A dataset of highly accurate homolytic NBr bond dissociation energies obtained by Means of W2 theory

Homolytic N? Br bond dissociation constitutes the initial step of numerous reactions involving N‐brominated species. However, little is known about the strength of N? Br bonds toward homolytic cleavage. We herein report accurate bond dissociation energies (BDEs) for a set of 18 molecules using the high‐level W2 thermochemical protocol. The BDEs (at 298 K) of the species in this set range from 162.2 kJ mol^?1 (N‐bromopyrrole) to 260.6 kJ mol^?1 ((CHO)₂NBr). In order to compute BDEs of larger systems, for which W2 theory is not applicable, we have benchmarked a wide range of more economical theoretical procedures. Of these, G3‐B3 offers the best performance (root‐mean‐square deviations = 2.9 kJ mol^?1), and using this method, we have computed N? Br BDEs for four widely used N‐brominated compounds. These include (BDEs are given in parentheses): N‐bromosuccinimide (281.6), N‐bromoglutarimide (263.2), N‐bromophthalimide (274.7), and 1,3‐dibromo‐5,5‐dimethylhydantoin (218.2 and 264.8 kJ mol^?1). © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.