Structure of (Z)-(5R)-methyl-2-(4-phenylbenzylidene)cyclohexanone as chiral component of liquid-crystalline systems

The spatial structure of (Z)-(5R)-methyl-2-(4-phenylbenzylidene)cyclohexanone prepared by photochemical isomerization of the E-isomer was studied by analyzing the magnitudes and temperature dependence of the proton spin-spin coupling constants obtained by ¹H NMR spectroscopy and the results of molecular modeling using semiempirical quantum chemical AM1 and PM3 methods and the density functional theory (DFT). Comparison of the results obtained for the Z-and E-isomers shows that in both cases the conformational equilibrium for both isomers is characterized by significant preference of the chair conformer having an equatorial methyl group, namely, − ΔH (chair a ⇌ chair e) = 1.98–2.12 and 1.36–1.54 kcal mole⁻¹ for the Z-and E-isomers, respectively. Distinctions in the non-planarity of the enone fragment and cyclohexanone ring in the Z-and E-isomers under study following from the results of mathematical modeling were confirmed by the experimental values of the geminal spin-spin coupling constants of protons of the methylene groups in α,α ′-positions with respect to the enone group. Quantum chemical calculations of the Z-isomer revealed the existence of intramolecular hydrogen bond between the carbonyl oxygen and the nearest aromatic proton in ortho-position of the benzene ring. Possible reasons for different helical twisting power of (Z)-(5R)-methyl-2-(4-phenylbenzylidene)cyclohexanone and the E-and Z-arylidene derivatives of 1R, 4R-isomenthone in the mesophase are discussed based on the results of molecular structure studies for these compounds. In the text below the unsaturated ketones under study will be called “arylidene cyclohexanone derivatives” for convenience of comparing the characteristics of methylcyclohexanone and isomenthone derivatives. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 6, pp. 962–972, June, 2006.