Hydrogen Bonds with Chalcogens: Looking Beyond the Second Row of the Periodic Table

Abstract

Compared to conventional hydrogen bonds like (O–H···N,
N–H···O, O–H···O, N–H···N), hydrogen bonds involving heavier chalcogens
like sulfur, selenium, and tellurium have been considered weaker
owing to less electronegativity of these elements. However, various
instances exist to prove that these hydrogen bonds (H bonds) are of
similar strength of conventional hydrogen bonds, although the nature
of hydrogen bonding could be different depending on a combination
of electronegativity, polarizability, and dispersion effects. We have presented
a plethora of such H bonds that have been investigated over
past several decades through high-resolution laser spectroscopy, microwave
spectroscopy, and quantum chemical calculations. These H bonds
not only play important roles in biological systems, but are increasingly
being tuned in nature and strength to construct artificial models that can
aid our mechanistic understanding of non-covalent interactions and also
help in modulation of activity, detection, and combat of diseases. We
have discussed how these interactions could be exploited for applications
in crystal engineering, superconductivity, gas capture, and fieldeffect
transistor studies.