An STO-3G investigation of barriers to rotation in model systems for aromatic polycarbonates

Non-empirical, STO-3G, and semi-empirical, MNDO, calculations have been performed to investigate the rigid rotation of the phenyl group in phenyl carbonic acid, as a model for Bisphenol A polycarbonate. The MNDO results predict a barrier to rotation of ～55 kcal mole^?1, a factor of ～2 greater than that for the STO-3G computations. Analysis of the relevant orbital energies dictates that the lowest excited state of phenyl carbonic acid is $\text{π → π}{}^1$.