New equation for calculating total interaction energy in one noncyclic ABC triad and new insights into cooperativity of noncovalent bonds

In this work, a new equation consist of A???B, B???C, A???BC, and AB???C interactions is proposed for calculating the total interaction energy of noncyclic ABC triads. New equations are also proposed for calculating the changes in values of A???B and B???C interactions on the formation of triad from the corresponding dyads. The advantages of equations proposed here in comparison with many‐body interaction energy approach are discussed. All proposed equations were tested in F₃MLi???NCH???HLH and F₃MLi???HLH???HCN (M = C, Si; L = Be, Mg) as well as H₃N???XY???HF (X, Y = F, Cl, Br) noncyclic A???B???C triads. The data show that the total cooperativity of triad correlates well with the sum of the changes in values of A???B and B???C interactions calculated through new equations proposed here. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.