Proton transfer between ammonium cations and [CoL(CO) 3 ]À ions (L = CO, PR 3 ) has been illustrated by Brammer et al.[1] through a series of crystal structures according to the structure-correlation principle, which states that "if a correlation can be found between two or more independent parameters describing the structure of a given fragment in a variety of environments, then the correlation function maps a minimum energy path in the corresponding parameter space".[2] The two ends of the proton transfer reaction correspond to an ionic pair formed by an ammonium cation and the [CoL(CO) 3 ]À ion (1 a) and independent amine and hydrido carbonyl complexes 1 b. The structures analyzed by Brammer et al. correspond to compounds with NÀH···Co hydrogen bonds, a behavior consistent with the acidity of the hydrido carbonyl complex in water. [3] According to the structure-correlation principle, the variety of H···Co distances found (between 2.63 for a NÀH···Co hydrogen-bonded species and 1.43 for the hydrido complex) should correspond to snapshots along the proton-transfer reaction coordinate. Since the coordination spheres of both the N and Co atoms are significantly affected by the progress of the protontransfer reaction, these systems provide an excellent opportunity to test the applicability of the polyhedral-shape measures as reaction coordinates and to correlate the potential-energy surface with the structural evolution. Therefore, the aim of this communication is to show how DFT calculations provide an energy profile for such a reaction that accounts for the fine details of the distribution of structures along the path and how the proton transfer is coupled to changes in the coordination polyhedra of the N and Co atoms. An outcome of this study is that the energy and the stereochemical changes that accompany the proton transfer can be described as a function of a single parameter, the generalized polyhedral-interconversion coordinate [4] for the transformation of a [CoL(CO) 3 ] À (L = ligand) tetrahedron into a vacant trigonal bipyramid.To represent the general case of an ammonium cation, we took the NH 4 + ion as the simplest example, whereas the family of the [CoL(CO) 3 ]À ions was represented in our calculations by the [Co(CO) 4 ] À ion. To explore the potentialenergy surface, we calculated a linear-transit reaction coordinate for the NH 4 ·[CoL(CO) 3 ] aggregate keeping the Co···H distance fixed and optimizing the rest of the geometry.[5] The two minima and one maximum obtained were fully optimized and could be characterized as stationary points on the potential-energy surface through frequency analysis (geometries and frequencies for the three stationary points are provided in the Supporting Information). The two minima correspond to the two alternative hydrogen-bonding situations: a) N À H···Co, referred to herein as the ion pair, to avoid confusion with the second minimum, and b) N···HÀCo, which we term the hydrogen-bonded complex. The maximum corresponds to a transition state with a delocalized hydrogen bo...