Baird's rule

Last updated

In organic chemistry, Baird's rule estimates whether the lowest triplet state of planar, cyclic structures will have aromatic properties or not. The quantum mechanical basis for its formulation was first worked out by physical chemist N. Colin Baird at the University of Western Ontario in 1972. [1] [2]

The lowest triplet state of an annulene is, according to Baird's rule, aromatic when it has 4n π-electrons and antiaromatic when the π-electron count is 4n + 2, where n is any positive integer. This trend is opposite to that predicted by Hückel's rule for the ground state, which is usually the lowest singlet state (S0). Baird's rule has thus become known as the photochemical analogue of Hückel's rule. [3]

Through various theoretical investigations, this rule has also been found to extend to the lowest lying singlet excited state (S1) of small annulenes. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conjugated system</span> System of connected p-orbitals with delocalized electrons in a molecule

In theoretical chemistry, a conjugated system is a system of connected p-orbitals with delocalized electrons in a molecule, which in general lowers the overall energy of the molecule and increases stability. It is conventionally represented as having alternating single and multiple bonds. Lone pairs, radicals or carbenium ions may be part of the system, which may be cyclic, acyclic, linear or mixed. The term "conjugated" was coined in 1899 by the German chemist Johannes Thiele.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aromaticity</span> Chemical property

In organic chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property describing the way in which a conjugated ring of unsaturated bonds, lone pairs, or empty orbitals exhibits a stabilization stronger than would be expected by the stabilization of conjugation alone. The earliest use of the term was in an article by August Wilhelm Hofmann in 1855. There is no general relationship between aromaticity as a chemical property and the olfactory properties of such compounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photochemistry</span> Sub-discipline of chemistry

Photochemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the chemical effects of light. Generally, this term is used to describe a chemical reaction caused by absorption of ultraviolet, visible light (400–750 nm) or infrared radiation (750–2500 nm).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyclobutadiene</span> Chemical compound

Cyclobutadiene is an organic compound with the formula C4H4. It is very reactive owing to its tendency to dimerize. Although the parent compound has not been isolated, some substituted derivatives are robust and a single molecule of cyclobutadiene is quite stable. Since the compound degrades by a bimolecular process, the species can be observed by matrix isolation techniques at temperatures below 35 K. It is thought to adopt a rectangular structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hückel's rule</span> Method of determining aromaticity in organic molecules

In organic chemistry, Hückel's rule predicts that a planar ring molecule will have aromatic properties if it has 4n + 2 π electrons, where n is a non-negative integer. The quantum mechanical basis for its formulation was first worked out by physical chemist Erich Hückel in 1931. The succinct expression as the 4n + 2 rule has been attributed to W. v. E. Doering (1951), although several authors were using this form at around the same time.

Antiaromaticity is a chemical property of a cyclic molecule with a π electron system that has higher energy, i.e., it is less stable due to the presence of 4n delocalised electrons in it, as opposed to aromaticity. Unlike aromatic compounds, which follow Hückel's rule and are highly stable, antiaromatic compounds are highly unstable and highly reactive. To avoid the instability of antiaromaticity, molecules may change shape, becoming non-planar and therefore breaking some of the π interactions. In contrast to the diamagnetic ring current present in aromatic compounds, antiaromatic compounds have a paramagnetic ring current, which can be observed by NMR spectroscopy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pericyclic reaction</span> Note bout pericyclic reaction

In organic chemistry, a pericyclic reaction is the type of organic reaction wherein the transition state of the molecule has a cyclic geometry, the reaction progresses in a concerted fashion, and the bond orbitals involved in the reaction overlap in a continuous cycle at the transition state. Pericyclic reactions stand in contrast to linear reactions, encompassing most organic transformations and proceeding through an acyclic transition state, on the one hand and coarctate reactions, which proceed through a doubly cyclic, concerted transition state on the other hand. Pericyclic reactions are usually rearrangement or addition reactions. The major classes of pericyclic reactions are given in the table below. Ene reactions and cheletropic reactions are often classed as group transfer reactions and cycloadditions/cycloeliminations, respectively, while dyotropic reactions and group transfer reactions are rarely encountered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singlet oxygen</span> Oxygen with all of its electrons spin paired

Singlet oxygen, systematically named dioxygen(singlet) and dioxidene, is a gaseous inorganic chemical with the formula O=O (also written as 1
[O
2
]
or 1
O
2
), which is in a quantum state where all electrons are spin paired. It is kinetically unstable at ambient temperature, but the rate of decay is slow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyclooctadecanonaene</span> Chemical compound

Cyclooctadecanonaene or [18]annulene is an organic compound with chemical formula C
18
H
18
. It belongs to the class of highly conjugated compounds known as annulenes and is aromatic. The usual isomer that [18]annulene refers to is the most stable one, containing six interior hydrogens and twelve exterior ones, with the nine formal double bonds in the cis,trans,trans,cis,trans,trans,cis,trans,trans configuration. It is reported to be a red-brown crystalline solid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photosensitizer</span> Type of molecule reacting to light

Photosensitizers are light absorbers that alter the course of a photochemical reaction. They usually are catalysts. They can function by many mechanisms, sometimes they donate an electron to the substrate, sometimes they abstract a hydrogen atom from the substrate. At the end of this process, the photosensitizer returns to its ground state, where it remains chemically intact, poised to absorb more light. One branch of chemistry which frequently utilizes photosensitizers is polymer chemistry, using photosensitizers in reactions such as photopolymerization, photocrosslinking, and photodegradation. Photosensitizers are also used to generate prolonged excited electronic states in organic molecules with uses in photocatalysis, photon upconversion and photodynamic therapy. Generally, photosensitizers absorb electromagnetic radiation consisting of infrared radiation, visible light radiation, and ultraviolet radiation and transfer absorbed energy into neighboring molecules. This absorption of light is made possible by photosensitizers' large de-localized π-systems, which lowers the energy of HOMO and LUMO orbitals to promote photoexcitation. While many photosensitizers are organic or organometallic compounds, there are also examples of using semiconductor quantum dots as photosensitizers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodward–Hoffmann rules</span> Set of rules pertaining to pericyclic reactions

The Woodward–Hoffmann rules, devised by Robert Burns Woodward and Roald Hoffmann, are a set of rules used to rationalize or predict certain aspects of the stereochemistry and activation energy of pericyclic reactions, an important class of reactions in organic chemistry. The rules are best understood in terms of the concept of the conservation of orbital symmetry using orbital correlation diagrams. The Woodward–Hoffmann rules are a consequence of the changes in electronic structure that occur during a pericyclic reaction and are predicated on the phasing of the interacting molecular orbitals. They are applicable to all classes of pericyclic reactions, including (1) electrocyclizations, (2) cycloadditions, (3) sigmatropic reactions, (4) group transfer reactions, (5) ene reactions, (6) cheletropic reactions, and (7) dyotropic reactions. The Woodward–Hoffmann rules exemplify the power of molecular orbital theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homoaromaticity</span> Organic molecular structure

Homoaromaticity, in organic chemistry, refers to a special case of aromaticity in which conjugation is interrupted by a single sp3 hybridized carbon atom. Although this sp3 center disrupts the continuous overlap of p-orbitals, traditionally thought to be a requirement for aromaticity, considerable thermodynamic stability and many of the spectroscopic, magnetic, and chemical properties associated with aromatic compounds are still observed for such compounds. This formal discontinuity is apparently bridged by p-orbital overlap, maintaining a contiguous cycle of π electrons that is responsible for this preserved chemical stability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kasha's rule</span> Law of photochemistry

Kasha's rule is a principle in the photochemistry of electronically excited molecules. The rule states that photon emission occurs in appreciable yield only from the lowest excited state of a given multiplicity. It is named after American spectroscopist Michael Kasha, who proposed it in 1950.

Organic photochemistry encompasses organic reactions that are induced by the action of light. The absorption of ultraviolet light by organic molecules often leads to reactions. In the earliest days, sunlight was employed, while in more modern times ultraviolet lamps are employed. Organic photochemistry has proven to be a very useful synthetic tool. Complex organic products can be obtained simply.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Möbius aromaticity</span>

In organic chemistry, Möbius aromaticity is a special type of aromaticity believed to exist in a number of organic molecules. In terms of molecular orbital theory these compounds have in common a monocyclic array of molecular orbitals in which there is an odd number of out-of-phase overlaps, the opposite pattern compared to the aromatic character to Hückel systems. The nodal plane of the orbitals, viewed as a ribbon, is a Möbius strip, rather than a cylinder, hence the name. The pattern of orbital energies is given by a rotated Frost circle (with the edge of the polygon on the bottom instead of a vertex), so systems with 4n electrons are aromatic, while those with 4n + 2 electrons are anti-aromatic/non-aromatic. Due to incrementally twisted nature of the orbitals of a Möbius aromatic system, stable Möbius aromatic molecules need to contain at least 8 electrons, although 4 electron Möbius aromatic transition states are well known in the context of the Dewar-Zimmerman framework for pericyclic reactions. Möbius molecular systems were considered in 1964 by Edgar Heilbronner by application of the Hückel method, but the first such isolable compound was not synthesized until 2003 by the group of Rainer Herges. However, the fleeting trans-C9H9+ cation, one conformation of which is shown on the right, was proposed to be a Möbius aromatic reactive intermediate in 1998 based on computational and experimental evidence.

In organic chemistry, the di-π-methane rearrangement is the photochemical rearrangement of a molecule that contains two π-systems separated by a saturated carbon atom. In the aliphatic case, this molecules is a 1,4-diene; in the aromatic case, an allyl-substituted arene. The reaction forms (respectively) an ene- or aryl-substituted cyclopropane. Formally, it amounts to a 1,2 shift of one ene group or the aryl group, followed by bond formation between the lateral carbons of the non-migrating moiety:

In chemistry, the Möbius–Hückel treatment is a methodology used to predict whether a reaction is allowed or forbidden. It is often used along with the Woodward–Hoffmann approach. The description in this article uses the plus-minus sign notation for parity as shorthand while proceeding around a cycle of orbitals in a molecule or system, while the Woodward–Hoffmann methodology uses a large number of rules with the same consequences.

Cyclotetradecaheptaene, often referred to as [14]annulene, is a hydrocarbon with molecular formula C14H14, which played an important role in the development of criteria (Hückel's rule) for aromaticity, a stabilizing property of central importance in physical organic chemistry. It forms dark-red needle-like crystals.

Methylene is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH
2
. It is a colourless gas that fluoresces in the mid-infrared range, and only persists in dilution, or as an adduct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sesquifulvalene</span> Chemical compound

Sesquifulvalene or pentaheptafulvalene is a hydrocarbon in the fulvalene class with chemical formula C12H10. It is composed of linked cyclopentadiene and cycloheptatriene rings.

References

  1. Baird, N. Colin (1972), "Quantum organic photochemistry. II. Resonance and aromaticity in the lowest 3ππ* state of cyclic hydrocarbons", Journal of the American Chemical Society, 94 (7/12): 4941–4948, doi:10.1021/ja00769a025
  2. Ottosson, Henrik (2012), "Organic photochemistry: Exciting excited-state aromaticity", Nature Chemistry, 4 (12): 969–971, Bibcode:2012NatCh...4..969O, doi:10.1038/nchem.1518, PMID   23174974
  3. 1 2 Rosenberg, Martin; Dahlstrand, Christian; Kilså, Kristine; Ottosson, Henrik (2014-05-28). "Excited State Aromaticity and Antiaromaticity: Opportunities for Photophysical and Photochemical Rationalizations". Chemical Reviews. 114 (10): 5379–5425. doi:10.1021/cr300471v. ISSN   0009-2665. PMID   24712859.