  Repulsive short-range and attractive long-range van der Waals (vdW) forces
have an appreciable role in the behavior of extended molecular systems. When
using empirical force fields - the most popular computational methods applied
to such systems - vdW forces are typically described by Lennard-Jones-like
potentials, which unfortunately have a limited predictive power. Here, we
present a universal parameterization of a quantum-mechanical vdW potential,
which requires only two free-atom properties - the static dipole polarizability
$\alpha_1$ and the dipole-dipole $C_6$ dispersion coefficient. This is achieved
by deriving the functional form of the potential from the quantum Drude
oscillator (QDO) model, employing scaling laws for the equilibrium distance and
the binding energy as well as applying the microscopic law of corresponding
states. The vdW-QDO potential is shown to be accurate for vdW binding energy
curves, as demonstrated by comparing to ab initio binding curves of 21
noble-gas dimers. The functional form of the vdW-QDO potential has the correct
asymptotic behavior both at zero and infinite distances. In addition, it is
shown that the damped vdW-QDO potential can accurately describe vdW
interactions in dimers consisting of group II elements. Finally, we demonstrate
the applicability of the atom-in-molecule vdW-QDO model for predicting accurate
dispersion energies for molecular systems. The present work makes an important
step towards constructing universal vdW potentials, which could benefit
(bio)molecular computational studies.
