Probing the Endo/Exo Isomeric Variants of a Binary Complex of Cyclopropylamine with p-Fluorophenol by LIF Spectroscopy: A Comparative Study with Ammonia Complex

Conformational isomers of an O-H···N hydrogen-bonded binary complex between para-fluorophenol (pFP) and a nonrigid primary amine base, cyclopropylamine (CPA), have been probed by means of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy in a supersonic jet expansion. Two closely spaced electronic origin bands have been identified in the measured LIF excitation spectrum, and their assignments have been corroborated by making comparisons with the spectra of the parent pFP-NH₃ complex recorded under the same expansion condition. The observation is consistent with the presence of endo and exo isomeric variants of the complex predicted by electronic structure theory methods, and the endo isomer is stabilized by ∼2 kcal/mol additionally owing to the formation of a C-H···O and a C-H···π type of weak hydrogen bonds between the two moieties. In the fluorescence excitation (FE) spectrum, the low-frequency bands for different intermolecular modes gain substantial intensity, and this spectral feature is in contrast to that of the pFP-NH₃ complex. The Franck-Condon intensity of the bands has been simulated invoking Duschinsky rotation scheme, taking into consideration the ground- and excited-state geometries.

Interplay among Electrostatic, Dispersion, and Steric Interactions: Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Calculations of π-Hydrogen Bonded Complexes

π-Hydrogen bonding interactions are ubiquitous in both materials and biology. Despite their relatively weak nature, great progress has been made in their investigation by experimental and theoretical methods, but this becomes significantly more complicated when secondary intermolecular interactions are present. In this study, the effect of successive methyl substitution on the supramolecular structure and interaction energy of indole⋅⋅⋅methylated benzene (ind⋅⋅⋅n-mb, n=1-6) complexes is probed through a combination of supersonic jet experiments and benchmark-quality quantum chemical calculations. It is demonstrated that additional secondary interactions introduce a subtle interplay among electrostatic and dispersion forces, as well as steric repulsion, which fine-tunes the overall structural motif. Resonant two-photon ionization and IR-UV double-resonance spectroscopy techniques are used to probe jet-cooled ind⋅⋅⋅n-mb (n=2, 3, 6) complexes, with redshifting of the N-H IR stretching frequency showing that increasing the degree of methyl substitution increases the strength of the primary N-H⋅⋅⋅π interaction. Ab initio harmonic frequency and binding energy calculations confirm this trend for all six complexes. Electronic spectra of the three dimers are broad and structureless, with quantum chemical calculations revealing that this is likely to be due to multiple tilted conformations of each dimer possessing similar stabilization energies.

Effect of acceptor heteroatoms on π-hydrogen bonding interactions: a study of indole···thiophene heterodimer in a supersonic jet

Resonant two photon ionization (R2PI), IR-UV, and UV-UV double resonance spectroscopic techniques combined with quantum chemistry calculations have been used to determine the structure of indole···thiophene dimer observed in a supersonic jet. With the help of combined experimental and theoretical IR spectra it has been found that the observed dimer has a N-H···π hydrogen bonded slanted T-shaped structure. The present study demonstrates the effect of heteroatoms present in the acceptors on the strength of the π-hydrogen bonding interactions. It was concluded by Sherrill and co-workers from their theoretical study of benzene···pyridine dimer that aromatic rings containing heteroatoms are poorest π-hydrogen bond acceptors [E. G. Hohenstein and C. D. Sherrill, J. Phys. Chem. A 113, 878 (2009)]. But the current spectroscopic investigation exhibits that five membered aromatic heterocycles are favorable π-hydrogen bond acceptors. In this study, it has also been shown that thiophene is a better π-hydrogen bond acceptor than furan. The present work has immense biological significance as indole is the chromophore of tryptophan residue in the proteins and thiophene derivatives have potential therapeutic applications. Thus, understanding the binding motif between indole and thiophene in the heterodimer studied in this work may help in designing efficient drugs.

The MP2-F12 method in the Turbomole program package

A detailed description of the explicitly correlated second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2-F12) method, as implemented in the TURBOMOLE program package, is presented. The TURBOMOLE implementation makes use of density fitting, which greatly reduces the prefactor for integral evaluation. Methods are available for the treatment of ground states of open- and closed-shell species, using unrestricted as well as restricted (open-shell) Hartree-Fock reference determinants. Various methodological choices and approximations are discussed. The performance of the TURBOMOLE implementation is illustrated by example calculations of the molecules leflunomide, prednisone, methotrexate, ethylenedioxytetrafulvalene, and a cluster model for the adsorption of methanol on the zeolite H-ZSM-5. Various basis sets are used, including the correlation-consistent basis sets specially optimized for explicitly correlated calculations (cc-pVXZ-F12).