Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.116, No.7, 1694-1700, 2012
Origins of the Stability of Imidazole-Imidazole, Benzene-Imidazole, and Benzene-Indole Dimers: CCSD(T)/CBS and SAPT Calculations
The respective structures and stabilities of imidazole-imidazole, benzene imidazole, and benzene-indole dimers have been investigated using different DFT-D functional, MP2, CCSD(T), and SAPT levels of theory with a medium basis set. Comparative analysis of binding energies and structural parameters of the dimers points to a preference for stacking contact or hydrogen bond in an imidazole-imidazole dimer. In contrast, a T-shaped configuration with H-pi interaction is maximally advantageous for benzene-imidazole and benzene-indole dimers. High-level ab initio calculations at the CCSD(T)/CBS and DFT-SAPT levels show that classical hydrogen-bonded tilted imidazole-imidazole dimer is a global minimum structure and that it has high electrostatic energy. However, for benzene-imidazole and benzene indole dimers, the global minimum (N-H center dot center dot center dot pi) structure has high electrostatic energy as well as dispersion energy.