In this work, the gas-phase homolytic N−H bond dissociation enthalpy (BDE) was investigated for a large
series of molecules containing at least one N−H bond by means of accurate density-functional theory
calculations. The molecules studied belong to different classes of compounds, namely, amines, amides and
anilines, amino acids, phenoxazines, indolamines, and other compounds of general interest, such as anti-inflammatory drugs. To achieve these purposes, the (RO)B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,2p)//(U)B3LYP/6-31G* level
of theory was used. The calculated gas-phase N−H BDEs, at T = 298.15 K, are in the range 499.6−203.9
kJ/mol, for purine and HNO, respectively. Further, the calculated BDEs are in excellent agreement with a
significant number of available experimental BDEs. Solvent effects were also taken in account, and rather
significant differences are found among N−H BDEs computed in the gas phase and in heptane, DMSO, or
water.