Computational Study of the Donor–Acceptor Interactions Underlying the Variable Oxygen Probe

Abstract

The variable oxygen probe (VOP) is a crystallographic technique that has been used to explore the relative donor abilities of various filled orbitals ranging from vicinal lone pairs to polarized heteroatom–carbon bonds, remote π functionalities, and strained carbon–carbon (CC) bonds. In this study, the donor–acceptor interactions which underlie the VOP have been explored in the gas phase using density functional theory on the model systems 1–13 with natural bond orbital analysis of the various donor–acceptor interactions involving both neutral and charged σ* antibonding orbitals as the acceptor probes. Updated values for the VOP slopes of 1–13 were shown to relate qualitatively with the sum of all significant donor–acceptor interactions present in these derivatives. Application of the VOP to calculated structures of 1–13 with various −OR substituents revealed a similar relationship between the C–OR bond distance to pK a (ROH). However, the VOP slopes in the gas phase were significantly smaller in magnitude than those obtained from crystal structural data, likely due to the valence form (C+–OR) being disfavored in the former, highlighting the advantage of the VOP as an experimental technique to discriminate donor ability more effectively than calculated structures.