Local aromaticity study of heterocycles using n-center delocalization indices: the role of aromaticity on the relative stability of position isomers

A quantitative study on local aromaticity based on n-center electron delocalization indices, n being the number of atoms in the ring, is performed on a series of heterocycles containing N, O or S. The results indicate that the order of stability within a series of position isomers is not controlled by aromaticity but by other structural factors. Thus, for a certain series of monocycles position isomers (diazoles, triazoles, tetrazoles, diazines, triazines, and tetrazines) the most stable compound is the least aromatic one and vice versa. However, aromaticity controls the stability for series of isomers where these structural factors are similar. For the case of isocompounds, like isobenzopyrrole, isobenzofuran or isobenzothiophene, the large decrease in the aromaticity of the benzene ring with regard to their isomers makes them less stable.     

Local aromaticity in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: electron delocalization versus magnetic indices

The local aromaticity of benzenoid rings is examined by means of the Polansky index (P) and generalized population analysis (GPA). The results are found to agree very well with recently published circuit-condensed ring currents and magnetic-energetic aromaticity indices, but no correlation is found with nucleus independent chemical shifts (NICS). This is usually seen as a manifestation of the more general multidimensional nature of aromaticity. This paper examines the sources for the observed correlations, showing that some indices give conflicting results because they inherently reflect different phenomena.     

Electron delocalization and aromaticity in linear polyacenes: atoms in molecules multicenter delocalization index

Molecular aromaticity in the linear polyacenes is investigated using an atoms in molecules based six center index (SCI-AIM) which measures the electron delocalization. SCI-AIM values for the linear polyacenes indicate decreasing aromaticity going from outer to inner rings in the polyacene series. The SCI-AIM approach is compared to a Mulliken-like approach, and a critical comparison to the PDI index is made.     

Substituent effects and aromaticity of six-membered heterocycles

Structure, aromaticity, relative stability, and conformational flexibility of nitro and amino substituted monoheterocyclic analogous of benzene were studied by ab initio quantum-chemical method at MP2/aug-cc-pvDZ level of theory. Amino derivatives were found to be slightly less aromatic than nitro derivatives. Strong push–pull interactions were found in α- and γ-aminochalcogenopyrylium cations and, in less extent, in α- and γ-aminopyrydines. These molecules are less aromatic but more stable, as compare to their β-isomers. All heterocycles with 3rd and 4th row heteroatoms reveal C–NO₂ bond elongation accompanied by C–Heteroatom bond shortening in β-nitro isomers, and strong inequality of two endocyclic C–Heteroatom bonds in α-amino isomers.     

Criteria for aromaticity of mesoionic heterocycles

The quantum chemical calculations of the basic criteria for aromaticity (nucleus-independent chemical shift (NICS), aromatic stabilization energy (ASE), and parameters of harmonic oscillator model of aromaticity (HOMA), and geometric indices (I ₅)) of 54 mesoionic heterocycles in the 6–31G* split-valence basis set were performed in terms of the density functional theory (DFT) with the B3LYP exchange-correlation hybrid functional. The aromatic nature of the mesoionic heterocycles containing the pyridinium N atom was shown.     

Electron delocalization and aromaticity in low-lying excited states of archetypal organic compounds

Aromaticity is a property usually linked to the ground state of stable molecules. Although it is well-known that certain excited states are unquestionably aromatic, the aromaticity of excited states remains rather unexplored. To move one step forward in the comprehension of aromaticity in excited states, in this work we analyze the electron delocalization and aromaticity of a series of low-lying excited states of cyclobutadiene, benzene, and cyclooctatetraene with different multiplicities at the CASSCF level by means of electron delocalization measures. While our results are in agreement with Baird's rule for the aromaticity of the lowest-lying triplet excited state in annulenes having 4nπ-electrons, they do not support Soncini and Fowler's generalization of Baird's rule pointing out that the lowest-lying quintet state of benzene and septet state of cyclooctatetraene are not aromatic.     

The aromaticity of heterocycles containing the imine nitrogen

The method of predicting aromaticity based on simple Hückel calculations is applied to heterocyclic systems which contain the imine nitrogen. The necessary heteroatom integrals were determined from thermochemical data. Replacement of C by N in alternant systems produced no dramatic changes, but in nonalternants the effect can be large and unexpected as in the azapentalenes where interesting synthetic possibilities are suggested.     

Electron delocalization and aromaticity variations in the stacked nucleic acid base pairs

A newly developed exchange-correlation functional (MPWB1K) in density functional theory has been applied to evaluate the electron delocalization of individual fragments in the stacking interaction between nucleic acid bases (NABs). Electronically and structural-based indices have been employed to investigate the aromaticity variation during stacking interaction. A quantitative study of NABs in their isolated and stacked forms reveals that stacking interaction causes a decrease in bond delocalization. It is shown that the decrease in the aromaticity is accompanied by local decrease in two-center delocalization indices within the pyrimidine rings. We found that the aromaticity exhibits a similar trend for NABs in both their isolated and stacked forms. Moreover, it is indicated that aromatic fluctuation index is more sensible index to delineate the aromaticity variation during stacking interaction.

     

Modulating spin delocalization in phenoxyl radicals conjugated with heterocycles

Phenoxyl radicals were synthesized having heterocyclic substituents in the 4-position. Electron spin resonance spectroscopy shows spin density can be modulated by delocalization onto the heterocycle structure, to the extent that some of the largest spin density bearing sites in 3 and 4 lies in the heterocycle, not in the phenoxyl ring.     

Electron localization and delocalization indices for solids

The electron localization and delocalization indices obtained by the integration of exchange‐correlation part of pair density over chemically meaningful regions of space, e.g., QTAIM atoms are valuable tools for the bonding analysis in molecular systems. However, among periodic systems only few simplest models were analyzed with this approach until now. This contribution reports implementation and evaluation of the localization and delocalization indices on the basis of solid state DFT calculations. A comparison with the results of simple analytical model of Ponec was made. In addition, a small set of compounds with ionic (NaCl), covalent (diamond, graphite), and metallic (Na, Cu) bonding interactions was characterized using this method. Typical features of different types of bonding were discussed using the delocalization indices. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011     

Application of natural bond orbital analysis to delocalization and aromaticity in C-substituted tetrazoles.

Energies of two tautomeric forms of 10 tetrazole derivatives substituted at C5 were established by DFT/B3LYP calculations carried out at the 6-311++G level. In each case the calculated energy of the 2H-tautomer was lower than that of the 1H. Furthermore, three geometric aromaticity indices of both forms were calculated, as were the values of nuclear independent nuclear shift and aromatic stabilization energy. The electronic properties were evaluated with the help of the natural bonding orbital theory. Following this a new pi-delocalization parameter, the root-mean square of pi-electron density localized on the atoms of the five-membered tetrazole ring, SDn, was introduced. It was concluded that the electronic delocalization can be described equally well by three different parameters: SDn, the extent of the transfer of electron density from the p(z) orbital of one nitrogen to the rest of the pi electron system, and population of two antibonding pi orbitals. Arguably, the information provided by the electronic parameters is similar to that contained in the geometric (structural) aromaticity indices except for tetrazole substituted by -BH(2).     

Comparative study of GQ and QG indices as potentially favorable molecular descriptors

In chemical graph theory, several degree-based topological indices are introduced and put forward in the development of quantitative structure-property relationships (QSPR)/quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) studies. However, only a few of them are considered employable in the prediction of physical and chemical properties and biological activities of molecular compounds. Here, we focus our attention on some foremost characteristics of newly defined Geometric–Quadratic $$ and Quadratic–Geometric $$ indices such as prediction power, degeneracy and structure sensitivity. Based on these attributes, we discuss their comparison with other well-established degree-based topological indices with the help of statistical analysis and computational techniques on the data sets of octane, nonane and decane isomers. Some of the graphical approaches, statistical outcomes and computational tests exhibit the dominating nature of the $$ and $$ indices over other topological indices.     

Exact and exclusive electron localization indices within QTAIM atomic basins

Novel measures of electron (de)localization within the Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM) atomic basins are presented which, unlike orthodox localization indices (LIs), are fully exclusive and can be easily visualized. This work shows that QTAIM‐defined LIs describe a portion of interatomic delocalized electrons; hence, the chemical/physical interpretation of orthodox LIs is misleading. Using the recently introduced Fragment, Atomic, Localized, Delocalized, and Interatomic (FALDI) density decomposition technique we derive two novel sets of LIs and delocalization indices (DIs), by accounting for the overlap between localized and delocalized density functions. The FALDI‐based LIs and DIs perfectly recover chemically expected core and bonded electron count. Usefulness of new (de)localization indices and their 3D representations were demonstrated on a number of examples, including formamide and benzene. We therefore expect that the scheme reported in this work will provide a valuable stepping stone between classical conceptual chemistry and quantum chemical topology. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A new aromaticity index and its application to five-membered ring heterocycles

A new index of aromatic character has been devised based upon a statistical evaluation of the deviations in peripheral bond orders. The latter can be derived readily from experimentally determined bond lengths. The utility of this index is exemplified by its application to five-membered ring heterocycles and their mesoionic derivatives.     

Performance of 3D‐space‐based atoms‐in‐molecules methods for electronic delocalization aromaticity indices

Several definitions of an atom in a molecule (AIM) in three‐dimensional (3D) space, including both fuzzy and disjoint domains, are used to calculate electron sharing indices (ESI) and related electronic aromaticity measures, namely, I_ring and multicenter indices (MCI), for a wide set of cyclic planar aromatic and nonaromatic molecules of different ring size. The results obtained using the recent iterative Hirshfeld scheme are compared with those derived from the classical Hirshfeld method and from Bader's quantum theory of atoms in molecules. For bonded atoms, all methods yield ESI values in very good agreement, especially for C–C interactions. In the case of nonbonded interactions, there are relevant deviations, particularly between fuzzy and QTAIM schemes. These discrepancies directly translate into significant differences in the values and the trends of the aromaticity indices. In particular, the chemically expected trends are more consistently found when using disjoint domains. Careful examination of the underlying effects reveals the different reasons why the aromaticity indices investigated give the expected results for binary divisions of 3D space. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011.     

The delocalization index as an electronic aromaticity criterion: application to a series of planar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

This work introduces a new local aromaticity measure, defined as the mean of Bader's electron delocalization index (DI) of para-related carbon atoms in six-membered rings. This new electronic criterion of aromaticity is based on the fact that aromaticity is related to the cyclic delocalized distribution of pi-electrons. We have found that this DI and the harmonic oscillator model of aromaticity (HOMA) index are strongly correlated for a series of six-membered rings in eleven planar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The correlation between the DI and the nucleus-independent chemical shift (NICS) values is less remarkable, although in general six-membered rings with larger DI values also have more negative NICS indices. We have shown that this index can also be applied, with some modifications, to study of the aromaticity in five-membered rings.     

An investigation of the aromaticity of transition metal heterocyclic complexes by conventional criteria and indices of aromaticity

Conventional criteria and indices of aromaticity, including electronic, geometric, energetic and magnetic aspects have been applied to examine the aromaticity of five typical transition metal heterocyclic complexes, i.e. six-membered osmabezene 1 and iridabenzene 2, five-membered cobaltacyclopentadiene 3 and iridacyclopentadiene 4, and four-membered tungstacyclobutadiene 5. The results show that the cyclic, planar, conjugated and Hückel 4n+2 rule’s criteria in the transition-metal-containing heterocycles of the five complexes studied are all met. Five quantitative aromaticity indices, including Bird aromatic index (I_n), homodesmotic reaction aromatic stabilization energy (HASE), absolute hardness (η), diamagnetic susceptibility exaltation (Λ) and NMR chemical shift (δH), qualitatively lead to a consistent and affirmative conclusion that all of them are aromatic. However, they fail to draw a common conclusion for their relative magnitudes of aromaticity, which proves once again the multidimensional character of aromaticity.     

Correlation of delocalization indices and current-density maps in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Using multicentre delocalization indices, the ring current maps of a large set of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are reconstructed and compared with ab initio computations of the same maps in the pseudo-pi version of the ipsocentric approach to magnetic response. The quality of the comparison indicates that both delocalization and ring current approaches capture the same information about the aromatic nature of the PAH. Aromaticity as a global property, requires knowledge of more than single circuits, but the present results suggest no need to introduce a "multidimensional character" for aromaticity.