Tuning Ring Inversion and Internal Rotation in 10-Substituted-9-Tert-Butylanthracenes: A Theoretical Study

Abstract

The energy of ring inversion and internal rotation in 10-substituted-9-tert-butylanthracenes have been calculated using B3LYP/cc-PVDZ level of theory for geometry optimizations and MP2/cc-PVTZ level for single-point calculations. A series of 19 derivatives were modeled with the aim of being able to control and tune the energy needed for inversion of anthracene fused rings. The relaxed potential energy surface PES for such butterfly-like ring inversion for a model compound has been also computed. Two factors; the size and electronic interaction of the substituents with the anthracene fused rings, are found to be equally important in determining the energy of ring inversion and internal rotation