J. Phys. Chem. A 114, 12958-12962 (2010)

DOI: 10.1021/jp110295n

Do Traditional, Chlorine-shared, and Ion-pair Halogen Bonds Exist? An ab Initio Investigation of FCl:CNX Complexes

Ab initio MP2/aug′-cc-pVTZ calculations have been carried out to determine the structures, binding energies, and bonding of complexes FCl:CNX, with X = CN, NC, NO2, F, CF3, Cl, Br, H, CCF, CCH, CH3, SiH3, Li, and Na. Equation-of-motion coupled cluster calculations have also been carried out to determine the coupling constants 1J(F−Cl), 1XJ(Cl−C), and 2XJ(F−C) across these halogen bonds. As the strength of the base is systematically increased, the nature of the halogen bond changes from traditional, to chlorine-shared, to ion-pair. The type of halogen bond present in a complex can be readily determined from its structure, binding energy, AIM bonding analyses, and spin−spin coupling constants. Coupling constants across halogen bonds are compared with corresponding coupling constants across traditional, proton-shared, and ion-pair hydrogen bonds.