On the pivotal roles of non-covalent interactions in governing the conformational stability of halo-salicylic acids: an "atoms-in-molecules" perspective

The present contribution elucidates the non-covalent interactions present within the molecular frameworks of a miscellany of mono and dihalo-salicylic acid derivatives from the viewpoint of the "atoms-in-molecule" (AIM) formalism. The pivotal roles of hydrogen bonds (HBs) and other short-contact non-covalent interactions, such as H center dot center dot center dot H and O center dot center dot center dot O/O center dot center dot center dot X (X = F, Cl, Br), toward the conformational preferences of the studied aromatic systems have been depicted in detail. Moreover, the modulations of the pi-aromaticity of the studied systems in the presence of the concerned non-covalent interactions have been ascertained employing the nucleus-independent chemical shift (NICS) descriptor.