Competition between hydrogen bonding and dispersion interactions in the indole···pyridine dimer and (indole)2···pyridine trimer studied in a supersonic jet.

Structures of the indole···pyridine dimer and (indole)2···pyridine trimer have been investigated in a supersonic jet using resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) and IR-UV double resonance spectroscopic techniques combined with quantum chemistry calculations. R2PI spectra of the dimer and the trimer recorded by electronic excitation of the indole moiety show that the red-shift in the band origin of the dimer with respect to the 0(0)(0) band of the monomer is larger compared to that of the trimer. The presence of only one conformer in the case of both the dimer and the trimer has been confirmed from IR-UV hole-burning spectroscopy. The structures of the dimer and the trimer have been determined from resonant ion dip infrared (RIDIR) spectra combined with ab initio as well as DFT/M05-2X and DFT/M06-2X calculations. It has been found that the dimer, observed in the experiment, has a V-shaped geometry stabilized by N–H···N and C–H···N hydrogen bonding interactions, as well as C–H···π and π···π dispersion interactions. The geometry of the trimer has been found to be a cyclic one stabilized by N–H···N, N–H···π, C–H···π, and C–H···N interactions. The most important finding of this current study is the observation of the mixed dimer and trimer, which are stabilized by hydrogen bonding as well as dispersion interactions.