The Silacyclobutene Ring: An Indicator of Triplet State Baird-Aromaticity

Abstract

Baird’s rule tells that the electron counts for aromaticity and antiaromaticity in the first ππ* triplet and singlet excited states (T1 and S1) are opposite to those in the ground state (S0). Our hypothesis is that a silacyclobutene (SCB) ring fused with a [4n]annulene will remain closed in the T1 state so as to retain T1 aromaticity of the annulene while it will ring-open when fused to a [4n + 2]annulene in order to alleviate T1 antiaromaticity. This feature should allow the SCB ring to function as an indicator for triplet state aromaticity. Quantum chemical calculations of energy and (anti)aromaticity changes along the reaction paths in the T1 state support our hypothesis. The SCB ring should indicate T1 aromaticity of [4n]annulenes by being photoinert except when fused to cyclobutadiene, where it ring-opens due to ring-strain relief.

Keywords

• Baird’s rule
• computational chemistry
• excited state aromaticity
• Photostability