Strained delocalized carbenoid ring systems — A theoretical investigation

A number of ring compounds containing a divalent carbon center (carbenes) have been studied usingab initio quantum chemical methods. The studied systems include: imidazol-2-ylidene, 4-pyranylidene, 9-xanthylidene, cyclohexa-2,5-dienylidene and 4-oxocyclohexa-2,5-dienylidene. Extended ANO type basis sets were used. Wave functions and energies were obtained with a multiconfigurational approach (CASSCF), where dynamic correlation effects are treated by using second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2).The singlet-triplet splitting has been found to depend linearly on the energy separation between the two carbene orbitals. All systems, where this splitting is larger than about 10 eV have been found to have a singlet ground state, while those with a smaller gap have a triplet ground state. A number of excited states have been characterized. Computed excitation energies are in agreement with experiment in cases where such information is available.