Estimate of Hyperconjugation Strength in Alkylaromatics and Unsaturated Hydrocarbons Derived from Refractometric Data

: A retrospective view of exaltation of refraction observed for many unsaturated and aromatic compounds demonstrates that this physical phenomenon is undeservedly considered only as a qualitative measure of conjugation. This mini-review discusses numerous papers by the author that have been published earlier in inaccessible periodicals and collections of scientific papers. Using a great number of illustrations, the author shows that this parameter can be successfully used for quantitative estimate of resonance effects in organic and polymer chemistry. The methods for derivation of strictly additive atomic and group refraction constants are described; these constants were subsequently used as a tool that allowed quantitative estimation of resonance effects in mono-, di-, tri- and polyalkylbenzenes, alkylnaphthalenes, some alkyl derivatives of unsaturated hydrocarbons. These effects cause strictly fixed increase in refraction of carbon atoms in different structural modifications (graphene, fullerene, diamond) and in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The relevant results regarding quantitative estimation of degree of steric inhibition of resonance in sterically hindered ortho-dialkylbenzenes, 1,2,3- trialkyl-, 1,2,3,4-tetraalkyl-, and 1,2,3,4,5-polyalkylbenzenes accumulated by the author are summarized.

The Dinitration of Dimethylacetanilides

The orientation of dinitration of the dimethylacetanilides has been examined by 1H NMR methods and a possible enhancement of the hyperconjugative influence of a methyl group has been considered as an additional factor augmenting the effect of the steric inhibition of resonance on the orientation of substitution.

Steric Effects and Steric Inhibition of Resonance in Benzene Derivatives: 2,3-Dimethylbenzoic Acid

Structure of 2,3-dimethylbenzoic acid was determined both by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and by ab initio calculation at an RHF/6-31+G** level. Comparing with a previous X-ray analysis of another crystal modification of the same compound, it was possible to estimate the effect of crystal forces on the conformation. The isolated molecule is not planar as deduced previously, mainly from IR spectra, but the carboxyl group is twisted out of the ring plane by a torsion angle ϕ = 12°. In the crystal, the molecule is more flat and ϕ is reduced to 7 and 1° in the two modifications, respectively. Further significant differences between the modifications were not detected. The flattening in the crystal structure is accompanied by additional small changes in the geometry, connected with greater steric crowding in the less twisted molecule: the example shows well the limits in which molecular structure can be deduced from the solid-state structure. Previous division of methylated benzoic acids into two subgroups, planar and nonplanar, is to be formulated with more precision: the former group includes even acids with nearly planar conformation (ϕ up to 15°).