Structures and Electronic Properties of HOCl···HCOCl Complexes

B3LYP/6-311++G** and MP2/6-311++G** calculations were used to analyze the interaction between hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and formyl chloride (HCOCl). The results showed that there were four equilibrium geometries (S1, S2, S3, and S4) optimized at B3LYP/6-311++G** level, and all the equilibrium geometries were confirmed to be in stable states by analytical frequency calculations. Complexes S1 and S3 use the 5H atom of HOCl as proton donor and the terminal 1O atom of HCOCl as acceptor to form red shift hydrogen bond systems. However, the blue-shifted hydrogen bond (2C-3H···6O) coexists with 4Cl···5O interaction in structures S2. As for S4, it uses the 7Cl atom of HOCl as proton donor and the terminal 1O atom of HCOCl as acceptor to form red shift halogen bond system. Interaction energies between monomers in the four complexes corrected with basis set superposition error (BSSE) and zero-point vibrational energy (ZPVE) lie in the range from −5.05 to −14.76 kJ·mol⁻¹ at MP2/6-311++G** level. The natural bond orbital (NBO) and atoms in molecules (AIM) theories have also been applied to explain the structures and the properties of the complexes.