The possible covalent nature of N-H...O hydrogen bonds in formamide dimer and related systems: an ab initio study

The N-H...O hydrogen bonds are analyzed for formamide dimer and its simple fluorine derivatives representing a wide spectrum of more or less covalent interactions. The calculations were performed at the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level of approximation. To explain the nature of such interactions, the Bader theory was also applied, and the characteristics of the bond critical points (BCPs) were analyzed: the electron density at BCP and its Laplacian, the electron energy density at BCP and its components, the potential electron energy density, and the kinetic electron energy density. These parameters are used to justify the statement that some of the interactions analyzed are partly covalent in nature. An analysis of the interaction energy components for the systems considered indicates that the covalent character of the hydrogen bond is manifested by a markedly increased contribution of the delocalization term relative to the electrostatic interaction energy. Moreover, the ratio of stabilizing the delocalization/electrostatic contributions grows linearly with the decreasing lengths of the hydrogen bond.