Substitution effect on the intermolecular halogen and hydrogen bonds of the σ‐bonded fluorinated pyridine···XY/HX complexes (XY = F2, Cl2, ClF; HX = HF,HCl)

Optimal structures, electronic and thermodynamic properties of the title complexes are presented. The stability of the hydrogen bonded systems is enhanced by the increasing dipole moments whereas in the halogen bonded systems it is also affected by the atom size in the diatomics. The consecutive addition of fluorine atoms to the pyridine moiety results in the decrease of the interaction energy for both types of the investigated bonds. The substitution on the meta sites in pyridine leads to more stable complexes than the substitution in the ortho position. The role of substitution on electric polarization and electrostatic forces is estimated by the symmetry‐adapted perturbation theory energy decomposition. The predicted Gibbs free energies of the complexes of mono fluorinated pyridines with HCl, HF, and ClF are from ?12 to ?22 kJ mol^?1 at 200 K. The possible experimental identification of the complexes with respect to the vibrational modes is discussed. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.