Influence of steric and intramolecular inductive effects on the variable trends in R-X (R=Alkyl) bond dissociation energy

Abstract

The question “why are the variation trends of R-X bond dissociation energy different?” is answered. The R-X bond dissociation energy (BDE) may be influenced by three main factors: the C-X intrinsic bond energy, the 1,3 geminal repulsion, and the intramolecular charge-induced dipole. In the presence of atom X, the variation trend of BDE in R-X (R= Me, Et, i-Pr, t-Bu) is dominated by two factors, the 1,3 geminal repulsion and the intramolecular charge-induced dipole. The former decreases the R-X BDE, and the latter either increases or decreases the R-X BDE. For the series of R-X with the R-C bond (such as R-Me, R-CH == CH2, R-C≡CH, and R-CN), the 1,3 geminal repulsion decreases the R-X BDE, and the variation trends of R-C BDE decrease from Me to t-Bu. As regards the series of R-X (such as R-H, R-BH2, and R-SiH2) in which the electronegativity of atom X is smaller than that of the carbon atom, the above two factors decrease the R-X BDE, and the variation trends of the R-X BDE decrease from Me to t-Bu. As to the series of R-X (such as R-F, R-OH, R-Cl, R-Br, R-I, and R-NH2) in which the electronegativity of atom X is larger than that of the carbon atom, the 1,3 geminal repulsion decreases the R-X BDE, while the intramolecular charge-induced dipole increases the R-X BDE. In this case, the variation trends of R-X BDE depend on the competition of the two factors. As a result, some of them (e. g., R-F, R-OH) increase from Me to t-Bu, some (e. g., R-I) decrease from Me to t-Bu, and some (e. g., R-Br) change very little.