The hydrogen-bonded self-associates of dimethylphosphinic (1), diphenylphosphoric (2), phenylphosphinic (3), and bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl)phosphinic (4) acids have been studied by using liquid-state NMR down to 100 K in a low-freezing polar solvent, CDF/CDClF. The H/D isotope effects on H NMR chemical shifts caused by partial deuteration of hydroxyl groups unambiguously reveal the stoichiometry of the self-associates and the cooperativity of their hydrogen bonds. In all cases, cyclic trimers are the dominant form, while cyclic dimers are present as a minor form for 1 and 2. Due to the asymmetry of substituents, cyclic trimers of 3 exist in two isomeric forms, depending on the orientation of the phenyl groups with respect to the plane of the hydrogen bonds. The racemic mixture of 4 leads to the coexistence of up to 64 isomers of cyclic trimers, many of which are chemically equivalent or effectively isochronous. The mole fractions of such isomers deviate from the statistically expected values. This feature could provide information about the relative stabilization energies of hydrogen-bonded chiral self-associates. The complexation of 4 with SbCl (complex 5) suppresses the self-association and 5 exists exclusively in the monomeric form with chemically non-equivalent P nuclei in RS, SR and RR/SS forms.

In this computational work, we propose to use the NMR chemical shift difference of NH2 protons for 1:1 complexes formed by aniline and nitrogen-containing proton acceptors for the estimation of the hydrogen bond energy and geometry (N⋯H and N⋯N distances). The proposed correlations could be applied to other aromatic amines as well, in a gas phase, a solution, or a solid state, for both inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonds. We considered a set of 21 complexes with the NHN hydrogen bond without proton transfer, including hydrogen bonds from weak to medium strong ones (2–21 kcal/mol), with neutral or anionic bases and with sp3 and sp2 hybridized nitrogen proton acceptors. For each complex apart from direct hydrogen bond energy calculation, we have tested several other ways to estimate the energy: (a) using a correlation between NH stretching band intensity and hydrogen bond energy and (b) using correlations between electron density properties at (3, −1) bond critical point (quantum theory of atoms in molecules analysis) and hydrogen bond energy. Besides for the studied type of complexes, we obtained refined linear correlations linking the local electron kinetic (G) and potential (V) energy densities with the hydrogen bond energy.

Two series of 1:1 complexes with strong OHN hydrogen bonds formed by dimethylphosphinic and phenylphosphinic acids with 10 substituted pyridines were studied experimentally by liquid state NMR spectroscopy at 100 K in solution in a low-freezing polar aprotic solvent mixture CDF 3 /CDClF 2 . The hydrogen bond geometries were estimated using previously established correlations linking 1 H NMR chemical shifts of bridging protons with the O•••H and H•••N interatomic distances. A new correlation is proposed allowing one to estimate the interatomic distance within the OHN bridge from the displacement of 31 P NMR signal upon complexation. We show that the values of 31 P NMR chemical shifts are affected by an additional CH•••O hydrogen bond formed between the PO group of the acid and ortho-CH proton of the substituted pyridines. Breaking of this bond in the case of 2,6-disubstituted bases shifts the 31 P NMR signal by ca. 1.5 ppm to the high field.

The monomers, H-bonded cyclic dimers, and trimers of five acids were studied by density functional theory calculations, such as hypophosphorous acid (H2POOH, 1), dimethylphosphinic acid (Me2POOH, 2), phenylphosphinic acid (PhHPOOH, 3), dimethylphosphoric acid ((MeO)2POOH, 4), and diphenylphosphoric acid ((PhO)2POOH, 5). Particular attention was paid to the conformational manifold existing due to the internal degrees of freedom: proton transfer (PT), puckering (“twist”) within the ring of H-bonds, and mobility of the substituents (namely, −Ph, −OMe, and −OPh rotations). For acid 3, the number of conformers is additionally increased because of the varying relative orientation of nonequivalent substituents in cyclic complexes. We show that 31P NMR chemical shifts (δP) are very sensitive to the details of the conformation, spanning ranges from ca. 1 ppm (for trimers of acids 1 and 2) to ca. 12 ppm (for trimers of 4). The energy barriers for the transitions between conformers are rather low (<6 kcal/mol for PTs, <2.5 kcal/mol for puckerings, and ca. <3 kcal/mol for rotations of substituents), such that the fast exchange regime in the NMR timescale and subsequent δP averaging are expected. Correlations are proposed linking the change of average δP with the H-bond energy, showing the slope of ca. 4 ppm per kcal/mol. The sensitivity of δP to the OPO angle and the OPOH dihedral angle and the geometries of both H-bonds formed by the POOH moiety are analyzed.

Hydrogen-bonded heterocomplexes formed by POOH-containing acids (diphenylphosphoric 1, dimethylphosphoric 2, diphenylphosphinic 3, and dimethylphosphinic 4) are studied by the low-temperature (100 K) 1H-NMR and 31P-NMR using liquefied gases CDF3/CDF2Cl as a solvent. Formation of cyclic dimers and cyclic trimers consisting of molecules of two different acids is confirmed by the analysis of vicinal H/D isotope effects (changes in the bridging proton chemical shift, δH, after the deuteration of a neighboring H-bond). Acids 1 and 4 (or 1 and 3) form heterotrimers with very strong (short) H-bonds (δH ca. 17 ppm). While in the case of all heterotrimers the H-bonds are cyclically arranged head-to-tail, ···O=P–O–H···O=P–O–H···, and thus their cooperative coupling is expected, the signs of vicinal H/D isotope effects indicate an effective anticooperativity, presumably due to steric factors: when one of the H-bonds is elongated upon deuteration, the structure of the heterotrimer adjusts by shortening the neighboring hydrogen bonds. We also demonstrate the formation of cyclic tetramers: in the case of acids 1 and 4 the structure has alternating molecules of 1 and 4 in the cycle, while in case of acids 1 and 3 the cycle has two molecules of 1 followed by two molecules of 3.