Three forms of squaric acid with pyrazine and pyridine derivatives: an experimental and theoretical study

Three new squarate salts were synthesized and combined with experimental and theoretical study on molecular, vibrational, and electronical properties. Squaric acid was crystallized as HSQ− [SQ: squarate] monoanion in [(C13H12NO2)(HC4O4)] (I), as uncharged H2SQ in [(C5H5N3O)(H2C4O4)] (II), and as SQ2− dianion form in [C6H9N2)2(C4O4)] (III). They crystallize in the triclinic and monoclinic crystal system with space group P−1, P21/c, and P21/c, respectively. Crystal structure analysis reveals that, far from forming discrete ionic species in (I) and (II), it is likely that there is large degree of proton sharing between the two hydrogen squarate anions in (I) and between the neutral moieties in (II), with the H atom lying almost symmetrically between the donor and acceptor sites, as evidenced by the long O–H and N–H bonds and short H···O distances. Ab initio calculations have been carried out for three compounds by using DFT/B3LYP and HF methods at 6-31++G(d,p) basis set. Although the supramolecular interactions have some influences on the molecular geometry in solid state phase, calculated data show that the predicted geometries can reproduce the structural parameters. The results of the optimized molecular structure for three compounds obtained on the basis of two models are presented and compared with the experimental X-ray data. Calculated vibrational frequencies are consistent with each other and experimental IR data. The theoretical electronic absorption spectra have been calculated by both TD–DFT and HF–CIS methods. Molecular orbital coefficients analysis suggest that the electronic transitions are mainly assigned to n → π* and π → π* electronic transitions.