Writing with ring currents: selectively hydrogenated polycyclic aromatics as finite models of graphene and graphane.

Alternating partial hydrogenation of the interior region of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon gives a finite model system representing systems on the pathway from graphene to the graphane modification of the graphene sheet. Calculations at the DFT and coupled Hartree-Fock levels confirm that sp2 cycles of bare carbon centres isolated by selective hydrogenation retain the essentially planar geometry and electron delocalization of the annulene that they mimic. Delocalization is diagnosed by the presence of ring currents, as detected by ipsocentric calculation and visualization of the current density induced in the π system by a perpendicular external magnetic field. These induced 'ring' currents have essentially the same sense, strength and orbital origin as in the free hydrocarbon. Subjected to the important experimental proviso of the need for atomic-scale control of hydrogenation, this finding predicts the possibility of writing single, multiple and concentric diatropic and/or paratropic ring currents on the graphene/graphane sheet. The implication is that pathways for free flow of ballistic current can be modelled in the same way.

Base-catalyzed dehydration of 3-substituted benzene cis-1,2-dihydrodiols: stabilization of a cyclohexadienide anion intermediate by negative aromatic hyperconjugation.

Evidence that a 1,2-dihydroxycyclohexadienide anion is stabilized by aromatic "negative hyperconjugation" is described. It complements an earlier inference of "positive" hyperconjugative aromaticity for the cyclohexadienyl cation. The anion is a reactive intermediate in the dehydration of benzene cis-1,2-dihydrodiol to phenol. Rate constants for 3-substituted benzene cis-dihydrodiols are correlated by σ(-) values with ρ = 3.2. Solvent isotope effects for the reactions are k(H(2)O)/k(D(2)O) = 1.2-1.8. These measurements are consistent with reaction via a carbanion intermediate or a concerted reaction with a "carbanion-like" transition state. These and other experimental results confirm that the reaction proceeds by a stepwise mechanism, with a change in rate-determining step from proton transfer to the loss of hydroxide ion from the intermediate. Hydrogen isotope exchange accompanying dehydration of the parent benzene cis-1,2-dihydrodiol was not found, and thus, the proton transfer step is subject to internal return. A rate constant of ~10(11) s(-1), corresponding to rotational relaxation of the aqueous solvent, is assigned to loss of hydroxide ion from the intermediate. The rate constant for internal return therefore falls in the range 10(11)-10(12) s(-1). From these limiting values and the measured rate constant for hydroxide-catalyzed dehydration, a pK(a) of 30.8 ± 0.5 was determined for formation of the anion. Although loss of hydroxide ion is hugely exothermic, a concerted reaction is not enforced by the instability of the intermediate. Stabilization by negative hyperconjugation is proposed for 1,2-dihydroxycyclohexadienide and similar anions, and this proposal is supported by additional experimental evidence and by computational results, including evidence for a diatropic ("aromatic") ring current in 3,3-difluorocyclohexadienyl anion.

Ring currents in boron and carbon buckyballs, B80 and C60.

The ipsocentric method at the coupled Hartree-Fock level is used for the calculation of magnetically induced ring currents in the boron buckyball B(80), for both I(h) and distorted T(h) geometries. A close similarity between the current patterns in boron and carbon buckyballs is noted, but with a higher current density in B(80). Paratropic currents on the pentagons are predominant in the boron buckyball, and the central NICS value is positive. These observations support the conclusion that B(80) should be considered (weakly) anti-aromatic. The largest orbital contributions to the ring currents in both molecules are identified and related to specific excitations in the frontier orbital region.

Hyperaromatic stabilization of arenium ions: cyclohexa- and cycloheptadienyl cations-experimental and calculated stabilities and ring currents.

Measurements of pK(R) show that the cycloheptadienyl cation is less stable than the cyclohexadienyl (benzenium) cation by 18 kcal mol(-1). This difference is ascribed here to "hyperaromaticity" of the latter. For the cycloheptadienyl cation a value of K(R) = [ROH][H(+)]/[R(+)] is assigned by combining a rate constant for reaction of the cation with water based on the azide clock with a rate constant for the acid-catalyzed formation of the cation accompanying equilibration of cycloheptadienol with its trifluoroethyl ether in TFE-water mixtures. Comparison of pK(R) = -16.1 with pK(R) = -2.6 for the cyclohexadienyl cation yields the difference in stabilities of the two ions. Interpretation of this difference in terms of hyperconjugative aromaticity is supported by the effect of benzannelation in reducing pK(R) for the benzenium ion: from -2.6 down to -3.5 for the 1H-naphthalenium and -6.0 for the 9H-anthracenium ions, respectively. MP2/6-311+G** and G3MP2 calculations of hydride ion affinities of benzenium ions show an order of stabilities for substituents at the methylene group consistent with their hyperconjugative abilities, i.e., (H(3)Si)(2) > cyclopropyl > H(2) > Me(2)> (HO)(2) > F(2). Calculations of ring currents show a similar ordering. No conventional ring current is seen for the cycloheptadienyl cation, whereas currents in the F(2)-substituted benzenium ion are consistent with antiaromaticity. Arenium ions where the methylene group is substituted with a single OH group show characteristic energy differences between conformations, with C-H or C-OH bonds respectively occupying or constrained to axial positions favorable to hyperconjugation. The differences were found to be 8.8, 6.3, 2.4, and 0.4 kcal mol(-1) for benzenium, naphthalenium, phenanthrenium, and cyclohexenyl cations, respectively.

Effect on ring current of the Kekulé vibration in aromatic and antiaromatic rings.

Derivative current-density maps are used to follow the changes in ring-current (and hence, on the magnetic criterion, the changes in aromaticity) with the Kekulé vibrations of the prototypical aromatic, antiaromatic, and nonaromatic systems of benzene, cyclooctatetraene (COT), and borazine. Maps are computed at the ipsocentric CHF/6-31G**//RHF/6-31G** level. The first-derivative map for benzene shows a growing-in of localized bond currents, and the second-derivative map shows a pure, paratropic "antiring-current", leading to the conclusion that vibrational motion along the Kekulé mode will reduce the net aromaticity of benzene, on average. For planar-constrained D(4h) COT, the Kekulé mode (positive for reduction of bond-length alternation) increases paratropicity at both first and second order, indicating an average increase in antiaromaticity with zero-point motion along this mode. On the ring-current criterion, breathing expansions of benzene and D(4h) COT reduce aromaticity and increase antiaromaticity, respectively.

Investigating the threshold of aromaticity and antiaromaticity by variation of nuclear charge.

Aromatic benzene and nonaromatic borazine can be modeled as the end-points of a continuous process evolving through intermediate systems with fractional nuclear charges. Current-density maps show a smooth, linear progression in which the global diatropic π ring current weakens as localized diatropic lone-pair currents grow with the increase in charge difference. In contrast, the progression from antiaromatic (planarized) cyclooctatetraene to nonaromatic borazocine shows an initially persistent paratropic ring current with a sharper transition to the localized diatropic system. The different behaviors of aromatic and antiaromatic systems stem from the different orbital origins of diatropic and paratropic ring current, and both can be rationalized in terms of arguments based on π distortivity and electronegativity.

Patterns of ring current in coronene isomers.

The ipsocentric pseudo-p model is used to predict maps of induced current density for isomeric variations of coronene in which the central hexagonal ring is surrounded by 5, 6, and 7-membered rings. All isomers in the set are predicted to support strong diatropic perimeter ring currents, thereby conforming to the magnetic criterion of aromaticity.

Double aromaticity and ring currents in all-carbon rings.

Double aromaticity of neutral, planar rings of carbon atoms is demonstrated through visualisation of the induced ring currents, mapped at the ipsocentric B3LYP/6-31G(d)//B3LYP/6-31G(d) level for species C(6) to C(30), with onset of delocalised current in the in-plane pi system at C(10)/C(11). Both in-plane and conventional out-of-plane pi systems have diatropic/paratropic current in accordance with the Hückel rule, with 4 m+2 occupation of the out-of-plane pi system taking precedence, as predicted by simple nesting of Frost-Musulin diagrams. The current-density maps show characteristic double-doughnut and double-track topographies for out-of-plane and in-plane ring currents, respectively, both governed by a common framework of angular momentum rules.