A unified orbital model of delocalised and localised currents in monocycles, from annulenes to azabora-heterocycles.
Why are some (4n+2)pi systems aromatic, and some not? The ipsocentric approach to the calculation of the current density induced in a molecule by an external magnetic field predicts a four-electron diatropic (aromatic) ring current for (4n+2)pi carbocycles and a two-electron paratropic (antiaromatic...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2005
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| Summary: | Why are some (4n+2)pi systems aromatic, and some not? The ipsocentric approach to the calculation of the current density induced in a molecule by an external magnetic field predicts a four-electron diatropic (aromatic) ring current for (4n+2)pi carbocycles and a two-electron paratropic (antiaromatic) current for (4n)pi carbocycles. With the inclusion of an electronegativity parameter, an ipsocentric frontier-orbital model also predicts the transition from delocalised currents in carbocycles to nitrogen-localised currents in alternating azabora-heterocycles, which rationalises the differences in (magnetic) aromaticity between these isoelectronic pi-conjugated systems. Ab initio valence-bond calculations confirm the localisation predicted by the naive model, and coupled-Hartree-Fock calculations give current-density maps that exhibit the predicted delocalised-to-localised/carbocycle-heterocycle transition. |
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