Pyrrole electronic structure calculations

As a consequence of the smaller covalence of Cu(TPP), the pyrrole proton tensors are nearly axially symmetric and the Cu-H distances calculated with the entire unpaired electron at the Cu(II) ion are in excellent agreement with X-ray data. The difference in covalency of Ag(TPP) and Cu(TPP) is also reflected by the s-spin densities on the pyrrole protons which amount to PH(Ag) = 0.15% and pH(Cu) = 0.093%, respectively. A comparison with the corresponding data of an Xa calculation on Cu(II)-porphine1725 (oh(Cu) = 0.071%) indicates that the state-of-the-art electronic structure calculation underestimates the amount of unpaired spin density on the porphyrin ring. 

Attempts to correlate reaction mechanisms, electron density calculations and experimental results have met with only limited success. As mentioned in the previous chapter (Section 4.06.2), the predicted orders of electrophilic substitution for imidazole (C-5 > -2 > -4) and benzimidazole (C-7>-6>-5>-4 -2) do not take into account the tautomeric equivalence of the 4- and 5-positions of imidazole and the 4- and 7-, 5- and 6-positions of benzimidazole. When this is taken into account the predictions are in accord with the observed orientations of attack in imidazole. Much the same predictions can be made by considering the imidazole molecule to be a combination of pyrrole and pyridine (74) — the most likely site for electrophilic attack is C-5. Furthermore, while sets of resonance structures for the imidazole and benzimidazole neutral molecules (Schemes 1 and 2, Section 4.06.2) suggest that all ring carbons have some susceptibility to electrophilic attack, consideration of the stabilities of the expected tr-intermediates (Scheme 29) supports the commonly observed preference for 5- (or 4-) substitution. In benzimidazole attack usually occurs first at C-5 and a second substituent enters at C-6 unless other substituent effects intervene. 

Subjects of recent publications on the spectroscopic properties and electronic structure of porphyrins include the photochemically induced dichroism of [(aetio)Zn]-,380 the absorption spectra of metallo-TPP compounds in SF , Ar, and n-octane matrices,361 the Zeeman effect in the absorption spectra of Pd-porphin in n-octane single crystals,362 the electronic spectra of Cu11- and Niu-corrin derivatives,363 m.c.d. studies on porphyrins,864 866 photoelectron spectra of porphyrins and pyrroles,366 and quantum mechanical calculations on porphyrins.367 368... 

The valence bond method has not been used as widely as the molecular orbital approach. With the inclusion of polar structures, however, the valence bond method gives correct orientation for electrophilic substitution and a calculated dipole moment close to the experimental value.100 An application of the one-center method of the 7r-electron system of pyrrole gives electron densities of 1.612, 1.167, and 1.028 on the nitrogen atom and the a- and /3-carbon atoms, respectively.101 Transition energies and the dipole moment by this method are in accord with the observed values. 

Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution. The 7t-excessive character of the pyrrole ring makes the indole ring susceptible to electrophilic attack. The reactivity is greater at the 3-position than at the 2-position. This reactivity pattern is suggested both by electron density distributions calculated by molecular orbital methods and by the relative eneigies of the intermediates for electrophilic substitution, as represented by the protonated structures (7a) and (7b). Structure (7b) is more favorable than (7a) because it retains the benzenoid character of the carbocydic ring (12). 

The spin-coupled method has now been applied to a large number of aromatic systems benzene and naphthalene azobenzenes, such as pyridine, pyridazine, pyrimidine and pyrazine five-membered rings, such as furan, pyrrole, thiophen, and thiazole and inorganic heterocycles, such as borazine ( inorganic benzene ) and boroxine, for which we find little evidence of aromaticity. Structural formulae are collected in Fig. 1. For all of these molecules we have included the effects of electron correlation for the Jt electrons but not for the a framework. This a-n separation is an approximation whose utility rests upon the chemistry of aromatic systems — to abandon it would be to ignore this entire body of experience. Furthermore, very extensive calculations [4] have demonstrated that rc-electron only correlation affords an excellent description of ground and excited states of benzene. 

---