Hydrogen bonded complexes of oxazole family: electronic structure, stability, and reactivity aspects

Abstract

In the present study, five-membered heterocyclic ring systems containing oxygen with one, two, three, and four nitrogen atoms in the ring along with their isomeric forms and their corresponding 1:1 water complexes have been fully optimized at the ab initio molecular orbital theory and Density Functional Theory (DFT) using aug-cc-pVDZ basis set. The optimized geometric parameters and stabilization energies of the complexes are reported. The study suggests that nitrogen of heterocyclic ring is a stronger hydrogen bond acceptor in comparison to oxygen and ability of nitrogen to act as hydrogen bond acceptor increases in the order oxazole (OZ) > oxadiazole (ODZ) > oxatriazole (OTZ) > oxatetrazole (OTTZ). The results are corroborated by Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analysis, Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM), Symmetry Adapted Perturbation Theory (SAPT), and Molecular Electrostatic Potential (MEP) studies. The blue- and red-shifts in the hydrogen bond donors X-H (X = O, C) stretching frequencies have also been analyzed. Hydrogen bond ability has also been governed in the presence of reactivity descriptors including chemical potential (μ), global hardness (η), and electrophilicity index (ω).