Molecular orbitals cyclopentadienyl

In the case of the cyclopentadienyl cation, there are only two electrons in the e" tt molecular orbitals that are degenerate in Dji, symmetry. The MO heatments... 

Ferrocene Figure 2-47) provides a prime ex.ample of multi-haptic bonds, i.e, a situation where the electrons that coordinate the cyclopentadienyl rings with the iron atom arc contained in molecular orbitals delocalised over the iron atom and the 10 carbon atoms of the cyclopentadienyl rings [82. ... 

N t/ l Five cyclopentadienyl molecular orbitals 4f Cyclopentadienyl cation (four 77 electrons) 4f Cyclopentadienyl radical (five 77 electrons) -H- Cyclopentadienyl anion (six 7r electrons)... 

Active Figure 15.11 Energy levels of the five cyclopentadienyl molecular orbitals. Only the six-7r-electron cyclopentadienyl anion has a filled-shell configuration leading to aromaticity. Sign in at www.thomsonedu.com to see a simulation based on this figure and to take a short quiz. 

Tsuda and Oikawa (1989) investigated the photolysis of the 1,2-isomer of 10.89 (1,2-benzoquinone diazide) by means of MINDO/3 molecular orbital calculations with configurational interaction. These authors came to the conclusion that no ketocarbene of the type of 10.90 is formed, but that the rearrangement into the cyclopentadienyl ketene 10.94 is a concerted reaction in which the elimination of nitrogen and the rearrangement take place simultaneously. In the opinion of the present author the theoretical result for 1,2-quinone diazide is not necessarily in contradiction to the experimental investigations of Sander, Yankelevich et al., and Nakamura et al., as the reagents used were not exactly the same. 

The operation of (d) is seen in cyclopentadiene (14) which is found to have a pKa value of 16 compared with 37 for a simple alkene. This is due to the resultant carbanion, the cyclopentadienyl anion (15), being a 6n electron delocalised system, i.e. a 4n + 2 Hiickel system where n = 1 (cf. p. 18). The 6 electrons can be accommodated in three stabilised n molecular orbitals, like benzene, and the anion thus shows quasi-aromatic stabilisation it is stabilised by aromatisation ... 

Consider initially the cyclopentadienyl ring system. In the Htickel approximation the one-electron energies of the molecular orbitals are related in a very simple way to the ring size and the symmetry of the particular level thus one finds... 

A Hiickel molecular orbital calculation for the cyclopentadiene system can be carried out as illustrated in Chapter 5. As is shown in Figure 5.20, the Frost-Musulin diagram places the five molecular orbitals at energies of a + 2/3, a + 0.618/3 (2), and a — 1.618/3 (2). Because the cyclopentadienyl anion has six electrons, only the three lowest energy levels are populated and are the orbitals interacting with those on the iron. Figure 21.15 shows the orbitals of the cyclopentadienyl anion. 

The overlap of orbitals on Fe with the molecular orbitals on the cyclopentadienyl ion. 

In particular the last observation is easily understood by the molecular orbital picture given above. The 7z>orbitals of the monomers are required for a stabilization of the otherwise anti-bonding cluster orbitals of t2 symmetry which must accept six electrons. If this mixing is prevented because these orbitals adopt the electron density of the ligands, e.g., 7z>electrons of the side-on coordinated cyclopentadienyl groups, their contribution to the cluster stability is minimized or in particular cases the formation of clusters does not occur at all. Thus, the substituents attached terminally to the clusters strongly influence their stability by the different donor or acceptor capabilities. A further effect may result from the different steric demand of the substituents which will be discussed below. 

Fio. 6. Molecular orbital and resonance structure representation of cyclopentadienyl anion. 

The observed moments of the cyclopentadienyl compounds are consistent, as pointed out by McConnell, with a pattern of three d orbitals (d0 and d 2) lying considerably below the remaining two (d x). In fact, the calculations of Dahl and Ballhausen (70) lead to a similar explanation in that various electron configurations within the a g and e2g molecular orbitals explain the observed magnetic moments, whereas the e g lies too high in energy to... 

The electronic structure of bis-cyclopentadienyl compounds is discussed in terms of molecular orbital theory. The way in which symmetry arguments may be used to facilitate such an analysis is described in some detail. 

FIGURE 4. Breaking the degeneracy in the highest occupied molecular orbitals in a monosubstituted cyclopentadienyl radical36,37... 

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