In this work we investigate the nature of the Cl···N interactions in complexes formed between substituted ammonium [NHn(X3-n) (with n = 0, 1, 2, 3 and X = -CH3, -F] as Lewis bases and F-Cl molecule as Lewis acid. They have been chosen as a study case due to the wide range of variation of their binding energies, BEs. Møller-Plesset [MP2/6-311++G(2d,2p)] calculations show that the BEs for this set of complexes lie in the range from 1.27 kcal/mol (in F-Cl···NF3) to 27.62 kcal/mol [in F-Cl···N(CH3)3]. The intermolecular distribution of the electronic charge density and their L(r) = -¼∇(2)ρ(r) function have been investigated within the framework of the atoms in molecules (AIM) theory. The intermolecular interaction energy decomposition has also been analyzed using the reduced variational space (RVS) method. The topological analysis of the L(r) function reveals that the local topological properties measured at the (3,+1) critical point [in L(r) topology] are good descriptors of the strength of the halogen bonding interactions. The results obtained from energy decomposition analysis indicate that electrostatic interactions play a key role in these halogen bonding interactions. These results allow us to establish that, when the halogen atom is bonded to a group with high electron-withdrawing capacity, the electrostatic interaction between the electron cloud of the Lewis base and the halogen atom unprotected nucleus of the Lewis acid produces the formation and determines the geometry of the halogen bonded complexes. In addition, a good linear relationship has been established between: the natural logarithm of the BEs and the electrostatic interaction energy between electron charge distribution of N atom and nucleus of Cl atom, denoted as V e-n(N,Cl) within the AIM theory.
The nature of F-BrX-R interactions (with X = F, Cl, Br, I and R = -H, -F) has been investigated through theoretical calculation of molecular potential electrostatic (MEP), molecular polarizability, atoms in molecules (AIM) analysis and energetic decomposition analysis (EDA). A detailed analysis of the MEPs reveals that considering only the static electrostatic interactions is not sufficient to explain the nature of these interactions. The molecular polarizabilities of X-R molecules suggest that the deformation capacity of the electronic cloud of the lone pairs of the X atom plays an important role in the stability of these complexes. The topological analysis of the L(r) = -¼∇(2)ρ(r) function and the detailed analysis of the atomic quadrupole moments reveal that the BrX interactions are electrostatic in nature. The electron acceptor Br atom causes a polarization of the electronic cloud (electronic induction) on the valence shell of the X atom. Finally, the electrostatic forces and charge transfer play an important role not only in the stabilization of the complex, but also in the determination of the molecular geometry of equilibrium. The dispersive and polarization forces do not influence the equilibrium molecular geometry.
In this work, the intermolecular distribution of the electronic charge density in the aromatic hydrogen/halogen bonds is studied within the framework of the atoms in molecules (AIM) theory and the molecular electrostatic potentials (MEP) analysis. The study is carried out in nine complexes formed between benzene and simple lineal molecules, where hydrogen, fluorine and chlorine atoms act as bridge atoms. All the results are obtained at MP2 level theory using cc-pVTZ basis set. Attention is focused on topological features observed at the intermolecular region such as bond, ring and cage critical points of the electron density, as well as the bond path, the gradient of the density maps, molecular graphs and interatomic surfaces. The strength of the interaction increases in the following order: F[Symbol: see text]pi < Cl[Symbol: see text]pi < H[Symbol: see text]pi. Our results show that the fluorine atom has the capability to interact with the pi-cloud to form an aromatic halogen bond, as long as the donor group is highly electron withdrawing. The Laplacian topology allows us to state that the halogen atoms can act as nucleophiles as well as electrophiles, showing clearly their dual character.
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