Cyclic pentadienyl compounds

Non-planarity is the result of the dominance of the destabilizing interactions of the sulfur lone pair and tt- occupied MOs of the pentadienyl anion over the stabilizing interaction of that lone pair and the LUMO of the anion fragment. In fact thiabenzene is antiaromatic in a planar configuration. Pyramidalization reduces the antiaromaticity induced by the sulfur. Although no X-ray data are available on the parent system, kinetic data have been obtained supporting a minimum barrier to inversion at the pyramidal sulfur of a 2-thianaphthalene of 99.1 kJ mol-1 (75JA2718). The formulation of the system as a cyclic ylide is supported by the chemical reactivity of the compounds as related in the reactivity section below. 

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