A new approach to empirical intermolecular and conformational potential energy functions. II. Applications to crystal packing, rotational barriers, and conformational analysis.

An empirical potential energy function based on the interactions of electrons and nuclei (EPEN) has been tested on molecules other than those used for its parameterization. The results indicate that this energy function is able to predict reliably the lowest energy conformations, the potential energy differences between conformations, rotational barrier heights, and dipole moments for a series of alkanes, amines, alcohols, and carbohydrates. Crystal packing studies on n-hexane, n-octane, methylamine, methanol, and alpha-d-glucose, using this same potential, indicate that it is also reliable for calculating intermolecular interaction energies and low-energy orientations.