Conical intersections anchors

A chemical reaction takes place on a potential surface that is determined by the solution of the electronic Schrddinger equation. In Section, we defined an anchor by the spin-pairing scheme of the electrons in the system. In the discussion of conical intersections, the only important reactions are those that are accompanied by a change in the spin pairing, that is, interanchor reactions. We limit the following discussion to these class of reactions. 

We have seen (Section I) that there are two types of loops that are phase inverting upon completing a round hip an i one and an ip one. A schematic representation of these loops is shown in Figure 10. The other two options, p and i p loops do not contain a conical intersection. Let us assume that A is the reactant, B the desired product, and C the third anchor. In an ip loop, any one of the three reaction may be the phase-inverting one, including the B C one. Thus, the A B reaction may be phase preserving, and still B may be attainable by a photochemical reaction. This is in apparent contradiction with predictions based on the Woodward-Hoffmann rules (see Section Vni). The different options are summarized in Figure 11. 

A given pair of anchors may be part of several loops, containing different conical intersections. A systematic search for the third anchor is conducted by considering the electrons that are to be re-paired (i.e., that form the chemical bonds that are created in the reaction), A pragmatic and systematic way of doing this is by considering first the re-pairing of the smallest possible number of... 

We illustrate the method for the relatively complex photochemistry of 1,4-cyclohexadiene (CHDN), a molecule that has been extensively studied [60-64]. There are four it electrons in this system. They may be paired in three different ways, leading to the anchors shown in Figure 17. The loop is phase inverting (type i ), as every reaction is phase inverting), and therefore contains a conical intersection Since the products are highly strained, the energy of this conical intersection is expected to be high. Indeed, neither of the two expected products was observed experimentally so far. 

The system provides an opportunity to test our method for finding the conical intersection and the stabilized ground-state structures that are formed by the distortion. Recall that we focus on the distinction between spin-paired structures, rather than true minima. A natural choice for anchors are the two C2v stmctures having A2 and B, symmetry shown in Figures 21 and 22 In principle, each set can serve as the anchors. The reaction converting one type-I structirre to another is phase inverting, since it transforms one allyl structure to another (Fig. 12). 

Structures III and IV that have different spin-pairing schemes are expected to be higher in energy than type-I because of the strain introduced by the cyclopropyl rings. They may be anchors for secondary conical intersections around the most symmetric one. 

Figure 31 shows the proposed Longuet-Higgins loop for the cyclopentadienyl cation. It uses the type-VI Ai anchors, with the type-VII B structures as transition states between them. This situation is completely analogous to that of the radical (Fig. 23). Since the loop is phase inverting, a conical intersection should be located at its center—as required by the Jahn-Teller theorem.

UNSUBSTITUTED BUTADIENE. Butadiene anchors were presented in Figures 1(3) and 13. The basic tetrahedral character of the conical intersection (as for H4) is expected to be maintained, when considering the re-pairing of four electrons. Flowever, the situation is more complicated (and the photochemistiy much richer), since here p electrons are involved rather than s electrons as in H4. It is therefore necessary to consider the consequences of the p-orbital rotation, en route to a new sigma bond. 

THE cvcLOBUTADENE-TETRAHEDRANE SYSTEM. A related reaction is the photoisomerization of cyclobutadiene (CBD). It was found that unsubstituted CBD does not react in an argon matrix upon irradiation, while the tri-butyl substituted derivative forms the corresponding tetrahedrane [86,87]. These results may be understood on the basis of a conical intersection enclosed by the loop shown in Figure 37. The analogy with the butadiene loop (Fig. 13) is obvious. The two CBDs and the biradical shown in the figure are the three anchors in this system. With small substituents, the two lobes containing the lone electrons can be far... 

The energies of this Cl and of the other ones calculated in this work are listed in Table III. The calculated CASSCF values of the energies of the two lowest electronically states are 9.0 eV (5i, vertical) and 10.3 eV ( 2, vertical) [99]. They are considerably higher than the expenmental ones, as noted for this method by other workers [65]. In all cases, the computed conical intersections lie at much lower energies than the excited state, and are easily accessible upon excitation to Si. In the case of the H/allyl Cl, the validity confirmation process recovered the CHDN and 1,3-CHDN anchors. An attempt to approach the third anchor [BCE(I)] resulted instead in a biradical, shown in Figure 43. The bhadical may be regarded as a resonance hybrid of two allyl-type biradicals. 

Figure 44, The helicopter-type conical intersection for CHDN. Bottom A caitoon showing the anchors and the conical intersection, Top The calculated energies (kcal/mole) of 5o and S near the conical intersection.

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