To Bend or Not to Bend: Revealing the Stereoelectronic Origin of the Distorted sp Carbon in Isocyanates

Isocyanates, conventionally depicted as R-N=C=O, exhibit a puzzling deviation from the expected linear geometry of sp-hybridized carbon centers — a structural bending that significantly influences their reactivity. In this work, we present a comprehensive theoretical investigation into the structural, electronic, and vibrational properties of isocyanates using density functional theory (DFT) and wavefunction-based methods. The chemical structure of isocyanates is explored through intrinsic bond orbitals (IBOs), spin-coupled generalized valence bond (SCGVB) theory, and interference energy analysis (IEA) based on the SCGVB calculations. Within the valence bond framework, we show that the N=C and C=O bonds in HNCO are best described as bent (or “banana”) bonds, as the conventional representation using orthogonal sigma and pi components leads to physically unreasonable results. The IEA further reveals that the two bent bonds in C=O are not equivalent. This difference originates from the asymmetric electronic environment induced by the neighboring nitrogen lone pair, which weakens one of the bonds in C=O and induces the observed NCO bending. By reasoning in terms of the two dominant resonance structures, we show that different substituents can favor one form or the other depending on their nature. These results provide a clear rationale for the distinctive electrophilic behavior of isocyanates and also contribute to a deeper understanding of the so-called “bent sp carbon”.