A theoretical study of the interactions between N,N-dimethylformamide and xylenes

The ab initio and density functional (DFT) methods were performed on binary systems of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) with xylenes (o-, or m-, or p-xylene), and seven stable configurations were obtained with no imaginary frequencies. To obtain the interaction energies of these complexes, single-point energy calculations with basis set superposition error (BSSE) correction were carried out at B3LYP/6-31G* and MP2/6-31G* levels. The structures, Chelpg (charges from electrostatic potentials using a grid-based method) charge distribution and bond characteristics of the mentioned complexes were calculated. The results indicated the presence of double C–H···O hydrogen bonds between DMF and xylenes in these complexes and the interaction energies of hydrogen bonding between DMF and xylene systems decreased in the following sequence: DMF–o-xylene: a1 > DMF–m-xylene: b1 > DMF–p-xylene: c1.