| Abstract: | A homomolecular differential bond separation reaction may be defined as the difference between the conventional bond separation reactions involving the unsaturated system and its saturated counterpart. Such a reaction is homomolecular in that the basic molecular structures involved are the same on both sides of the reaction. The type of homodesmotic reaction that also conserves structure in this way may be termed a homomolecular homodesmotic reaction. Both types of homomolecular reactions are readily related to hydrogenation reactions and, more importantly, to each other. Δ B(n), the energy of the homomolecular differential bond separation reaction involving a system with n double bonds, and H(n), the corresponding homomolecular homodesmotic reaction, are related by: where h(1) and h(e) are the hydrogenation energies of the system's monoene and of ethylene, respectively. Both types of reactions yield measures of cyclic conjugation energies that for certain classifications of molecules are simply related to each other. Consideration of extra conjugation in the monoenes allows a ready interpretation of those cases in which a simple classification is not obtained. Ab initio calculations illustrating these effects have been carried out on a variety of molecules including many five- and six-membered ring systems using second order Møller-Plesset and density functional approaches. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
