The hydrogen-bond basicity of carbenes

We have evaluated theoretically in the gas-phase (MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ) the hydrogen-bond basicity of simple carbenes and vinylidenes and compared them to the corresponding nitrogen and oxygen derivatives using HF as Lewis acid. These values fit conveniently with B values only if sp and sp atoms are treated separately, which is a consequence of the gas-phase (calculated) vs. solution (measured) effects.This work was carried out with financial support from the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project No. CTQ2015-63997-C2-2-P) and Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (Project FOTOCARBON, ref S2013/MIT-2841).Peer Reviewe