Theoretical studies of π-electron delocalization and localization on intramolecular proton transfer in the ground state

Proton transfer processes of 15 benzimidazole compounds are studied by density functional theory methods, and natural orbital energy index (NOEI) is introduced. Here, NOEI and nucleus independent chemical shift (NICS) are applied to estimate the π-electron localization and delocalization, respectively. Proton transfer potential energy surfaces are calculated to explore these processes, and the results show that the changes of the π-electron delocalization of the phenyl (pyridyl) is the main factors for the stability of keto form. There is high correlation between the π-electron delocalization and the proton transfer barrier. When the π-electron localization is considered, the regression increases the correlation coefficient, increasing from 0.9663 to 0.9864. NOEI index is sensitive to π-electron localization; it is a beneficial and useful complement to NICS.