The o-, m-, and p-benzyne radical cations: a theoretical study

On the basis of the CASPT2 (multiconfigurational second-order perturbation theory) geometry optimization calculations, the ground states of the o-C(6)H(4)(+) (C(2v)), m-C(6)H(4)(+) (C(2v)), and p-C(6)H(4)(+) (D(2h)) radical cations were determined to be 1 (2)B(1), 1 (2)A(2), and 1 (2)B(1u), respectively. For o-C(6)H(4)(+) and m-C(6)H(4)(+), the first excited states (1 (2)A(2) and 1 (2)A(1), respectively) lie very close to the respective ground states. The small distance value of 1.419 A between the two dehydrocarbons in the ground-state geometry of m-C(6)H(4)(+) indicates that there is a real chemical bond between the two dehydrocarbons (the distance in the 1 (2)A(1) geometry of m-C(6)H(4)(+) is very long as in the m-C(6)H(4) molecule). The (U)B3LYP isotropic proton hfcc (hyperfine coupling constant) calculation results imply that the ground and first excited states of o-C(6)H(4)(+) will have similar ESR spectrum patterns while the ground and first excited states of m-C(6)H(4)(+) will have completely different ESR spectrum patterns.