Geometric and vibrational spectroscopic data (rotational
constants, bond distances and angles, vibrational
frequencies, IR intensities, and OH/OD isotope effects) of phenol,
benzaldehyde, and salicylaldehyde as
calculated at various levels of theory (HF/6-31G(d,p),
HF/6-311++G(d,p), MP2/6-31G(d,p),
B3P86/6-31G(d,p), BLYP/6-31G(d,p), B3LYP/6-31G(d,p), and
B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p)) are reported. The theoretical
results
are discussed mainly in terms of comparisons with available
experimental data. For geometric data (rotational
constants and bond distances) the best agreement between theory and
experiment is obtained at the MP2 and
B3LYP levels. B3P86 calculated data are slightly worse, while HF
and BLYP calculations yield distinctly
too small and too large bond distances, respectively. B3LYP
calculated vibrational spectroscopic data
excellently agree with experimental IR spectra for phenol, phenol-OD,
and benzaldehyde, and with minor
restrictions, also for salicylaldehyde and salicylaldehyde-OD.
Considering frequency sequences, IR intensities,
and OH/OD isotope effects, reliable and consistent assignments are
given. BLYP and B3P86 calculated
vibrational spectroscopic data are slightly worse, whereas MP2 and HF
calculations suffer from several
shortcomings that are already known from calculations of smaller
molecules, such as benzene.