An approach to generalize any kind of collinear functionals in density functional theory to non-collinear functionals is proposed. This approach, for the very first time, satisfies the correct collinear limit for any kind of functionals, guaranteeing that the exact collinear functional after generalized is still exact for collinear spins. Besides, it has well-defined and numerically stable functional derivatives, a desired feature for non-collinear and spin-flip time-dependent density functional theory. Furthermore, it provides local torque, hinting at its applications in spin dynamics.

17 pages, 10 figures