Figure presents some examples of MECPs optimized using SF-TDDFT (with the BH&HLYP functional) in comparison to results from multireference electronic structure methods. In each case, the MECP obtained using SF-TDDFT is nearly indistinguishable from the benchmark multireference result. The test set includes five MECPs for adenine and two MECPs for a truncated model of the retinal protonated Schiff Although applications of SF-TDDFT have been somewhat limited to date, the method has been used to map out potential energy surfaces and/or locate critical points for a variety of small molecules, including both uracil and thymine, where the goal in both cases was to rationalize observed differences between the excited-state lifetime in the gas phase versus that in aqueous solution. Detailed photoisomerization pathways have also been mapped out for cis → trans photoisomerization in stilbene, and for the photochemical ring-opening of cyclohexadiene. The method has been combined with exhaustive search algorithms in an attempt to elucidate all of the critical points (minima, transition states, and MECPs) for the S 0 and S 1 states of ethylene, 1,3-butadiene, thymine, and a coumarin dye.