Theoretical Studies on the Dihydrogen Bonding Between Shortchain Hydrocarbon and Magnesium Hydride

The C--H…H dihydrogen-bonded complexes of methane, ethylene, acetylene, and their derivatives with magnesium hydride were systematically investigated at MP2/aug-cc-PVTZ level. The results confirm that the strength of dihydrogen bonding increases in the following order of proton donors： C（sp3）-H〈C（sp2）-H〈C（sp）-H and chlorine substituents enhance the C-H…H interaction. In the majority of the complexes with a cyclic structure, the Mg-H proton-accepting bond is more sensitive to the surroundings than C-H proton-donating bond. The nature of the electrostatic interaction in these C-H…H dihydrogen bonds was also unveiled by means of the atoms in mo- lecules（AIM） analysis. The natural bond orbital（NBO） analysis suggests that the charge transfer in the cyclic com- plexes is characteristic of dual-channel. The direction of the net charge transfer in the cyclic complexes is contrary to that previously found in dihydrogen bonded systems.