Identity hydride-ion transfer from C-H donors to C acceptor sites. Enthalpies of hydride addition and enthalpies of activation. Comparison with C...H...C proton transfer. An ab initio study.

Enthalpies of addition of hydride ion to eleven carbonyl acceptors (X-CHO), two conjugate addition sites (X-CH=CH2; X = CHO, NO2), eight carbenium ion acceptors, fulvene, borane, and SiH3(+) were calculated at the MP2/6-311+G level. Correlation between calculated and experimental enthalpies of addition of hydride ion is excellent. Transition states (ts) for the identity hydride transfers between the acceptors and their corresponding hydride adducts (hydride donors) were also calculated. The carbonyl and fulvene reactions have transition states with one imaginary frequency: the hydrogen transfer coordinate. The carbenium ions, borane, and SiH3(+) gave not transition states but stable compounds upon addition of the hydride donor. Computational differences between these hydride transfers and previously reported proton transfers include shorter partial C...H bonds and a tendency toward bent C...H...C angles for the hydride transfer ts and addition compound structures, particularly when a bent geometry improves interactions elsewhere in the structure. These and other differences are explained by modeling the hydride transfer ts and addition compounds as two-electron, three-center systems involving the transfer termini and the shared hydrogen but the proton transfer ts structures as four-electron, three-center systems. Charge and geometry measures suggest transition states in which these features change synchronously, again in contrast to many proton transfer reactions. For the X-CHO set, polar effects dominate enthalpies of hydride addition, with resonance effects also important for resonance donors; these preferentially stabilize the acceptor, reducing its hydride ion affinity. Activation enthalpies are dominated by resonance stabilization of the acceptors, greatly attenuated in the transition states.