Correlation of 2‐, 3‐, 4‐ and disubstituted pyridine gas‐phase proton affinities with ab initio calculated energies at the sto‐3g basis set level

Abstract Total energies of 2‐, 3‐, 4‐ and disubstituted pyridines were calculated for the salt and the free base using ab initio molecular orbital calculations at the STO‐3G basis set level [2]. In each set, the difference in energy, ΔEH, between the salt and the free base was calculated and plotted against experimentally derived gas‐phase proton affinities. The correlation was very good for each of the substituent categories listed. All of the energies and proton affinities were then plotted together on the same graph. The result was an excellent correlation with r = 0.97. The linear equation for gas phase proton affinity, PAB = 28.51 + 435.45ΔEH kcal/mole, was derived from this plot and was used to calculate proton affinities for all of the thirty‐one compounds used in this study as well as for a series of dicyanopyridines for which values of proton affinity are not available at this time.