Substituent Effects on Cooperativity in Three-Component H-Bond Networks Involving Phenol–Phenol Interactions

Cooperativity between H-bonding interactions in networks is a fundamental aspect of solvation and self-assembly in molecular systems. The interaction of a series of bisphenols, which make an intramolecular H-bond between the two hydroxyl groups, and quinuclidine was used to quantify cooperativity in three-component networks. The presence of the intramolecular H-bond in the bisphenols was established by using ¹H NMR spectroscopy in solution and X-ray crystallography in the solid state. The interactions with quinuclidine were investigated using UV-vis and ¹H NMR titrations, which show that the intramolecular hydrogen bonds persist in the 1:1 complexes. By varying substituents on one of the phenol groups, it was possible to measure the effect of changing the strength of the intramolecular H-bond between the hydroxyl groups on the strength of the intermolecular H-bond with quinuclidine. Strong positive cooperativity was observed between the two interactions, with increases in binding free energy of up to 16 kJ mol^-1. By varying substituents on the other phenol group, which makes both an intramolecular H-bond and an intermolecular H-bond in the complex, it was possible to measure how the properties of this central hydroxyl group modulate cooperativity between the interactions with the other two functional groups. Changing the polarity of this phenol had no effect on the measured cooperativity. The results indicate that cooperativity in H-bond networks can be understood as a polar interaction between two remote functional groups that is damped by a central functional group. The extent of damping is quantified by cooperativity parameter κ, which is 0.33 for the hydroxyl group and appears to be an intrinsic property of the geometry or polarizability of the functional group rather than polarity.