Conformational study of the structure of 12-crown-4-alkali metal cation complexes

A conformational search was performed for the 12-crown-4 (12c4)-alkali metal cation complexes using two different methods, one of them is the CONFLEX method, whereby eight conformations were predicted. Computations were performed for the eight predicted conformations at the HF/6-31+G*, MP2/6-31+G*//HF/6-31+G*, B3LYP/6-31+G*, MP2/6-31+G*//B3LYP/6-31+G*, and MP2/6-31+G* levels. The calculated energies predict a C4 conformation for the 12c4-Na+, -K+, -Rb+, and -Cs+ complexes and a C(s) conformation for the 12c4-Li+ complex to be the lowest energy conformations. For most of the conformations considered, the relative energies, with respect to the C4 conformation, at the MP2/6-31+G*//B3LYP/6-31+G* are overestimated, compared to those at the MP2/6-31+G* level, the highest level of theory considerd in this report, by 0.2 kcal/mol. Larger relative energy differences are attributed to larger differences between the B3LYP and MP2 optimized geomtries. Binding enthalpies (BEs) were calculated at the above-mentioned levels for the eight conformations. The agreement between the calculated and experimental BEs is discussed.