Analysis of the delocalization in the topological theory of chemical bond

The topological analysis of the gradient field of the electron localization function provides a convenient theoretical framework for the partition of the molecular space into basins of attractors having a clear chemical meaning. The basin populations are evaluated by integrating the one-electron density over the basins. The variance of the basin population provides a measure of the delocalization. The behavior of the core C(X) and protonated valence basins V(X, H) populations have been investigated. The analysis of the population variance in terms of cross-contributions is presented for aromatic and antiaromatic systems, hypervalent molecules and hydrogen-bonded complexes. For hypervalent molecules this analysis emphasizes the importance of the ionic resonance structures. q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.