Assessment of the Performance of the M05−2X and M06−2X Exchange-Correlation Functionals for Noncovalent Interactions in Biomolecules

The highly parametrized, empirical exchange-correlation functionals, M05-2X and M06-2X, developed by Zhao and Truhlar have been shown to describe noncovalent interactions better than density functionals which are currently in common use. However, these methods have yet to be fully benchmarked for the types of interactions important in biomolecules. M05-2X and M06-2X are claimed to capture "medium-range" electron correlation; however, the "long-range" electron correlation neglected by these functionals can also be important in the binding of noncovalent complexes. Here we test M05-2X and M06-2X for the nucleic acid base pairs in the JSCH-2005 database. Using the CCSD(T) binding energies as a benchmark, the…