Effects of Heteroatoms on Aromatic π−π Interactions: Benzene−Pyridine and Pyridine Dimer

Heteroatoms are found in many noncovalent complexes which are of biological importance. The effect of heteroatoms on pi-pi interactions is assessed via highly accurate quantum chemical computations for the two simplest cases of interactions between aromatic molecules containing heteroatoms, namely, benzene-pyridine and pyridine dimer. Benchmark quality estimated coupled-cluster through perturbative triples CCSD(T) binding energies are computed near the complete basis set limit. Comparisons to the benzene dimer are made to determine the contributions from heteroatoms. The presence of a heteroatom reduces the spatial extent of the pi-electron cloud and polarizability of pyridine as compared to benzene. As a result, the magnitude of the dispersion, exchange, and induction interactions in benzene-pyridine and pyridine dimer is generally reduced as compared to those for the benzene dimer. Benzene-pyridine and pyridine dimer bind more strongly than the benzene dimer in several configurations, and in contrast to the benzene dimer, parallel-displaced configurations can be significantly preferred over T-shaped configurations. Hydrogens para to a heteroatom are more effective "pi-hydrogen bond" donors, but aromatic rings with heteroatoms are worse "pi-hydrogen bond" acceptors.