Antiaromaticity in relation to 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene structures

An isodesmic energy analysis has been carried out at the MP 2/6–31G *//HF /3–21G level for the nonplanar ground state ( 1 ) of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctateraene and for two planar forms, one having complete π delocalization ( 2 ) and the other having alternating single and double bonds ( 3 ). 1 is found to have a considerable degree of stabilization, which is attributed to limited π delocalization. The polyene 3 is the more stable of the two planar forms; it is a transition state in the inversion between two possible nonplanar structures. 2 is found to be a triplet at the Hartree–Fock level and is a critical point on an alternate pathway between the two possible arrangements of alternating single and double bonds in 3 . Both 2 and 3 have negative isodesmic energies, indicating the presence of stabilizing factors. Our results for 3 show that an “antiaromatic” system need not necessarily show a net destabilization. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

High-pressure studies of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene: experiment and theory

High-pressure studies of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene have been performed by using Raman spectroscopy up to 16 GPa and compared with complementary density functional calculations. Angular-dispersive X-ray diffraction studies were also performed in the solid state at elevated pressure. The lattice constants of solid 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene obtained from the X-ray diffraction pattern taken at 3.8 GPa and room temperature are in good agreement with theoretical results. At least two phase transitions were observed during pressure increase followed by the loss of long-range crystallographic order, which was also associated with a strong pressure-induced luminescence that allowed estimation of band gap alterations with pressure.     

Electron inity of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene determined by the kinetic method

The kinetic method is used to determine the electron inity (EA) of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene (COT), a compound that undergoes a significant structural change upon electron attachment. Collision-induced dissociation of anionic clusters of COT with a set of reference compounds (Ref), [COT·Ref]^?·, at various collision energies, allowed deconvolution of the relative enthalpies and entropies of the competitive reactions. The adiabatic EA of COT is determined to be 0.58±0.10 eV, in good agreement with the value, 0.58±0.04 eV, of Wentworth and Ristau (J. Phys. Chem. 1969, 73, 2126) determined by thermal electron detachment as well as the more recent value, 0.55±0.02 eV, of Kato et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 7863) determined by equilibrium electron transfer with molecular oxygen. A large entropy difference, 25.6±10.0 e.u. (J mol^?1 K^?1), is observed between the two dissociation channels. This entropy difference corresponds to a negative 14.7±13.0 e.u. change for the dissociation of the dimer to give COT^?· and the neutral reference compound and a positive 10.9±8.4 e.u. entropy change for the dissociation of the dimer to give Ref^?· and neutral COT.     

Four- and two-electron rules for diatropic and paratropic ring currents in monocyclic pi systems

The pi ring current in an even-eletron monocycle is dominated by the HOMO-LUMO transition, and hence corresponds to circulation of four electrons in a diatropic (4n + 2)-electron, but two in a paratropic (4n)-electron cycle.     

CH stretching vibrational overtone spectra of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene and 1,1,1-trichloroethane

Local mode frequencies, omega, and anharmonicities, omegax, are obtained from the delta upsilon(CH) = 2-7 spectral regions of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene (COT) and 1,1,1-trichloroethane. In 1,1,1-trichloroethane omega and omega x are used in conjunction with ab initio potential energy surfaces to calculate local mode anharmonicity-torsion coupling terms, delta(omega x), and frequency-torsion coupling terms, delta(omega). Blue-shifting of sterically hindered CH oscillators in 1,1,1-trichloroethane indicates nonbonded, through-space intramolecular interactions with Cl. Multiple, complex Fermi resonances are observed in 1,1,1-trichloroethane and in COT between local mode states and local mode/normal mode combination states. Intensities of vibrational overtone transitions are calculated in the range delta upsilon(CH) = 3-9 using ab initio dipole moment functions and the harmonically coupled anharmonic oscillator (HCAO) model. HCAO intensities are compared to experimental intensities at delta upsilon(CH) = 3.     

Canonical orbital contributions to the magnetic fields induced by global and local diatropic and paratropic ring currents

The induced magnetic field (IMF) of naphthalene, biphenyl, biphenylene, benzocyclobutadiene, and pentalene is dissected to contributions from the total π system, canonical π‐molecular orbitals (CMO), and HOMO→π* excitations, to evaluate and interpret relative global and local diatropicity and paratropicity. Maps of the IMF of the total π system reveal its relative strength and topology that corresponds to global and local diatropic and paratropic ring currents. The total π magnetic response is determined by this of canonical HOMOs and particularly by paratropic contributions of rotational excitations from HOMOs to unoccupied π * orbitals. Low energy excitations and similar nodal structure of HOMO and π * induce strong paratropic fields that dominate on antiaromatic rings. High energy excitations and different nodal structures lead to weak paratropic contributions of canonical HOMOs, which are overwhelmed by diatropic response of lower energy canonical orbitals in aromatic rings. CMO‐IMF analysis is found in agreement with ring current analysis. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Preparation of 1,4,5,8-tetra-tert-butyl-1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene by twofold SO2 extrusion

Oxidation of cis-1-transoid-1,2-cis-2-3,4,7,8-tetra-tert-butyl-9,10-dithiatricyclo[4.2.1.1^2,5]deca-3,7-diene 9,10-dioxide (2) by dimethyldioxirane gave the corresponding tetraoxide 4 quantitatively, which in turn provided 1,4,5,8-tetra-tert-butyl-1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene (6a) quantitatively by twofold thermal SO₂ extrusion. The molecular structure of 6a is described on the basis of DFT calculations (B3LYP/6-31G(d) level) and X-ray crystallographic analysis.     

Guanine bases in DNA G-quadruplex adopt nonplanar geometries owing to solvation and base pairing

The effect of base pairing and solvation on pyramidalization of the glycosidic nitrogen found in the residues of parallel G-quadruplex with NDB ID UDF062 is analyzed and explained with theoretical calculations. The extent of the pyramidalization depends on the local geometry of the 2'-deoxyguanosine residues, namely on their glycosidic torsion and sugar pucker, which are predetermined by the 3D-architecture of G-quadruplex. Pyramidal inversion of the glycosidic nitrogen found in 2'-deoxyguanosines of G-quadruplex is induced owing to site-specifically coordinated solvent. Different adiabatic structural constraints used for fixing the base-to-sugar orientation of 2'-deoxyguanosine in geometry optimizations result in different extents of pyramidalization and induce pyramidal inversion of the glycosidic nitrogen. These model geometry constraints helped us analyze the effect of real constraints represented by explicit molecular environment of selected residues of the G-quadruplex. The maximal extent of the glycosidic nitrogen pyramidalization found in the high-resolution crystal structure corresponds to the calculation to deformation energy of only 1 kcal mol(-1). The out-of-plane deformations of nucleobases thus provide a way for compensating the site-specific external environmental stress on the G-quadruplex.     

Kinetics of ring inversion in strongly nonplanar iron(III) octaalkyltetraphenylporphyrinates

The dynamics of porphyrin ring inversion of a number of Fe(III) complexes of octamethyltetraphenylporphyrin, (OMTPP)Fe(III); octaethyltetraphenylporphyrin, (OETPP)Fe(III); octaethyltetra(perfluorophenyl)porphyrin, (F(20)OETPP)Fe(III); and tetra-beta,beta'-tetramethylenetetraphenyl-porphyrin, (TC(6)TPP)Fe(III), having either one (Cl(-), ClO(4-)) or two [4-(dimethylamino)pyridine, 4-Me(2)NPy; 1-methylimidazole, 1-MeIm; tert-butylisocyanide, t-BuNC; or cyanide, CN(-)] axial ligands have been characterized by 1D dynamic NMR (DNMR) and 2D (1)H NOESY/EXSY spectroscopies as a function of temperature. The activation parameters, Delta H++, Delta S++, and Delta G++(298), and the extrapolated rate constants at 298 K for three chloride, one perchlorate, and three bis-(4-Me(2)NPy) complexes as well as [FeOETPP(1-MeIm)(2)]Cl, [FeOETPP(t-BuNC)(2)]ClO(4), and Na[FeOETPP(CN)(2)] have been determined. The results indicate that there is a wide range of flexibility for the porphyrin core (k(ex)(298) = 10-10(7) s(-1)) that decreases in the order TC(6)TPP > OMTPP > F(20)OETPP > or = OETPP, which correlates with increasing porphyrin nonplanarity. To determine the effect of axial ligands, we calculated the free energy of activation, Delta G++(298) for OETPPFe(III) bis-ligated with 4-Me(2)NPy, 1-MeIm, or 4-CNPy (approximately 59 kJ mol(-1)), and for complexes with small cylindrical ligands (t-BuNC and CN(-)) (approximately 37 kJ mol(-1)). These data suggest that the Delta G++(298) for planar ligand rotation is roughly 20-25 kJ mol(-1).     

Ring currents in condensed ring systems

We have studied magnetism and aromaticity of polycyclic ring systems by analyzing ring currents for different circulations in these molecules. The technique employed for calculating ring currents uses correction vectors which implicitly includes all the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian in the space of the chosen configurations. We have employed the Pariser–Parr–Pople Hamiltonian and have carried out full configuration interaction (CI) calculations for small systems and approximate CI calculations for large systems. The systems studied include polyacenes, nonaromatic ring systems including the C₆₀ fragments pyracylene, fluoranthene, and corannulene, and heteroatomic systems with upto two six-membered rings. We find that in polyacenes, the aromaticity of the extreme phenyl rings reduces with increasing number of phenyl rings in the system, and it saturates at ≈⅔ the benzene value. In systems containing nonaromatic rings, we find paramagnetic or diamagnetic behavior for different circulations depending upon the number of atoms in the chosen ring cycle, in agreement with the 4n+2 rule. In corannulene, the largest fragment of C₆₀ we have studied, the five-membered ring is weakly diamagnetic while the six-membered ring is more diamagnetic, although much less than in isolated benzene. The ring structures with heteroatoms studied are pyridine, pyrimidine, and its isomers, s-triazine, quinoline and its isomer, and quinazoline and its isomers. All these have similar ring currents as in their purely carbon counterparts, although ions of these molecules show interesting behavior. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 70: 503–513, 1998     

Octa-1,3,5,7-tetraene: Ab initio geometries and vibrational spectra of some stable structures

Complete geometry optimizations of trans, Trans, trans, Trans, trans-, gauche, Trans, trans, Trans, trans-, trans, Trans, trans, Cis, trans-, and gauche, Trans, trans, Cis, trans-octa-1,3,5,7-te-traenes were carried out at the RHF/6-31G level. Characteristic changes in the geometry are found in going from the planar conformers of octatetraene to the corresponding higher-energy stable forms. The harmonic force constants were computed for the above conformers at the RHF/6-31G//RHF/6-31G level using analytical second derivatives. The computed force fields of these four molecules were then corrected using empirical scale factors transferred fromtrans-buta-1,3-diene. To account for the vibronic coupling effect, which may be a characteristic of oligoenes, a special scale factor was introduced for the two internal coordinates which correspond to stretching the central C=C double bonds. A complete assignment of the experimental spectra oft, T, t, T, t-octatetraene is also given.On leave from Laboratory of Molecular Spectroscopy, Department of Chemistry, Moscow State University, Moscow 119899, U.S.S.R.Preliminary results were reported at the Thirteenth Austin Symposium on Molecular Structure, Austin, TX, USA March 12–14, 1990, S 5, p. 91. and at the Second World Congress of the Theoretical Organic Chemists, Toronto, Canada July 8–14, 1990, BP-35 (Canada).     

A theory of nonvertical triplet energy transfer in terms of accurate potential energy surfaces: the transfer reaction from pi,pi* triplet donors to 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene

Triplet energy transfer (TET) from aromatic donors to 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene (COT) is an extreme case of "nonvertical" behavior, where the transfer rate for low-energy donors is considerably faster than that predicted for a thermally activated (Arrhenius) process. To explain the anomalous TET of COT and other molecules, a new theoretical model based on transition state theory for nonadiabatic processes is proposed here, which makes use of the adiabatic potential energy surfaces (PES) of reactants and products, as computed from high-level quantum mechanical methods, and a nonadiabatic transfer rate constant. It is shown that the rate of transfer depends on a geometrical distortion parameter gamma=(2g(2)/kappa(1))(1/2) in which g stands for the norm of the energy gradient in the PES of the acceptor triplet state and kappa(1) is a combination of vibrational force constants of the ground-state acceptor in the gradient direction. The application of the model to existing experimental data for the triplet energy transfer reaction to COT from a series of pi,pi(*) triplet donors, provides a detailed interpretation of the parameters that determine the transfer rate constant. In addition, the model shows that the observed decrease of the acceptor electronic excitation energy is due to thermal activation of C=C bond stretchings and C-C bond torsions, which collectively change the ground-state COT bent conformation (D(2d)) toward a planar triplet state (D(8h)).     

Full spectral decomposition of ring currents

Within the ipsocentric method for calculation of molecular magnetic response, projection of perturbed orbitals onto the virtual orbital space allows partition of induced current density into contributions from individual virtual excitations between occupied and unoccupied orbitals, enabling detailed assignment of the origin of currents in, e.g., benzene, cyclooctatetraene, borazine, coronene, and corannulene. Whereas delocalized currents in benzene and planar cyclooctatetraene are described by transitions within the valence space, localized currents in the borazine pi system involve excitations outside the valence space.     

Topological ring currents in the "empty" ring of benzo-annelated perylenes

Cyclic conjugation in benzo-annelated perylenes is examined by means of the topological π-electron ring currents calculated for each of their constituent rings, in a study that is an exact analogy of a recent investigation by Gutman et al. based on energy-effect values for the corresponding rings in each of these structures. "Classical" approaches, such as Kekule? structures, Clar "sextet" formulas, and circuits of conjugation, predict that the central ring in perylene is "empty" and thus contributes negligibly to cyclic conjugation. However, conclusions from the present calculations of topological ring currents agree remarkably with those arising from the earlier study involving energy-effect values in that, contrary to what would be predicted from the classical approaches, rings annelated in an angular fashion relative to the central ring of these perylene structures materially increase the extent of that ring's involvement in cyclic conjugation. It is suggested that such close quantitative agreement between the predictions of these two superficially very different indices (energy effect and topological ring current) might be due to the fact that, ultimately, both depend, albeit in ostensibly quite different ways, only on an adjacency matrix that contains information about the carbon-carbon connectivity of the conjugated system in question.     

The leap-frog effect of ring currents in benzene

Symmetry arguments show that the ring-current model proposed by Pauling, Lonsdale, and London to explain the enhanced diamagnetism of benzene is flawed by an intrinsic drawback. The minimal basis set of six atomic 2p orbitals taken into account to develop such a model is inherently insufficient to predict a paramagnetic contribution to the perpendicular component of magnetic susceptibility in planar ring systems such as benzene. Analogous considerations can be made for the hypothetical H(6) cyclic molecule. A model allowing for extended basis sets is necessary to rationalize the magnetism of aromatics. According to high-quality coupled Hartree-Fock calculations, the trajectories of the current density vector field induced by a magnetic field perpendicular to the skeletal plane of benzene in the pi electrons are noticeably different from those typical of a Larmor diamagnetic circulation, in that (i) significant deformation of the orbits from circular to hexagonal symmetry occurs, which is responsible for a paramagnetic contribution of pi electrons to the out-of-plane component of susceptibility, and (ii) a sizable component of the pi current density vector parallel to the inducing field is predicted. This causes a waving motion of pi electrons; streamlines are characterized by a "leap-frog effect".     

Selective ring opening reactions of 3,7-diarylsulfonyl-1,3,5,7-tetrazabicyclo[3.3.1] nonaries

The selective formation of 1,3,5,7-tetrazacyelooctanes from the title compounds is described. Exclusive cleavage of the IN-CH₂-N bonds at the bridge methylene is shown to be a facile process, thus providing a convenient route to tetrazacyclooctane derivatives.     

Diamagnetic and paramagnetic ring currents in expanded porphyrins

Ipsocentric current density maps are computed at the coupled Hartree-Fock level in the 6-31G** basis set for the planar C(2v) B3LYP geometries of the expanded porphyrins, sapphyrin and orangarin. Both give clearly dominant global macrocyclic ring currents, but with opposite senses of circulation: in 22[small pi] sapphyrin, a diatropic current runs, with some bifurcation, around the conventional 22-centre delocalisation pathway; in 20[small pi] orangarin, a paratropic current runs around the inner 17-atom pathway. In agreement with the annulene analogy for these macrocycles, analysis of orbital contributions shows that in each case topology, energy and symmetry of the frontier orbitals together determine the macrocyclic ring current. In sapphryrin, 4-electron diamagnetism (aromaticity) arises from translationally allowed HOMO-LUMO excitations as in benzene itself; in orangarin, 2-electron paramagnetism (antiaromaticity) arises from rotationally allowed HOMO-LUMO excitations as in planarised cyclooctatetraene. The active orbitals invoked in the explanation of ring currents are those involved in the longstanding four-orbital model of porphyrin electronic spectra.     

Survival and extinction of delocalized ring currents in clamped benzenes

Direct visualisation of induced current density in clamped benzenes 1-4 distinguishes between saturated clamping groups, for which the central benzene ring retains a conventional diamagnetic ring current, and strongly interacting, unsaturated clamps, for which the central ring supports only the localised circulations expected of a 1,3,5-cyclohexatriene with fully fixed double bonds.