Substituent effect on intramolecular hydrogen bonding in 2‐hydroxybenzaldehyde

The effect of some substituents on intramolecular hydrogen bonding of 5‐X‐2‐hydroxybenzaldehyde (5‐X‐2‐HBA) has been studied by B3LYP and MP2 methods using 6‐311++G** and AUG‐cc‐PVTZ basis sets. The relationship between hydrogen bond energy E_HB and electron donation (or withdrawal) of substituents has been investigated. An approximately good linear relationship has been detected between Hammett coefficients and hydrogen bond formation energy (R² = 0.98). Herein, population analysis has been performed by atoms in molecules (AIM) and natural bond orbital (NBO) methods. The results of AIM and NBO analyses are in a good agreement with calculated energy values. Furthermore, correlation between ring aromaticity and hydrogen bonding has been investigated by nucleus‐independent chemical shift (NICS) at GIAO/B3LYP/6‐311++G** level of theory. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2009