THEORETICAL STUDIES ON THE COUPLING INTERACTIONS AND SELF-EXCHANGE REACTION MECHANISMS IN THE COMPLEXES OF NO WITH ONH AND NOH

The coupling interactions and self-exchange reaction mechanisms between NO and ONH (NOH) have been systematically investigated at the B3LYP/6-311++G** level of theory. All the equilibrium complexes are characterized by the intermolecular H-bonds and co-planar geometries. The cisoid NOH/ON species is the most stable one among all the complexes considered due to the formation of an N – N bond. Moreover, all the cisoid complexes are found to be more stable than the corresponding transoid ones. The origin of the blueshifts occurring in the selected complexes has been explored, employing the natural bond orbital (NBO) calculations. Additionally, the proton transfer mechanisms for the self-exchange reactions have been proposed, i.e. they can proceed via the three-center proton-coupled electron transfer or five-center cyclic proton-coupled electron transfer mechanism.