Cooperative 4-pyridone H-bonds with extraordinary stability. A DFT molecular orbital study.

The N-H...O H-bonding enthalpy between 4-pyridones connected in a chain of H-bonds can achieve 23 kcal/mol for the most central H-bonds, while that between two 4-pyridones is 9.90 kcal/mol based upon DFT calculations on the counterpoise-corrected potential energy surfaces. That the range of enthalpies for N-H...O H-bonds can vary from as little as 2 to as much 23 kcal/mol depends primarily upon the polarizability of whatever internally connects the N-H and C=O within the H-bonding molecule, which are two parallel -C=C- entities in 4-pyridone. The contribution of covalent or charge-transfer interactions between the pi-systems of adjacent 4-pyridones is small.