The CO-CO interaction energy is calculated for several geometries, both by
the supermolecule MP4 and CCSD(T) methods, and by symmetry-adapted perturba
tion theory. Relatively large differences between the MP4 and CCSD(T) resul
ts are explained by means of a diagrammatic analysis of electron correlatio
n effects, supported by quantitative calculations of the fifth-order contri
butions to the electrostatic interaction energy. It follows from this analy
sis that the calculation of an accurate intermolecular potential for CO is
a particularly difficult problem: even the CCSD(T) method is not sufficient
ly reliable since it lacks important fifth-order correlation contributions.
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