Interrelations between the mesomeric and electronegativity effects in para-substituted derivatives of phenol/phenolate and aniline/anilide H-bonded complexes: a DFT-based computational study.

We were able to test the Bent-Walsh rule by examining geometric parameters in the vicinity of the ipso-carbon atom of H-bonded complexes of para-substituted phenol/phenolate and aniline/anilide derivatives for the three cases (i) a versus alpha, (ii) alpha versus d(CO) or d(CN), and (iii) a versus d(CO) or d(CN), where alpha is the ring valence angle at the ipso-carbon atom (C1 substituted by OH or O(-) or NH(2) or NH(-)) and a is the arithmetic mean of the two C(ipso)-C(ortho) bond lengths. The data for nonequilibrium H-bonded complexes of unsubstituted phenol/phenolate and aniline/anilide with the respective bases F(-) and CN(-) and acids HF and HCN showed the same dependence of a on d(CX) (X = O, N) as the data for equilibrium complexes of para-Y-substituted phenol/phenolate and aniline/anilide derivatives (Y = NO, NO(2), CHO, COMe, CONH(2), Cl, F, H, Me, OMe, OH) with the same bases and acids. The slope of these dependencies was negative, as expected. In the remaining cases (a versus alpha and alpha versus d(CO) or d(CN)), the slopes for simulated complexes followed the Bent-Walsh rule. Finally, for the equilibrium complexes in which the substituent effect was included, the slopes of the trend lines for the substituted systems were opposite. This is because in the a versus alpha relationships, electonegativity and the resonance effect act in the same direction, whereas for the other two cases, these effects are opposite, and the resonance effect dominates.