MCSCF study of polaron- and bipolaron-like defects in small all-trans conjugated polyenes

A Multiconfigurational Self-Consistent Field study of neutral, singly and doubly ionized C₄H₆, C₆H₈, C₈H₁₀, and C₁₀H₁₂ as model systems for polaron and bipolaron defects in polyacetylene has been carried out. In all computations a double zeta quality basis set was used. The post-Hartree-Fock computations were carried out in the complete active π subspace and the fully optimized structures are reported. Comparison with SCF results reveals that the inclusion of electron correlation attenuates the double bond/single bond alternancy in conjugated polyenes as well as the charge waves associated with the cations.