Radical Ions of a Bishomobinaphthylene Containing two 1,6-methano[10]annulene moieties: An ESR and ENDOR study

The radical cation and the radical anion of ‘syn’-cyclobuta1,2-c:3,4-c′]di-1,6-methano10]annulene (‘syn’-4a,12a:6a, 10a-bishomobinaphthylene; 3 ) have been characterized by their hyperfine data. The highly resolved ESR spectrum of $ 3^{+ \atop \dot{}} $ is dominated by a triplet splitting from the outer pair of methano β-protons (H_o). In contrast, the ESR spectrum of $ 3^{- \atop \dot{}} $ is poorly resolved with the largest coupling constants arising from perimeter α-protons. The different hyperfine features of $ 3^{+ \atop \dot{}} $ and $ 3^{- \atop \dot{}} $ are rationalized by MO models. The SOMO of $ 3^{+ \atop \dot{}} $ ψ_SA(b₁), has substantial LCAO coefficients of the same sign at the bridged atoms C(1), C(6), C(11), and C(16), whereas in the SOMO of $ 3^{- \atop \dot{}} $, ψ_SS(a₁), the four atoms lie in the vertical nodal planes. The large width and the reluctance to saturation of the lines in the ESR spectrum of $ 3^{- \atop \dot{}} $ are attributed to the near-degeneracy of the lowest antibonding MO's. Due to their similar nodal properties, the SOMO's of $ 3^{- \atop \dot{}} $ and the radical anions of binaphthylene ( 4 ), 1,6-methano10]annulene ( 1 ), and naphthalene ( 2 ) are interrelated. Moreover, because the cyclic π-systems in 3 and 1 deviate in the same way from planarity, the effect of such distortions on the coupling constants, a_Hμ, of the perimeter α-protons in $ 3^{- \atop \dot{}} $ and $ 1^{- \atop \dot{}} $ should be comparable. Indeed, on going from $ 4^{- \atop \dot{}} $ to $ 3^{- \atop \dot{}} $, the |a_Hμ| values are reduced exactaly by half as much as the corresponding values on passing from $ 2^{- \atop \dot{}} $ to $ 3^{- \atop \dot{}} $, of which the cyclic π-systems are twice contained in $ 4^{- \atop \dot{}} $ and $ 3^{- \atop \dot{}} $ respectively.