Global potential energy surfaces for the ground electronic states of the CO
2 and CS2 molecules are determined. We use the many-body single-value surfa
ces previously constructed by Murrell and Guo (J. Chem. Sec. Faraday Trans.
2 (1987) 83, 683) and refine their parameters by the non-linear least-squa
res method in order to reproduce the observed vibrational frequencies of ea
ch molecule. The fits are made by computing variationally the vibrational f
requencies using sets of optimal generalized internal coordinates. The qual
ity of the potentials is checked by computing vibrational frequencies of is
otopic species and highly excited vibrational energies nor included in the
fits. (C) 1999 Elsevier science B.V. All rights reserved.