An ab initio study of the influence of substituents and intramolecular hydrogen bonding on the carbonyl bond length and stretching force constant. I. Monosubstituted carbonyl compounds

The C?O bond length and f_C?O,C?O, the corresponding harmonic stretching force constant, are calculated ab initio using the 4-31G basis set (augmented by polarization functions on the sulfur and chlorine) with full geometry optimization for the monosubstituted carbonyl compounds RCHO, where R = H, CHO, CH?CH₂, CO₂H, CH?CHOH, OH, OC(?O)OH, OOH, S? H, Li, F, Cl, and NH₂. Straight-line relationships are found in plots of ln[f_C?O,C?O] vs. ln[r_C?O] for the series of compounds in which carbon atoms and oxygen atoms are bonded directly to the carbonyl carbon, in accordance with the empirical expression f = C′/rⁿ. The slopes and intercepts give n = 7.62 and 6.47, C′ = 62.6 and 48.6, for the lines with carbon and oxygen as the atom bonded directly to the carbonyl carbon, respectively. The point for formaldehyde lies very close to the C line, whereas the points for SH, Li, F, Cl, and NH₂ lie closer to the O line.