Towards the understanding of the spectroscopic behaviour of the C–H oscillator in C–HO hydrogen bonds: the effect of solvent polarity

The effect of solvent polarity versus specific C–HO contacts on the vibrational νC–H mode is studied using CHCl₃ as a model system. Ab initio SCI–PCM calculations show that the overall shift of the νC–H band, sometimes ascribed to the C–HO hydrogen bonding, can in fact be explained by the electrostatic interaction with a dielectric environment. The presence of a new νC–H band – assigned to the C–HO bonded forms – remains as the most reliable evidence of C–HO hydrogen bonding.