Two and three-body interatomic dispersion energy contributions to binding in molecules and solids

Numerical estimates of the leading two and three body dispersion energy terms in van der Waals (vdW) interactions are presented for a broad variety of molecules and solids. The calculations employ London and Axilrod-Teller-Muto expressions damped at short interatomic distances, where the required interatomic dispersion energy coefficients, C6 and C9, are computed from first-principles. The investigated systems include the S22 database of non-covalent interactions, benzene and ice crystals, bilayer graphene, fullerene dimer, a poly peptide (Ala10), an intercalated drug-DNA model (Ellipticine-d(CG)2), 42 DNA base pairs, a protein (DHFR, 2616 atoms), double stranded DNA (1905 atoms), and molecular crystals from a crystal structure blind test. We find that the 2 and 3-body interatomic dispersion energies contribute significantly to binding and cohesive energies, for some systems they can reach up to 50\% of experimental estimates of absolute binding. Our results suggest that interatomic 3-body dispersion potentials should be accounted for in atomistic simulations when modeling bulky molecules or condensed phase systems.