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The proton affinities of 2(5H)-furanone, 1 (836 kJ/mol), 5,6-dihydro-2H-pyran-2-one, 2 (862 kJ/mol), cyclopentenone, 3 (857 kJ/mol), and cyclohexenone, 4 (863 kJ/mol), have been measured by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance techniques. A comparison is made with (reexamined) data concerning saturated cyclic and unsaturated aliphatic analogs. Three general observations are made. First, the basicity is found to increase with the size of the ring. Second, unsaturated lactones are more basic than their corresponding aliphatic unsaturated esters. Third, unsaturated and saturated lactones have almost identical gas-phase basicities, while unsaturated and saturated lactones have almost identical gas-phase basicities, while unsaturated cyclic ketones are more basic than their saturated analogs. All these experimental findings have been rationalized by means of ab initio calculations up to the G2(MP2,SVP) level. The basicity trends along the series are the result of two main factors: the different hybridization pattern of the carbonyl carbon as the size of the ring changes and, in the case of lactones, the nonbonding interaction between the proton attached to the carbonyl group and the ether-like oxygen which contributes to the enhanced stability of the protonated form. For unsaturated ketones the C=C double bond participates fully in the change in charge distribution induced by the protonation, while for unsaturated lactones the existence of an oxygen atom within the ring impedes this shift of the electron density.

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