Communication: DFT treatment of strong correlation in 3d transition-metal diatomics

Bonds between, and to, transition-metal atoms often involve strong electron correlation which cannot be handled by conventional density-functional-theory approximations. The recent “B13” functional of Becke [J. Chem. Phys. 138, 074109 (2013) and J. Chem. Phys. 138, 161101 (2013)] models dynamic, static, and strong correlation in an exact-exchange-based framework. We test B13 on bond energies of transition-metal diatomics in this work, with promising results.