Cooperative effects in regular and bifurcated intramolecular OH⋯OC interactions: A computational study

► We study OH⋯OC H bond interactions in polyol-containing hydroxyketones. ► We examine changes in H bond strength with polyol size. ► Bifurcated H bonds exhibit destabilizing cooperative effects. ► Regular H bonds exhibit stabilizing cooperative effects. ► Stabilizing effects are larger than destabilizing cooperative effects.