Computational Study of Selected Amine and Lactam N-Oxides Including Comparisons of N-O Bond Dissociation Enthalpies with Those of Pyridine N-Oxides

A computational study of the structures and energetics of amine N-oxides, including pyridine N-oxides, trimethylamine N-oxide, bridgehead bicyclic amine N-oxides, and lactam N-oxides, allowed comparisons with published experimental data. Most of the computations employed the B3LYP/6-31G* and M06/6-311G+(d,p) models and comparisons were also made between the results of the HF 6-31G*, B3LYP/6-31G**, B3PW91/6-31G*, B3PW91/6-31G**, and the B3PW91/6-311G+(d,p) models. The range of calculated N-O bond dissociation energies (BDE) (actually enthalpies) was about 40 kcal/mol. Of particular interest was the BDE difference between pyridine N-oxide (PNO) and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO). Published thermochemical and computational (HF 6-31G*) data suggest that the BDE of PNO was only about 2 kcal/mol greater than that of TMAO. The higher IR frequency for N-O stretch in PNO and its shorter N-O bond length suggest a greater difference in BDE values, predicted at 10–14 kcal/mol in the present work. Determination of the enthalpy of sublimation of TMAO, or at least the enthalpy of fusion and estimation of the enthalpy of vaporization might solve this dichotomy. The “extra” resonance stabilization in pyridine N-oxide relative to pyridine was consistent with the 10–14 kcal/mol increase in BDE, relative to TMAO, and was about half the “extra” stabilization in phenoxide, relative to phenol or benzene. Comparison of pyridine N-oxide with its acyclic model nitrone (“Dewar-Breslow model”) indicated aromaticity slightly less than that of pyridine.