NH+–F Hydrogen Bonding in a Fluorinated “Proton Sponge” Derivative: Integration of Solution, Solid-State, Gas-Phase, and Computational Studies

We report detailed studies on the characterization of an intramolecular NH–F hydrogen bond formed within a fluorinated “proton sponge” derivative. An ammonium ion, generated from 8-fluoro-N,N-dimethylnaphthalen-1-amine, serves as a charged hydrogen bond donor to a covalently bound fluorine appropriately positioned on the naphthalene skeleton. Potentiometric titrations of various N,N-dimethylnaphthalen-1-amines demonstrate a significant increase in basicity when hydrogen bonding is possible. X-ray crystallography reveals that NH–F hydrogen bonding in protonated 8-fluoro-N,N-dimethylnaphthalen-1-amine is heavily influenced by ion pairing in the solid state; bifurcated and trifurcated hydrogen bonds are formed depending on the counterion utilized. Compelling evidence of hydrogen bonding in the 8-fluoro-N,N-dimethylnaphthyl-1-ammonium cation is provided by gas-phase cryogenic vibrational photodissociation spectroscopy. Solution-phase infrared spectroscopy provides complementary results, and the frequencies of the N–H stretching mode in both phases are in excellent agreement with the computed vibrational spectra. NMR analysis of protonated 8-fluoro-N,N-dimethylnaphthalen-1-amine demonstrates significant H–F coupling between the N–H hydrogen and fluorine that cannot be attributed to long-range, through-bond interactions; the couplings correlate favorably with calculated values. The results obtained from these experiments are congruent with the formation of an NH–F hydrogen bond upon protonation of 8-fluoro-N,N-dimethylnaphthalen-1-amine.