Density functional theory (DFT) finds increasing use in applications related to biological systems. Advancements in methodology and implementations have reached a point where predicted properties of reasonable to high quality can be obtained. Thus, DFT studies can complement experimental investigations, or even venture with some confidence into experimentally unexplored territory. In the present contribution, we provide an overview of the properties that can be calculated with DFT, such as geometries, energies, reaction mechanisms, and spectroscopic properties. A wide range of spectroscopic parameters is nowadays accessible with DFT, including quantities related to infrared and optical spectra, X-ray absorption and Mössbauer, as well as all of the magnetic properties connected with electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy except relaxation times. We highlight each of these fields of application with selected examples from the recent literature and comment on the capabilities and limitations of current methods.

Setting the stage for release of oxygen: Plants transform water into the oxygen we breathe using a protein-bound cluster of four manganese (Mn) ions and a calcium ion. Cox et al. now establish the precise electronic structure in that cluster immediately before formation of the O-O bond (see the Perspective by Britt and Oyala). Using the technique of electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, they confirm a hypothesis that all four Mn ions are octahedrally coordinated and in the 4+ oxidation state. Such clues to the efficiency of the photosynthetic process, so essential to life on Earth, may also facilitate the development of artificial waters-plitting catalysts. Science , this issue p. 804 ; see also p. 736