Quantitative prediction of gas-phase 19F nuclear magnetic shielding constants.

Benchmark calculations of (19)F nuclear magnetic shielding constants are presented for a set of 28 molecules. Near-quantitative accuracy (ca. 2 ppm deviation from experiment) is achieved if (1) electron correlation is adequately treated by employing the coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) model augmented by a perturbative correction for triple excitations [CCSD(T)], (2) large (uncontracted) basis sets are used, (3) gauge-including atomic orbitals are used to ensure gauge-origin independence, (4) calculations are performed at accurate equilibrium geometries [obtained from CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ calculations correlating all electrons], and (5) vibrational averaging and temperature corrections via second-order vibrational perturbation theory (VPT2) are included.