Gaussian-2 theory using reduced Møller-Plesset orders

Two variations of Gaussian-2 (G2) theory are presented. In the first, referred to as G2 (MP2) theory, the basis-set-extension energy corrections are obtained at the 2nd order Møller-Plesset (MP2) level and in the second, referred to as G2(MP3) theory, they are obtained at the MP3 level. The methods are tested out on the set of 125 systems used for validation of G2 theory [J. Chem Phys. 94, 7221 (1991)]. The average absolute deviation of the G2(MP2) and G2(MP3) theories from experiment are 1.58 and 1.52 kcal/mol, respectively, compared to 1.21 kcal/mol for G2 theory. The new methods provide significant savings in computational time and disk storage.