Spectral analysis and DFT computations of the hydrogen bonded complex between 2,6-diaminopyridine with 2,6-dichloro-4-nitrophenol in different solvents

New hydrogen bonded complex between 2,6-dichloro-4-nitrophenol (DCNP), proton donor with the proton acceptor 2,6-diaminopyridine (DAP) has been synthesized and characterized in solution and solid state by different spectroscopic techniques. Electronic spectra were used to identify the novel proton transfer complex through appearance of new absorption bands in acetonitrile (CH3CN), methanol (CH3OH) and mixture composed from 1:1 methanol and acetonitrile (AN-Me). The complex stoichiometry was determined to be 1:1 by job's method and photometric titrations. The formation constant was determined by applying minimum-maximum absorbances method where it reached high values confirming the complex high stability. A spectroscopic method for determining DAP was presented and validated statistically. The solid complex was characterized by elemental analysis, infrared and H-1 NMR studies where the hydrogen bonded reaction occurs between the phenolic OH with the pyridine ring nitrogen as well as one amino group of DNP. The density functional theory DFT (B3LYP) method has been used to energy optimization of the reactants and complex in the ground state using two basis sets 6-31G(d) and 6-31 G+(d,p). The first one led to energy optimized structure through bifurcated hydrogen bond between OH of DCNP with the ring nitrogen and one amino group of DAP with optimization energy -1998.7 Hartree. The second one gave an optimized structure thought hydrogen bonding between OH and one amino group with lowered optimization energy -2018.1 Hartree. Hence, the experimental results will be simulated with the most stable one at DFT/B3LYB 6-31G+ (d,p). The most reactive electrophilic and nucleophilic sites of DCNP and DAP were predicted using the molecular electrostatic potential. The theoretical electronic spectra in the gas phase and the investigated solvents were calculated at TD-DFT/B3LYP 6-31G+ (d,p) and compared with measured electronic spectra where a satisfactory results have been obtained. An important aim of this work is analysis of the interaction energies between the filled natural bond orbitals (NBOs) and the empty ones in order to shed the light on the ease of electron delocalization among bonds in the novel hydrogen bonded complex. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.