A dipole moment study of the conformational properties of diaryl diselenides and related compounds

The electric dipole moments of the diaryl diselenides (RC₆H₄)₂Se₂ (R  H, 4-F, 4-Br, 4-CH₃, 3-F) were measured in benzene solution at 25 and 45°C. The conformations of these compounds were deduced by matching experimental moments with values calculated for a variety of possible conformations. In the dissolved state the diselenides exist at 25°C in fixed “skew” conformations characterized by dihedral angles of 75–106° between the CSeSe planes, corresponding to the conformational energy minima. At 45°C oscillations about the SeSe bonds are excited in the diphenyl and bis(4-methylphenyl) diselenides, whereas the 4-bromophenyl derivative exhibits free rotation. The fluoro compounds have temperature-independent dipole moments, suggesting “rigid conformations” with dihedral angles of 106° (4-F) and 74.4° (3-F). An analysis of the dipole moments at 25 and 45°C obtained for the compounds (RC₆H₄)₂X₂ (R  H, 3-F, 4-F, 4-Br, 4-CH₃; X  S, Se, Te) showed that the conformational properties of these derivatives change on passing from X  S to X  Te. The observed variations are explicable in terms of a decreasing repulsion between the lone electron pairs of the chalcogen atoms on going from the disulfides to the ditellurides and a concomitant reduction of the energy barrier to rotations about the XX bonds.