Modeling the solvent as a polarizable continuum, rather than individual molecules, makes ab initio computation more readily achievable.
Two types of PCMs have been popularly used: the dielectric PCM (D-PCM), in which the continuum is polarizable (see dielectrics), and the conductor-like PCM (C-PCM), in which the continuum is conductor-like, similar to the COSMO Solvation Model.
[1] The PCM solvation model is available for calculating energies and gradients at the Hartree–Fock and density functional theory (DFT) levels in several quantum chemical computational packages such as Gaussian, GAMESS[3] and JDFTx.
The authors of a 2002 paper observe that PCM has limitations where non-electrostatic effects dominate the solute-solvent interactions.
They write in the abstract: "Since only electrostatic solute-solvent interactions are included in the PCM, our results lead to the conclusion that, for the seven molecules studied, in cyclohexane, acetone, methanol, and acetonitrile electrostatic effects are dominant while in carbon tetrachloride, benzene, and chloroform other nonelectrostatic effects are more important.