A Computational Investigation of the Substituent Effects on Geometric, Electronic, and Optical Properties of Siloles and 1,4-Disilacyclohexa-2,5-dienes.

Thirty two differently substituted siloles 1a-1p and 1,4-disilacyclohexa-2,5-dienes 2a-2p were investigated by quantum chemical calculations using the PBE0 hybrid density functional theory (DFT) method. The substituents included σ-electron donating and withdrawing, as well as π-electron donating and withdrawing groups, and their effects when placed at the Si atom(s) or at the C atoms were examined. Focus was placed on geometries, frontier orbital energies and the energies of the first allowed electronic excitations. We analyzed the variation in energies between the orbitals which correspond to HOMO and LUMO for the two parent species, here represented as ΔεHL, motivated by the fact that the first allowed transitions involve excitation between these orbitals. Even though ΔεHL and the excitation energies are lower for siloles than for 1,4-disilacyclohexa-2,5-dienes the latter display significantly larger variations with substitution. The ΔεHL of the siloles vary within 4.57-5.35 eV (ΔΔεHL = 0.78 eV) while for the 1,4-disilacyclohexa-2,5-dienes the range is 5.49-7.15 eV (ΔΔεHL = 1.66 eV). The excitation energy of the first allowed transitions display a moderate variation for siloles (3.60-4.41 eV) whereas the variation for 1,4-disilacyclohexa-2,5-dienes is nearly doubled (4.69-6.21 eV). Cyclobutadisiloles combine the characteristics of siloles and 1,4-disilacyclohexa-2,5-diene by having even lower excitation energies than siloles yet also extensive variation in excitation energies to substitution of 1,4-disilacyclohexa-2,5-dienes (3.47-4.77 eV, variation of 1.30 eV).

Metal-free photochemical silylations and transfer hydrogenations of benzenoid hydrocarbons and graphene.

The first hydrogenation step of benzene, which is endergonic in the electronic ground state (S0), becomes exergonic in the first triplet state (T1). This is in line with Baird's rule, which tells that benzene is antiaromatic and destabilized in its T1 state and also in its first singlet excited state (S1), opposite to S0, where it is aromatic and remarkably unreactive. Here we utilized this feature to show that benzene and several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to various extents undergo metal-free photochemical (hydro)silylations and transfer-hydrogenations at mild conditions, with the highest yield for naphthalene (photosilylation: 21%). Quantum chemical computations reveal that T1-state benzene is excellent at H-atom abstraction, while cyclooctatetraene, aromatic in the T1 and S1 states according to Baird's rule, is unreactive. Remarkably, also CVD-graphene on SiO2 is efficiently transfer-photohydrogenated using formic acid/water mixtures together with white light or solar irradiation under metal-free conditions.

Impact of ground- and excited-state aromaticity on cyclopentadiene and silole excitation energies and excited-state polarities.

A new qualitative model for estimating the properties of substituted cyclopentadienes and siloles in their lowest ππ* excited states is introduced and confirmed through quantum chemical calculations, and then applied to explain earlier reported experimental excitation energies. According to our model, which is based on excited-state aromaticity and antiaromaticity, siloles and cyclopentadienes are cross-hyperconjugated "aromatic chameleons" that adapt their electronic structures to conform to the various aromaticity rules in different electronic states (Hückel's rule in the π(2) electronic ground state (S0) and Baird's rule in the lowest ππ* excited singlet and triplet states (S1 and T1)). By using pen-and-paper arguments, one can explain polarity changes upon excitation of substituted cyclopentadienes and siloles, and one can tune their lowest excitation energies by combined considerations of ground- and excited-state aromaticity/antiaromaticity effects. Finally, the "aromatic chameleon" model can be extended to other monocyclic compound classes of potential use in organic electronics, thereby providing a unified view of the S0, T1, and S1 states of a range of different cyclic cross-π-conjugated and cross-hyperconjugated compound classes.