A Direct Proof of the Resonance-Impaired Hydrogen Bond (RIHB) Concept.

The concept of resonance-enhanced hydrogen bond (RAHB) has been widely accepted and applied as it highlights the positive impact of π-conjugation on intramolecular H-bonds. However, electron delocalization is directional and there is a possibility that π-resonance goes from the H-bond acceptor to the H-bond donor, leading to a negative impact on H-bonds. Here we used the block-localized wavefunction (BLW) method which is a variant of ab initio valence bond (VB) theory and able to derive strictly electron-localized structures self-consistently, to quantify the interplay between H-bond and π-resonance in the terms of geometry, energetics and spectral properties. The comparison of geometrical optimizations with and without π-resonance shows that conjugation can indeed either enhance or weaken intramolecular H-bonds. We further experimented with various substituents attached to either the H-bond acceptor and/or H-bond donor side(s) to tune the H-bonding strength in both directions.