A basicity scale for selenocarbonyl derivatives which covers a wide range of values (60 kcal/mol) has been
established through the use of high-level ab initi
o and DFT calculations. In our theoretical survey we have
included selenoformaldehyde and the corresponding BH2, CH3, NH2, F, and Cl mono- and disubstituted
derivatives, as well as carbonyl selenide, thiocarbonyl selenide, and selenoketene. With the only exception of
selenoketene, which is a carbon base, all selenocarbonyl compounds investigated behave as selenium bases
in the gas phase. Selenocarbonyl derivatives are predicted to be equally or slightly more basic than the
thiocarbonyl analogues and, therefore, more basic than the corresponding carbonyl compounds. We have
also shown, by means of G2-type calculations, that substituent effects on the relative stability of the neutral
and the protonated forms of selenocarbonyl series are also rather similar to those estimated, at the same level
of theory, for the thiocarbonyl series. For the neutrals these substituent effects are always stabilizing. Protonated
species are strongly stabilized by σ- and π-electron donors, while they are destabilized by σ-withdrawing
substituents. This explain the enhanced basicity of the methyl and amino derivatives and the low intrinsic
basicity of the halogen derivatives. For the thiocarbonyl series the G2 calculated proton affinities are in very
good agreement with the experimental values, which allow us to be confident in our estimates regarding the
proton affinities of the selenocarbonyl derivatives investigated. The B3LYP/6-311+G(3df,2p) estimated proton
affinities are slightly higher than the G2 values. The keto−enol isomerization of the methyl, hydroxy, and
amino monosubstituted derivatives has been also studied.