM=## Geometry optimization termination criterion. Normally GNORM=0.01 is easily good enough for all high-precision work.
PRECISE Increase criteria for terminating optimizations by 100-fold
DFP Specify the Davidson-Fletcher-Powell method (the Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno method is the default).
Transition State Calculations
SADDLE Transition State Calculation. See Transition State Example
XYZ Run SADDLE in cartesian coordinates (recommended)
BAR=## Maximum rate of change per step along a transsition state coordinate
Thermodynamic Calculations
FORCE Calculate force constants, which are then used to calculate vibrational frequencies via THERMO
THERMO Thermodynamic quantities are calculated
Electro-Static Surface Calculations
ESP Electro-Static Potential Energy Surface by Merz & Besler
NSURF=# Specifies the number of surface layers in ESP calculation
POTWRT Write surface points and electrostatic potential values to UNIT 21
SCALE Scaling factor for Van der Waals radii for 1st layer of Connolly surface in ESP
SCINCR=#.## increment between surface layers of ESP calculation
SLOPE=#.## Scale factor for MNDO charges in ESP calculation
WILLIAMS Substitute a Williams surface for the Connolly surface in ESP
Output
DIPOLE Reproduce the cartesial dipole moments
NOINTER Don't print interatomic distances. Reduces output file considerably
POLAR calculate polarizabilities
Misc.
T=## Maximum calculation time in seconds
0SCF Read in and produce output, but don't do calculation. Useful for validating input data
& Substitutes the next description line for another line of keywords
+ The next line is added as a keyword line without deleting a description line


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Last updated: 01/23/2001