Protonation energies of 1-5-ring polycyclic aromatic nitrogen heterocyclics: comparing experiment and theory.

Polycyclic nitrogen heterocyclic compounds (PANHs) can be protonated in the gas phase in mass spectrometry, in solution in acidic and biological environments, and if present, in interstellar clouds. Intrinsic molecular effects on PANH basicities can be observed by their gas phase protonation thermochemistry. We determined the gas phase basicities/proton affinities (GBs/PAs) of prototype one-nitrogen, 3-5-ring PANH compounds of increasing sizes and polarizabilities by kinetic bracketing, using proton transfer reactions to reference bases.