Combined experimental and theoretical study on hydrogen-bonded complexes between cyclic ketones, lactones, and lactams with 3,4-dinitrophenol.

The interaction of 3,4 dinitrophenol (DNP) with cyclic ketones, lactones, and lactams was investigated by UV-visible spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) methods. Equilibrium constants K(HB) for 1:1 hydrogen bonded complexes were determined in solution in CCl(4) and C(6)H(12). For the entire range of studied bases, the pK(HB) scale, varying between 2.92 for beta-propiolactone to 5.53 for 1-methyl-epsilon-caprolactam, indicates that the basicity increases with the ring size. Geometries, energies, and vibrational characteristics of complexes were obtained by means of DFT calculations. For lactones and lactams, the energy difference between the two most stable conformers, cis and trans, with respect to the ring oxygen (nitrogen) atom, is relatively small, suggesting that the complex observed in solution is probably an equilibrium mixture of both forms. The good correlation between Gibbs free energies in solution and in the gas phase, computed at the B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,2p) level of theory, confirms the reliability of our results. The electron density of the complexes has been analyzed by means of the atoms in molecules (AIM) theory and the natural bond orbital (NBO) method have been used to characterize the orbital interactions. Our theoretical survey shows that the 1:1 complexes are stabilized by a network of conventional and/or nonconventional intermolecular hydrogen bonds.

Density functional theory study of the hydrogen bond interaction between lactones, lactams, and methanol.

The structure and relative stability of methanol complexes with various cyclic ketones, lactones, lactams, and N-methyl lactams from three- to seven-membered rings have been investigated using the density functional theory method. The geometries, harmonic frequencies, and energies were calculated at the B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) level. Three stable structures, cis-a, cis-b, and trans, with respect to the ring oxygen (nitrogen) atom, were found to be local minima of the potential energy surface. For lactones and N-methyl lactams, the most stable structure is trans; it is stabilized, as in cyclic ketones, through the conventional hydrogen bond (HB) interaction between the basic carbonyl oxygen and the acidic methanolic hydrogen and an unconventional HB interaction between the methanolic oxygen and the CH hydrogen, in the alpha position of the carbonyl group. For unsubstituted lactams, the cis-a structure, stabilized through a HB interaction between the NH group and the methanol oxygen in addition to the conventional HB interaction, is the most stable. The topological properties of the electron density ratify the existence of conventional (N,O-H. . .O) and unconventional (C-H. . .O) hydrogen bonding. A good correlation was found between the HB distances and the electron density at the HB critical point. The unsubstituted lactams yield more stable complexes with methanol than N-methyl lactams, lactones, and cyclic ketones. In the most stable complexes, both components behave simultaneously as a HB donor and as a HB acceptor.