An Ab Initio Study of the Effect of Substituents on Protonation of the Carbonyl Group

Abstract

Ab initio calculations have been performed on a series of molecules HCOX, where X=CH3, NH2, OH, F, H, and also on the corresponding oxygen protonated cations. Rotational studies show the incoming proton to be trans to the substituent X except in formyl fluoride, where internal hydrogen bonding stabilizes the cis isomer. The geometries of the fluoro- and amino-substituted cations have been optimized along with that of oxygen protonated ketene. Proton affinities are found to be very dependent on substituents with the order of basicity being [Formula: see text]an order which closely follows the negative charge on the oxygen. Plots of the computed charge on the carbon atoms against the core binding energy are different for the cations and neutral compounds but can be made to fall on the same line by correcting the binding energy using "the charge potential model" for the K-shell electron which is removed.