Cooperativity in hydrogen-bonded interactions: ab initio and "atoms in molecules" analyses

The H(2)CO...(HF)(n) (n = 1, ..., 9) complexes were investigated using the MP2 method and the following basis sets: 6-311++G(d,p), aug-cc-pVDZ and aug-cc-pVTZ. It was found that the cooperativity effect enhances significantly the F-H...O hydrogen bond; in some of cases one can detect the covalent nature of hydrogen bonding. To deepen the nature of the interactions investigated, the scheme of decomposition of the interaction energy was applied; for stronger H-bonds where the cooperativity is more important, the delocalization energy term increases. The ratio of delocalization energy to electrostatic energy increases for stronger hydrogen bonds where the proton...acceptor distance is shorter. The Bader theory was also applied, and it was found that for stronger H-bonds the electronic energy density at the proton...acceptor bond critical point is negative and may be attributed to the partly covalent interaction.     

How short can the H...H intermolecular contact be? New findings that reveal the covalent nature of extremely strong interactions

Ab initio calculations at the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) and MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ//MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ levels have been performed for the following complexes: H2OH+...HBeH, H2OH+...HBeBeH, H2OH+...HBeF, HClOH+...HBeH, Cl2OH+...HBeH, and Cl2OH+...HBeF. For all dimers considered, extremely short H...H intermolecular contacts (1.0-1.3 A) were obtained. These are the shortest intermolecular distances which have ever been reported, with binding energies within the range of 13.7-24.3 kcal/mol (MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ//MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ level). The interaction energies of the complexes analyzed were also extrapolated to the complete basis set (CBS) limit. To explain the nature of such strong interactions, the Bader theory was applied, and the characteristics of the bond critical points (BCPs) were analyzed. It was pointed out that for the major part of the H...H contacts considered here the Laplacian of the electron density at H...H BCP is negative indicating the partly covalent nature of such a connection. The term "covalent character of the hydrogen bond" used sometimes in recent studies is discussed. An analysis of the interaction energy components for dihydrogen bonded systems considered indicates that in contrast to conventional hydrogen bonded systems the attractive electrostatic term is outweighed by the repulsive exchange energy term and that the higher order delocalization energy term is the most important attractive term.     

The possible covalent nature of N-H...O hydrogen bonds in formamide dimer and related systems: an ab initio study

The N-H...O hydrogen bonds are analyzed for formamide dimer and its simple fluorine derivatives representing a wide spectrum of more or less covalent interactions. The calculations were performed at the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level of approximation. To explain the nature of such interactions, the Bader theory was also applied, and the characteristics of the bond critical points (BCPs) were analyzed: the electron density at BCP and its Laplacian, the electron energy density at BCP and its components, the potential electron energy density, and the kinetic electron energy density. These parameters are used to justify the statement that some of the interactions analyzed are partly covalent in nature. An analysis of the interaction energy components for the systems considered indicates that the covalent character of the hydrogen bond is manifested by a markedly increased contribution of the delocalization term relative to the electrostatic interaction energy. Moreover, the ratio of stabilizing the delocalization/electrostatic contributions grows linearly with the decreasing lengths of the hydrogen bond.     

Electron propagator theory study of N-/O-methylglycine conformers

The low-lying conformers of N-/O-methylglycine are studied by ab initio calculations at the B3LYP, MP3, and MP4(SDQ) levels of theory with the aug-cc-pVDZ basis set. The conformers having the intramolecular hydrogen bonds N-H...O=C or O-H...N are more stable than the others. Vertical ionization energies for the valence molecular orbitals of each conformer predicted with the electron propagator theory in the partial third-order quasiparticle approximation are in good agreement with the experimental data available in the literatures. The relative energies of the conformers and comparison between the simulated and the experimental photoelectron spectra demonstrate that there are at least three and two conformers of N- and O-methylglycine, respectively, in the gas-phase experiments. The intramolecular hydrogen bonding O-H...N effects on the molecular electronic structures are discussed for the glycine methyl derivatives, on the basis of the ab initio electronic structure calculations, natural orbital bond, and atoms-in-molecules analyses. The intramolecular hydrogen bonding O-H...N interactions hardly affect the electronic structures of the O-NH2-CH2-C(=O)-O-CH3 and alpha-methylated NH2-CH2-C(CH3)OOH conformers, while the similar intramolecular interactions lead to the significantly lower-energy levels of the highest occupied molecular orbitals for the N-(CH3-NH-CH2-COOH) and beta-methylated (NH2-CH2-CH2-COOH) conformers.     

Modeling of hydrogen bonds in monohydrated 2,4-dithiothymine: an ab initio and AIM study

Twelve tautomers of 2,4-dithiothymine are calculated at the MP2/6-31+G(d) level, and the most stable one is referred to the di-keto form (P12). Then four H-bonded complexes between P12 and water are optimized at the MP2/6-31+G(d) level of theory. The calculation of vibrational frequencies and natural bond orbital analysis are also carried out at the same level to investigate the hydrogen bonds involved in all the systems. Within all the four complexes, three types of hydrogen bonds are formed, in which the O-H...S and N-H...O bonds are the normal bonds with the X-H bond elongation and red shift of the corresponding stretch frequencies, while the C-H...O interaction is an improper, blue-shifting hydrogen bond accompanied with the contraction of the C-H bond and a blue shift of the C-H stretch frequency. The topological properties are investigated with the atoms-in-molecules (AIM) theory. The NMR chemical shielding for the isolated and the four monohydrated 2,4-dithiothymine are calculated using the "gauge-including atomic orbital" (GIAO) method. The 1H chemical shifts are influenced by the formation of hydrogen bonds.     

Aromaticity-controlled tautomerism and resonance-assisted hydrogen bonding in heterocyclic enaminone-iminoenol systems

The contribution of aromaticity and intramolecular hydrogen bonding to relative stability, for a set of (1H-azahetero-2-ylidene)-acetaldehyde and 2-azahetero-2-yl-ethanol tautomeric pairs, has been investigated by means of quantum chemical DFT and ab initio methods up to the MP4(SDTQ)/AUG-cc-pVDZ and MP2/AUG-cc-pVTZ levels of theory. It is found that the relative energy of the tautomers is governed by the change in the degree of heterocycle aromaticity upon intramolecular hydrogen transfer. An analysis of geometrical parameters of a hydrogen-bonded system reveals a clear relationship between the aromaticity of the heterocycle, the conjugation in a resonant spacer, and the strengths of the intramolecular hydrogen bonds. This allows the conclusion to be drawn that intramolecular N-H...O and O-H...N hydrogen bonds formed are found to be resonance-assisted and their strength is dependent on the pi-donating/accepting properties of the heterocycle. On the basis of the results of the calculations, a simple model describing the mechanism of resonance assistance of hydrogen bonding has been suggested.     

Estimation of intramolecular hydrogen bond energy via molecular tailoring approach

A novel method, based on the molecular tailoring approach for estimating intramolecular hydrogen bond energies, is proposed. Here, as a case study, the O-H...O bond energy is directly estimated by addition/subtraction of the single point individual fragment energies. This method is tested on polyhydroxy molecules at MP2 and B3LYP levels of theory. It is seen to be able to distinguish between weak ( approximately 1 kcal mol(-1)) and moderately strong ( approximately 5 kcal mol(-1)) hydrogen bonds in polyhydroxy molecules.     

C-H...N and C-H...S hydrogen bonds--influence of hybridization on their strength

Simple complexes connected through C-H...S and C-H...N interactions are investigated: CH4...NH3, C2H4...NH3, C2H2...NH3, CH4...SH2, C2H4...SH2, and C2H2...SH2. Ab initio and DFT calculations are performed (SCF, MP2, B3LYP) using different basis sets up to the MP2/aug-cc-pVQZ//MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level of approximation. The Bader theory is applied since MP2/6-311++G(d,p) wave functions are used to find and to characterize bond critical points in terms of electron densities and their Laplacians. The influence of hybridization on the properties of C-H...S and C-H...N systems is also studied showing that the strength of such interactions increases in the following order: C(sp3)-H...Y, C(sp2)-H...Y, C(sp)-H...Y, where Y = S, N--it is in line with the previous findings on C-H...O hydrogen bonds. The results also show that CH4...SH2 and C2H4...SH2 complexes should be rather classified as van der Waals interactions and not as hydrogen bonds. The frequency associated with the C-H stretch of C(sp3)-H...S is blue-shifted.     

Cooperativity between OH...O and CH...O hydrogen bonds involving dimethyl sulfoxide-H2O-H2O complex

The cooperativity between the O-H...O and C-H...O hydrogen bonds has been studied by quantum chemical calculations at the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level in gaseous phase and at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level in solution. The interaction energies of the O-H...O and C-H...O H-bonds are increased by 53 and 58%, respectively, demonstrating that there is a large cooperativity. Analysis of hydrogen-bonding lengths, OH bond lengths, and OH stretching frequencies also supports such a conclusion. By NBO analysis, it is found that orbital interaction plays a great role in enhancing their cooperativity. The strength increase of the C-H...O H-bond is larger than that of the O-H...O H-bond due to the cooperativity. The solvent has a weakening effect on the cooperativity.     

Unusual electron charge density in carboxylic acid. 17O quadrupole coupling in cis-cyclobutane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid

The (17)O NQR frequencies have been measured in cis-cyclobutane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid and the quadrupole coupling tensors have been determined at various temperatures. Two O···H oxygen positions and two O-H oxygen positions are observed, showing the presence of two different types of O-H···O hydrogen bonds in the unit cell. The quadrupole coupling constants at the O-H oxygen positions are approximately 30% lower than the lowest quadrupole coupling constants experimentally observed at the C-O-H positions in other carboxylic acids with either ordered or disordered hydrogen bonds. The O-H distances have been calculated from the (17)O-(1)H dipole-dipole interaction at the O-H oxygen positions. The obtained values are longer than the O-H distances usually found in O-H···O hydrogen bonds with comparable O···O distance, in agreement with the proposed proton exchange O-H···O ? O···H-O, which partially averages the dipole-dipole interaction. The energy difference of the two proton configurations, O-H···O and O···H-O, is calculated from the O-H distances determined by NQR. The temperature dependence of the (17)O quadrupole coupling tensors at the (17)O···H-O oxygen positions is analyzed in the model of proton exchange and the energy differences of the two proton configurations obtained by this analysis agree with the values obtained from the O-H distances. The quadrupole coupling tensors are analyzed in a model based on the Townes and Dailey model. The model shows that the population of an oxygen lone pair orbital is at this oxygen position reduced from 2 to approximately 1.3. The electron electric charge is most probably transferred to the oxygen σ and π electron orbitals. This may be associated with the structure of the cyclobutane ring, where the X-ray data show the presence of two unusually short C-C bonds.     

How to determine whether intramolecular H...H interactions can be classified as dihydrogen bonds

Different types of intramolecular H...H interactions have been analyzed using the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level of approximation. These are C-H...H-B, C-H...H-Al, C-H...H-C, C-H...H-O, O-H...H-Al and O-H...H-B contacts. Quantum theory of atoms in molecules and natural bond orbitals methods were applied to better understand the nature of these interactions. It was found that some of the species analyzed possess the characteristics of typical hydrogen bonds, such as the O-H...O ones. The electron charge transfer from the Lewis base to the antibonding X-H (for example O-H) orbital of the Lewis acid is one such characteristic. The NBO method may be considered decisive to classify any system as dihydrogen bonded.     

Molecular structures of benzoic acid and 2-hydroxybenzoic acid, obtained by gas-phase electron diffraction and theoretical calculations

The structures of benzoic acid (C6H5COOH) and 2-hydroxybenzoic acid (C6H4OHCOOH) have been determined in the gas phase by electron diffraction using results from quantum chemical calculations to inform restraints used on the structural parameters. Theoretical methods (HF and MP2/6-311+G(d,p)) predict two conformers for benzoic acid, one which is 25.0 kJ mol(-1) (MP2) lower in energy than the other. In the low-energy form, the carboxyl group is coplanar with the phenyl ring and the O-H group eclipses the C=O bond. Theoretical calculations (HF and MP2/6-311+G(d,p)) carried out for 2-hydroxybenzoic acid gave evidence for seven stable conformers but one low-energy form (11.7 kJ mol(-1) lower in energy (MP2)) which again has the carboxyl group coplanar with the phenyl ring, the O-H of the carboxyl group eclipsing the C=O bond and the C=O of the carboxyl group oriented toward the O-H group of the phenyl ring. The effects of internal hydrogen bonding in 2-hydroxybenzoic acid can be clearly observed by comparison of pertinent structural parameters between the two compounds. These differences for 2-hydroxybenzoic acid include a shorter exocyclic C-C bond, a lengthening of the ring C-C bond between the substituents, and a shortening of the carboxylic single C-O bond.     

Theory Studies on the Intermolecular Interactions of Urea Nitrate with RDX

Six fully optimized geometries of urea nitrate cation and RDX complexes have been obtained with DFT-B3LYP and MP2 methods at the 6-311++G** level. The intermolecular interaction energies have been calculated with basis set superposition error (BSSE) and zero point energy (ZPE) correction. The nature of intermolecular interaction has been revealed by the analysis of AIM and NBO. The results indicate that the greatest binding energy of urea nitrate with RDX is –82.47kJ/mol. The O–H…O and N–H…O hydrogen bonds are important intermolecular interactions of urea nitrate cation with RDX, and the origin of hydrogen bonds is the oxygen atom offering its lone-pair electrons to the σ(O-H)* or σ(O-H)* antibonding orbital. The intermolecular interactions strengthen the N–NO2 bond, leading to the reduced sensitivity of urea nitrate and RDX mixture explosive.     

Theoretical studies for Lewis acid-base interactions and C-H...O weak hydrogen bonding in various CO2 complexes

Comprehension of the basic concepts for the design of CO2-philic molecules is important due to the possibility for "green" chemistry in supercritical CO2 of substitute solvent systems. Lewis acid-base interactions and C-H...O weak hydrogen bonding were suggested as two key factors in the solubility of CO2-philic molecules. To isolate the stabilization energy of weak hydrogen bonding from the overall binding energy, high-level quantum mechanical calculations were performed for the van der Waals complexes of CO2 with methane, methylacetate, dimethylether, acetaldehyde, and 1,2-dimethoxyethane. Structures and energies were calculated at the MP2 level of theory using the 6-31+G(d) and aug-cc-pVDZ basis sets with basis set superposition error corrections. In addition, the single-point energies were calculated using recently developed multilevel methods. This study shows that the Lewis acid-base interaction has a significant impact on the complex stability compared to the C-H...O weak hydrogen bond. The additional stabilization energy of the cooperative weak hydrogen bond with alpha-proton of the carbonyl group was negligible on the enhancement of supercritical CO2 solubility. However, the stabilization energy was larger for the ether group, such that it may have an important role in increasing the supercritical CO2 solubility. Additional formation of cooperative weak hydrogen bonds may not further increase the solubility due to the stability reduction by steric hindrance.     

Theoretical study of binding interactions and vibrational Raman spectra of water in hydrogen-bonded anionic complexes: (H2O)n- (n = 2 and 3), H2O...X- (X = F, Cl, Br, and I), and H2O...M- (M = Cu, Ag, and Au)

Binding interactions and Raman spectra of water in hydrogen-bonded anionic complexes have been studied by using the hybrid density functional theory method (B3LYP) and ab initio (MP2) method. In order to explore the influence of hydrogen bond interactions and the anionic effect on the Raman intensities of water, model complexes, such as the negatively charged water clusters ((H2O)n-, n = 2 and 3), the water...halide anions (H2O...X-, X = F, Cl, Br, and I), and the water-metal atom anionic complexes (H2O...M-, M = Cu, Ag, and Au), have been employed in the present calculations. These model complexes contained different types of hydrogen bonds, such as O-H...X-, O-H...M-, O-H...O, and O-H...e-. In particular, the last one is a dipole-bound electron involved in the anionic water clusters. Our results showed that there exists a large enhancement in the off-resonance Raman intensities of both the H-O-H bending mode and the hydrogen-bonded O-H stretching mode, and the enhancement factor is more significant for the former than for the latter. The reasons for these spectral properties can be attributed to the strong polarization effect of the proton acceptors (X-, M-, O, and e-) in these hydrogen-bonded complexes. We proposed that the strong Raman signal of the H-O-H bending mode may be used as a fingerprint to address the local microstructures of water molecules in the chemical and biological systems.     

Cooperative effects in extended hydrogen bonded systems involving O?H groups. Ab initio studies of the cyclic S4 water tetramer

The additional energy stabilization due to cooperative effects was calculated in extended hydrogen bonded systems O? H ?O? H ?O? H with unidirectional (homodromic) orientation of the O? H groups. Ab initio restricted Hartree Fock, MP2 and MP3 calculations with geometry optimization and BSSE correction have been performed using the GAUSSIAN 83 program package for the ground states of the linear water dimer with C_s symmetry and the cyclic water tetramer with S₄ symmetry. The latter represents the smallest possible, experimentally observed cooperative structure. A new definition for a cooperativity parameter is proposed. The definition is based on the two-body, non-neighbour interaction energy, plus three- and four-body contributions, including one-body deformation terms in relation to the total interaction energy of the water tetramer. The advantage of this definition is its independence of the reference system, which is necessary in complicated molecular systems with an undefined number of hydrogen bonds, such as disordered or flip-flop systems. According to this definition the energy gain based on cooperativity in the S₄ water tetramer is 29% with the MP3/6-31G** approximation, (30% with HF/4-31G* and 46% with HF/3-21G). The largest contribution of 18% is due to the three-body term on the MP3/6-31G** level, followed by the two-body, non-neighbour term with 11%. The four-body term and the deformation term are in the order of 1% and cancel each other because they have opposite sign.     

Theoretical model for a tetrad of hydrogen bonds and its application to interpretation of infrared spectra of salicylic acid

Theoretical model of vibrational interactions in hydrogen-bonded salicylic acid dimer is presented which takes into account the adiabatic couplings between high- and low-frequency O-H and O...O stretching vibrations, resonance interactions between both intermolecular hydrogen bonds and between inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonds, and Fermi resonance between the O-H stretching fundamental and the first overtone of the O-H in-plane bending vibrations. The model is used for theoretical simulation of the nu(s) stretching bands of salicylic acid and its OD derivative at 300 K. The effect of deuteration is successfully reproduced by our model. Infrared, far infrared, Raman, and low-frequency Raman spectra of the polycrystalline salicylic acid and its deuterated derivative have been measured. The geometry and experimental frequencies are compared with the results of density-functional theory calculations performed at the B3LYP6-31 ++ G**, B3LYP/cc-pVTZ, B3PW916-31 ++ G**, and B3PW91/cc-pVTZ levels. O-H, O-D, and O...O stretching frequencies are used in theoretical simulation of the nu(s) stretching bands.     

Interpretation of hydrogen bonding in the weak and strong regions using conceptual DFT descriptors

Hydrogen bonding is among the most fundamental interactions in biology and chemistry, providing an extra stabilization of 1-40 kcal/mol to the molecular systems involved. This wide range of stabilization energy underlines the need for a general and comprehensive theory that will explain the formation of hydrogen bonds. While a simple electrostatic model is adequate to describe the bonding patterns in the weak and moderate hydrogen bond regimes, strong hydrogen bonds, on the other hand, require a more complete theory due to the appearance of covalent interactions. In this study, conceptual DFT tools such as local hardness, eta(r) and local softness, s(r), have been used in order to get an alternative view on solving this hydrogen-bonding puzzle as described by Gilli et al. [J. Mol. Struct. 2000, 552, 1]. A series of both homonuclear and heteronuclear resonance-assisted hydrogen bonds of the types O-H...N, N-H...O, N-H...N, and O-H...O with strength varying from weak to very strong have been studied. First of all, DeltaPA and DeltapK(a) values were calculated and correlated to the hydrogen bond energy. Then the electrostatic effects were examined as hard-hard interactions accessible through molecular electrostatic potential, natural population analysis (NPA) charge, and local hardness calculations. Finally, secondary soft-soft interaction effects were entered into the picture described by the local softness values, providing insight into the covalent character of the strong hydrogen bonds.     

Charge-assisted intramolecular hydrogen bonds in disubstituted cyclohexane derivatives

In this paper, the N(+)-H···N, N(+)-H···O, and O-H···O(-) charge-assisted intramolecular hydrogen bonds (CAHBs) are investigated using different theoretical approaches. Monocharged cyclohexyldiamines (CHDA), aminocyclohexanols (ACHO), and cyclohexanediols (CHDO) are used as model compounds. Geometry optimizations at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level are used to find the equilibrium structures for all possible H-bonded conformers. CAHBs are characterized geometrically and spectroscopically, and their energy is evaluated by means of homodesmic reactions. By comparison with the neutral forms, the presence of the charge is found to have a deep influence on the geometric and energetic H-bond parameters. In addition, these parameters are strongly dependent on the type of the groups involved as well as on their relative position in the cyclohexyl ring. For the systems under study, the H-bond energies vary from -23 to -113 kJ mol(-1), being classified from moderate to strong H-bonds. These H-bonds are also characterized by the application of the NBO and AIM theories. NBO analysis reveals that the energy corresponding to the charge transfer between the lone-pairs of the electron donor group and the antibonding orbitals of the acceptor group represents an important contribution in the H-bond stabilization. From the application of the AIM theory it is possible to see that these H-bonds possess some covalence which varies according to the type and relative position of the intervenient groups.     

Conformation effects on the electronic structures of beta-alanine

Ten low-lying conformers of beta-alanine have been studied by the hybrid density functional B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ method. Energetic extrapolation calculations at the MP3 and MP4(SDQ) levels of theory and the theoretical photoelectron spectra simulated with the electron propagation theory demonstrate that there are at least three gauche conformers (G1, G2, and G3) in gas-phase experiments. The calculated ionization potentials are in good agreement with the experimental data available in the literature. Natural bond orbital and atoms-in-molecules analyses exhibit a remarkable influence on the molecular electronic structures by the strong intramolecular hydrogen bonding O-H...N in the neutral conformer G2. Remarkable internal rotations of the COOH group are found in the cationic G1+ and G3+ with respect to the neutral conformers. A distonic [NH3+-(CH2)2-COO*] radical can be formed through the spontaneous intramolecular proton transfer in G2+. A novel intramolecular hydrogen bonding, C-H...O, is found in the anti A1+ cation.