Nitriles with High Gas-Phase Basicity—Part II Transmission of the Push–Pull Effect through Methylenecyclopropene and Cyclopropenimine Scaffolds Intercalated between Different Electron Donor(s) and the Cyano N-Protonation Site

This work extends our earlier quantum chemical studies on the gas-phase basicity of very strong N-bases to two series of nitriles containing the methylenecyclopropene and cyclopropenimine scaffolds with dissymmetrical substitution by one or two electron-donating substituents such as Me, NR2, N=C (NR2)2, and N=P (NR2)3, the last three being strong donors. For a proper prediction of their gas-phase base properties, all potential isomeric phenomena and reasonable potential protonation sites are considered to avoid possible inconsistencies when evaluating the energetic parameters and associated protonation or deprotonation equilibria B + H+ = BH+. More than 250 new isomeric structures for neutral and protonated forms are analyzed. The stable structures are selected and the favored ones identified. The microscopic (kinetic) gas-phase basicity parameters (PA and GB) corresponding to N sites (cyano and imino in the cyclopropenimine or in the substituents) in each isomer are calculated. The macroscopic (thermodynamic) PAs and GBs, referring to the isomeric mixtures of favored isomers, are also estimated. The total (pushing) substituent effects are analyzed for monosubstituted and disubstituted derivatives containing two identical or two different substituents. Electron delocalization is examined in the two π–π conjugated transmitters, the methylenecyclopropene and cyclopropenimine scaffolds. The aromatic character of the three-membered ring is also discussed.