Structure, properties, and nature of the pyridine-XY (X, Y = F, Cl, Br) complexes: an ab initio study

Structure and properties (energies, electronic, and thermodynamic properties) of complexes pyridine-XY (X, Y = F, Cl, Br) have been investigated at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level. Two types of geometries (pi-halogen bonded and sigma-halogen bonded) are observed. In contrast with the previous results on similar furan and thiophene complexes, the sigma-halogen bonded structures are more stable and the reasons are discussed. Charge transfer is found to be important in the formation of title system and the possible existing complexes under experimental conditions have been forecasted too. A symmetry-adapted perturbation theory energy decomposition analysis reveals that the pyridine-XY complexes are dominantly inductive in nature.