Conjugated hydrocarbons

The Hiickel description of aromaticity was based in part on benzene, a cyclic fully conjugated hydrocarbon having (4n -l- 2) -electrons (ff = I) in the closed shell (ring). 

MM2 was, according the web site of the authors, released as MM2 87). The various MM2 flavors are superseded by MM3, with significant improvements in the functional form [10]. It was also extended to handle amides, polypeptides, and proteins [11]. The last release of this series was MM3(%). Further improvements followed by starting the MM4 series, which focuses on hydrocarbons [12], on the description of hyperconjugative effects on carbon-carbon bond lengths [13], and on conjugated hydrocarbons [14] with special emphasis on vibrational frequencies [15]. For applications of MM2 and MM3 in inorganic systems, readers are referred to the literature [16-19]. 

The Huckel method and is one of the earliest and simplest semiempirical methods. A Huckel calculation models only the 7t valence electrons in a planar conjugated hydrocarbon. A parameter is used to describe the interaction between bonded atoms. There are no second atom affects. Huckel calculations do reflect orbital symmetry and qualitatively predict orbital coefficients. Huckel calculations can give crude quantitative information or qualitative insight into conjugated compounds, but are seldom used today. The primary use of Huckel calculations now is as a class exercise because it is a calculation that can be done by hand. 

Aromaticity is usually described in MO terminology. Cyclic structures that have a particularly stable arrangement of occupied 7t molecular orbitals are called aromatic. A simple expression of the relationship between an MO description of stmcture and aromaticity is known as the Hiickel rule. It is derived from Huckel molecular orbital (HMO) theory and states that planar monocyclic completely conjugated hydrocarbons will be aromatic when the ring contains 4n + 2 n electrons. HMO calculations assign the n-orbital energies of the cyclic unsaturated systems of ring size 3-9 as shown in Fig. 9.1. (See Chapter 1, Section 1.4, p. 31, to review HMO theory.)... 

Many completely conjugated hydrocarbons can be built up from the annulenes and related structural fragments. Scheme 9.2 gives the structures, names, and stabilization energies of a variety of such hydrocarbons. Derivatives of these hydrocarbons having heteroatoms in place of one or more carbon atoms constitute another important class of organic compounds. 

Scheme 9.2. Stabilization Energies of Some Conjugated Hydrocarbons"...

Scheme 9.4. Completely Conjugated Hydrocarbons Incorporating Exocyclic Double Bonds...

An important distinction for conjugated hydrocarbons is the classification into alternant and non-alternant hydrocarbons. Alternant hydrocarbons are those like ethene, hexatriene, benzene and naphthalene where we can divide the carbon atoms into two sets called starred and unstarred , such that no member of one set is directly bonded to another member (Figure 7.4). 

Moffitt, W., Proc. Roy. Soc. [London) A218, 486, The electronic spectra of conjugated hydrocarbons." Allyl radical treated as an example. 

For reviews of MO calculations of nonbenzenoid cyclic conjugated hydrocarbons, see Nakajima, T. Pure Appl. Chem., 1971, 28, 219 Eortschr. Chem. Eorsch., 1972, 32, 1. For a discussion, see Hoffmann, R. Chem. Commun., 1969, 240. 

Nonbenzenoid cyclic conjugated hydrocarbons are conveniently classified into two categories conjugated hydrocarbons composed of odd-membered rings called, in terminology of molecular orbital theory, nonalternant hydrocarbons, and cyclic polyenes currently known as annulenes. 

Quantum Chemistry of Nonbenzenoid Cyclic Conjugated Hydrocarbons... 

Finally, we consider the application of the symmetry rule to the prediction of the geometrical structures of the excited states of conjugated hydrocarbons. On the basis of the same approximations as we... 

Quantum Chemistry of Nonbenzenoid Cyclic Conjugated Hydrocarbons Snyder, L. C. J. Phys. Chem. 66, 2299 (1962). 

Recently, a nonempirical rr-electron SCF approach was reported and applied to interpretations of spectra of various conjugated hydrocarbon radicals (147). The greatest attention, however, has been paid to radical ions derived from even alternant hydrocarbons (10, 58-60, 63, 125, 135, 148-153). Here, numerous experimental material suitable for systematic testing of the MO methods has been accumulated. In particular, the following sources of experimental data should be mentioned Hamill and collaborators (24) prepared... 

Gygax R, Wirz J, Sprague JT, Allinger NL. Electronic structure and photophysical properties of planar conjugated hydrocarbons with a 4n-membered ring. Part III. Conjugative stabilization in an antiaromatic system The conformational mobility of l,5-bisdehydro[12]annulene. Helv Chim Acta 1977 60 2522-9. 

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