Halogen Bonding Involving CO and CS with Carbon as the Electron Donor

MP2/aug'-cc-pVTZ calculations have been carried out to investigate the halogen-bonded complexes formed when CO and CS act as electron-pair donors through C to ClF, ClNC, ClCl, ClOH, ClCN, ClCCH, and ClNH₂. CO forms only complexes stabilized by traditional halogen bonds, and all ClY molecules form traditional halogen-bonded complexes with SC, except ClF which forms only an ion-pair complex. Ion-pair complexes are also found on the SC:ClNC and SC:ClCl surfaces. SC:ClY complexes stabilized by traditional halogen bonds have greater binding energies than the corresponding OC:ClY complexes. The largest binding energies are found for the ion-pair SC-Cl⁺:^-Y complexes. The transition structures which connect the complex and the ion pair on SC:ClNC and SC:ClCl potential surfaces provide the barriers for inter-converting these structures. Charge-transfer from the lone pair on C to the σ-hole on Cl is the primary charge-transfer interaction stabilizing OC:ClY and SC:ClY complexes with traditional halogen bonds. A secondary charge-transfer occurs from the lone pairs on Cl to the in-plane and out-of-plane π antibonding orbitals of ClY. This secondary interaction assumes increased importance in the SC:ClNH₂ complex, and is a factor leading to its unusual structure. C-O and C-S stretching frequencies and ¹³C chemical shieldings increase upon complex formation with ClY molecules. These two spectroscopic properties clearly differentiate between SC:ClY complexes and SC-Cl⁺:^-Y ion pairs. Spin-spin coupling constants ^1xJ(C-Cl) for OC:ClY complexes increase with decreasing distance. As a function of the C-Cl distance, ^1xJ(C-Cl) and ¹J(C-Cl) provide a fingerprint of the evolution of the halogen bond from a traditional halogen bond in the complexes, to a chlorine-shared halogen bond in the transition structures, to a covalent bond in the ion pairs.