Nature of the intramolecular Se center dot center dot center dot N nonbonded interaction of 2-selenobenzylamine derivatives. An experimental evaluation by H-1, Se-77, and N-15 NMR spectroscopy

H-1 NMR analysis of seven 2-selenobenzylamine derivatives (ArSeX, 1-7) has revealed the existence of attractive nonbonded interaction between the divalent selenium and an unsymmetric amino nitrogen, whose strength significantly depends on the relative electrophilic reactivity of the selenium moiety. In the intermediate cases (5, X=CN; 6, X=SPh), the dissociation energy of the Se ... N nonbonded interaction was evaluated as 12.4 and 10.8 kcal/mol, respectively, by variable-temperature H-1 NMR spectral simulations. The corresponding values were roughly estimated as >18.8 kcal/mol for the strong cases (2, X=Br; 3, X=Cl; 4, X=OAc) and <7.7 kcal/mol for the weak cases (1, X=SeAT; 7, X=Me). In order to elucidate physicochemical properties of the interactilon, N-15-labeled compounds were synthesized. Downfield shifts of N-15 NMR (Delta delta(N)) and increment of J(Se ... N) (coupling constant between Se-77 and N-15) were observed with increasing Se ... N interaction. In the case of strong Se ... N interaction, saturation of coupling constants was observed. These experimental observations as well as large NBO deletion energies (3-21G* and LANL1DZ) between the selenium and the nitrogen for model compounds (9-13) strongly suggested that the observed Se ... N interaction is mainly caused by the orbital interaction between the nitrogen lone pair (n(N)) and the antibonding orbital of the Se-X bond (sigma*(Se-X)).