Pyridine orbitals

Chelate complexes. Chelate rings can be formed by pyridines containing -substituents such as carboxyl or CH=NR. Important bicyclic chelating agents are 2,2-bipyridyl 68 (R = H), o-phenanthroline 69 and 8-hydroxyquinoline 70, which all form bis and tris complexes with many metals <1994CSR327>. This type of complex formation has many analytical applications. Overlap between the d-orbitals of the metal atom and the pyridine -orbitals is believed to increase the stability of many of these complexes. Steric effects can hinder complex formation as in 68 (R = Me). 

FIGURE 1116 (a) Pyridine has six tt electrons plus an unshared pair in a nitrogen sp orbital (b) Pyrrole has six tt electrons (c) Furan has six tt electrons plus an unshared pair in an oxygen sp orbital which is perpendicular to the tt system and does not interact with it... 

The oxygen m furan has two unshared electron pairs (Figure 11 16c) One pair is like the pair m pyrrole occupying a p orbital and contributing two electrons to complete the SIX TT electron requirement for aromatic stabilization The other electron pair m furan IS an extra pair not needed to satisfy the 4n + 2 rule for aromaticity and occupies an sp hybridized orbital like the unshared pair m pyridine The bonding m thiophene is similar to that of furan... 

Hiickel linear combination of atomic orbitals pyridines and benzo derivatives, 2, 102 Hiickel molecular orbital method colour and constitution, 1, 342 Hugerschoff bases synthesis, 6, 475-477, 493 Humulene... 

A great failing of the Hiickel models is their treatment of electron repulsion. Electron repulsion is not treated explicitly it is somehow averaged within the spirit of Hartree-Fock theory. 1 gave you a Hiickel jr-electron treatment of pyridine in Chapter 7. Orbital energies are shown in Table 8.1. 

In the PPP model, each first-row atom such as carbon and nitrogen contributes a single basis functiqn to the n system. Just as in Huckel theory, the orbitals x, m e not rigorously defined but we can visualize them as 2p j atomic orbitals. Each first-row atom contributes a certain number of ar-electrons—in the pyridine case, one electron per atom just as in Huckel 7r-electron theory. 

The CNDO method has been modified by substitution of semiempirical Coulomb integrals similar to those used in the Pariser-Parr-Pople method, and by the introduction of a new empirical parameter to differentiate resonance integrals between a orbitals and tt orbitals. The CNDO method with this change in parameterization is extended to the calculation of electronic spectra and applied to the isoelectronic compounds benzene, pyridine, pyri-dazine, pyrimidine and pyrazine. The results obtained were refined by a limited Cl calculation, and compared with the best available experimental data. It was found that the agreement was quite satisfactory for both the n TT and n tt singlet transitions. The relative energies of the tt and the lone pair orbitals in pyridine and the diazines are compared and an explanation proposed for the observed orders. Also, the nature of the lone pairs in these compounds is discussed. 

Let s now look at an ab initio CIS calculation on pyridine. As a routine first step, I optimized the molecular geometry (yet to be discussed) at the HF/6-31G level of theory. It is interesting to examine the ab initio orbital configuration (Figure 11.3). 

CaveU and Chapman made the interesting observation that a difference exists between the orbital involved in the quatemization of aromatic nitrogen heterocycles and aromatic amines, which appears not to have been considered by later workers. The lone pair which exists in an sp orbital of the aniline nitrogen must conjugate, as shown by so many properties, with the aromatic ring and on protonation or quatemization sp hybridization occurs with a presumed loss of mesomerism, whereas in pyridine the nitrogen atom remains sp hybridized in the base whether it is protonated or quaternized. Similarly, in a saturated compound, the nitrogen atom is sp hybridized in the base and salt forms. 

Abbreviations Aik, alkyl AN, acetonitrile Ar, aryl Bu, butyl cod, 1,5-cyclooctadiene Cp, cy-clopentadienyl Cp , pentamethylcyclopentadienyl Cy, cyclohexyl dppm, diphenylphosphinome-thane dpme, Ph2PC2H4PMe2 Et, ethyl fod, 6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptafluoro-2,2-dimethyl-3,5-octane-dionate HOMO, highest occupied molecular orbital LUMO, lowest unoccupied molecular orbital Me, methyl MO, molecular orbital nbd, norbornadiene Nuc, nucleophile OTf, triflate Ph, phenyl Pr, propyl py, pyridine THE, tetrahydrofuran TMEDA V,V,M,M-tetramethylethylenediamine. 

It is difficult to treat the effect of a heteroatom on the localization energies of aromatic systems, but Brown has derived molecular orbital parameters from which he has shown that the rates of attack of the phenyl radical at the three positions of pyridine relatively to benzene agree within 10% with the experimental results. He and his co-workers have shown that the formation of 1-bromoisoquinoline on free-radical bromination of isoquinoline is in agreement with predictions from localization energies for physically reasonable values of the Coulomb parameters, but the observed orientation of the phcnylation of quinoline cannot be correlated with localization ener-... 

Pyridine is a flat, hexagonal molecule with bond angles of 120°. It undergoes substitution rather than addition and generally behaves like benzene. Draw a picture of the 7T orbitals of pyridine to explain its properties. Check your answer by looking ahead to Section 15.7. 

Figure 15.8 Pyridine and pyrimidine are nitrogen-containing aromatic heterocycles with tt electron arrangements much like that of benzene. Both have a lone pair of electrons on nitrogen in an sp2 orbital in the plane of the ring.

Purine has three basic, pyridine-like nitrogens with lone-pair electrons in sp2 orbitals in the plane of the ring. The remaining purine nitrogen is nonbasic and pyrrole-like, with its lone-pair electrons as part of the aromatic i- electron system. 

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