title: Does ammonia hydrogen bond?
abstract: Spectroscopic characterizations of the stereochemistry of complexes of ammonia (NH(3)) have strongly confirmed some long-held ideas about the weak interactions of NH(3) while casting doubt on others. As expected, NH(3) is observed to be a nearly universal proton acceptor, accepting hydrogen bonds from even some of the weakest proton donors. Surprisingly, no evidence has been found to support the view that NH(3) acts as a proton donor through hydrogen bonding. A critical evaluation of the work that has been done to gather such evidence, as well as of earlier work involving condensed-phase observations, suggests that NH(3) might well be best described as a powerful hydrogen-bond acceptor with little propensity to donate hydrogen bonds.
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Fraser
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Klemperer