An ab initio investigation of the Buckingham birefringence of furan, thiophene and selenophene in cyclohexane solution

Using a recently developed quadratic-response methodology for the calculation of frequency-dependent third-order properties of molecules in solution, we investigate the Buckingham birefringence of furan, thiophene and selenophene in cyclohexane solution. These systems are chosen since accurate experimental data are available, allowing for a direct comparison of experimental observations with our theoretical estimates. Our model for describing the solvent effects is based on a dielectric continuum approach for the solvent, and uses a molecule-shaped cavity. Our results show qualitatively different Buckingham constants and effective quadrupole centers calculated with and without the solvent, and only when the solvent is included are the qualitative trends observed experimentally reproduced. It is demonstrated that a significant part of this effect arises from the geometry relaxation of the molecules in the solvent.