AB initio molecular orbital studies of low-energy, metastable isomers of the ubiquitous cyclopropenylidene

1986 ◽  
Vol 308 ◽  
pp. L31 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Defrees ◽  
A. D. McLean

Ab initio molecular orbital calculations are used to explore additivity in the conformational energies of poly-substituted ethanes in terms of conformational energies of ethane and appropriate mono- and 1,2-di-substituted derivatives. Such relations would allow complex calculations for poly-substituted ethanes to be replaced by much simpler ones on a small number of parent molecules. General expressions for the linear combinations are derived from the assumption that interactions between vicinal substituents are pairwise additive and depend only on the vicinal dihedral angle. The additivity scheme is tested for 15 ethanes, di-, tri- or tetrasubstituted by cyano and methyl groups and for a smaller number of fluoroethanes. Additivity applies to within 0.1- 0.3 k J mol -1 in the methylethanes and mostly to within about 0.7- 0.8 kJ mol -1 in cyanoethanes. Large deviations are found among the geminally substituted fluoroethanes. It is suggested that the additivity approximation is most successful in the absence of strongly interacting geminal groups. Predictions are made of conformational energies of ten hexa(cyano- and methyl-) substituted ethanes.


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