conjugated macrocycles
Recently Published Documents


TOTAL DOCUMENTS

101
(FIVE YEARS 23)

H-INDEX

25
(FIVE YEARS 3)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Ottosson ◽  
Ouissam El Bakouri ◽  
Dariusz Szczepanik ◽  
Kjell Jorner ◽  
Rabia Ayub ◽  
...  

Recently, several fully pi-conjugated macrocycles with strongly puckered or cage-type structures have been synthesized and found to exhibit aromatic character according to both experiments and computations. Herein, we examine their electronic structures and put them in relation to truly 3D-aromatic molecules (e.g., closo-boranes and certain charged fullerenes) as well as 2D-aromatic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. We use qualitative theory combined with quantum chemical calculations, and find that the macrocycles explored thus far should be described as 2D-aromatic with three-dimensional structures (abbr. 2D-aromatic-in-3D) instead of truly 3D-aromatic. Besides fulfilling the 6n + 2 pi-electron rule, 3D-aromatic molecules with highly symmetric structures (e.g., Td and Oh) have a number of molecular orbital (MO) levels that are (at least) triply degenerate. At lower symmetries, the triple (or higher) orbital degeneracies should be kept in approximate sense. This last criterion is not fulfilled by macrocyclic cage molecules that are 2D-aromatic-in-3D. Their aromaticity results from a fulfillment of Hückel’s 4n + 2 rule for each individual macrocyclic path, yet, their pi-electron counts are coincidentally 6n + 2 numbers for macrocycles with three tethers of equal lengths. We instead link the 3D-macrocyclic molecules explored earlier to naphthalene, motivating their description as 2D-aromatics albeit with 3D structures. It is notable that macrocyclic cages which are 2D-aromatic-in-3D can be aromatic also when the tethers are of different lengths, i.e., when their pi-electron counts differ from 6n + 2. Finally, we identify tetrahedral and cubic pi-conjugated molecules that fulfill the 6n + 2 rule and which exhibit significant electron delocalization. Yet, their properties are similar to those of analogous compounds with electron counts that differ from 6n + 2. Thus, despite that these tetrahedral and cubic molecules show substantial pi-electron delocalization they should not be classified as true 3D-aromatics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Matthias Pletzer ◽  
Felix Plasser ◽  
Martina Rimmele ◽  
Martin Heeney ◽  
Florian Glöcklhofer

Background: Poly(p-phenylene vinylene)s (PPVs) and [2.2.2.2]paracyclophanetetraene (PCT) are both composed of alternating π-conjugated para-phenylene and vinylene units. However, while the former constitute a class of π-conjugated polymers that has been used in organic electronics for decades, the latter is a macrocycle that only recently revealed its potential for applications such as organic battery electrodes. The cyclic structure endows PCT with unusual properties, and further tuning of these may be required for specific applications. Methods: In this article, we adopt an approach often used for tuning the properties of PPVs, the introduction of alkoxy (or alkylthio) substituents at the phenylene units, for tuning the optoelectronic properties of PCT. The resulting methoxy- and methylthio-substituted PCTs, obtained by Wittig cyclisation reactions, are studied by UV-vis absorption, photoluminescence, and cyclic voltammetry measurements, and investigated computationally using the visualisation of chemical shielding tensors (VIST) method. Results: The measurements show that substitution leads to slight changes in terms of absorption/emission energies and redox potentials while having a pronounced effect on the photoluminescence intensity. The computations show the effect of the substituents on the ring currents and chemical shielding and on the associated local and global (anti)aromaticity of the macrocycles, highlighting the interplay of local and global aromaticity in various electronic states. Conclusions: The study offers interesting insights into the tuneability of the properties of this versatile class of π-conjugated macrocycles.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Rimmele ◽  
Wojciech Nogala ◽  
Maryam Seif-Eddine ◽  
Maxie M. Roessler ◽  
Martin Heeney ◽  
...  

π-Conjugated macrocycles are molecules with unique properties that are increasingly exploited for applications and the question of whether they can sustain global aromatic or antiaromatic ring currents is particularly intriguing. However, there are only a small number of experimental studies that investigate how the properties of π-conjugated macrocycles evolve with systematic structural changes. Here, we present such a systematic experimental study of a set of [2.2.2.2]cyclophanetetraenes, all with formally Hückel antiaromatic ground states, and combine it with an in-depth computational analysis. The study reveals the central role of local and global aromaticity for rationalizing the observed optoelectronic properties, ranging from extremely large Stokes shifts of up to 1.6 eV to reversible fourfold reduction, a highly useful feature for charge storage/accumulation applications. A recently developed method for the visualization of chemical shielding tensors (VIST) is applied to provide unique insight into local and global ring currents occurring in different planes along the macrocycle. Conformational changes as a result of the structural variations can further explain some of the observations. The study contributes to the development of structure–property relationships and molecular design guidelines and will help to understand, rationalize, and predict the properties of other π-conjugated macrocycles.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Rimmele ◽  
Wojciech Nogala ◽  
Maryam Seif-Eddine ◽  
Maxie M. Roessler ◽  
Martin Heeney ◽  
...  

π-Conjugated macrocycles are molecules with unique properties that are increasingly exploited for applications and the question of whether they can sustain global aromatic or antiaromatic ring currents is particularly intriguing. However, there are only a small number of experimental studies that investigate how the properties of π-conjugated macrocycles evolve with systematic structural changes. Here, we present such a systematic experimental study of a set of [2.2.2.2]cyclophanetetraenes, all with formally Hückel antiaromatic ground states, and combine it with an in-depth computational analysis. The study reveals the central role of local and global aromaticity for rationalizing the observed optoelectronic properties, ranging from extremely large Stokes shifts of up to 1.6 eV to reversible fourfold reduction, a highly useful feature for charge storage/accumulation applications. A recently developed method for the visualization of chemical shielding tensors (VIST) is applied to provide unique insight into local and global ring currents occurring in different planes along the macrocycle. Conformational changes as a result of the structural variations can further explain some of the observations. The study contributes to the development of structure–property relationships and molecular design guidelines and will help to understand, rationalize, and predict the properties of other π-conjugated macrocycles.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cunrui Fan ◽  
Bangjin Sun ◽  
Zhanbo Li ◽  
Jiwei Shi ◽  
Tao Lin ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Cunrui Fan ◽  
Bangjin Sun ◽  
Zhanbo Li ◽  
Jiwei Shi ◽  
Tao Lin ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document