Henry Rzepa's Blog

The annual “molecule of the year” results for 2021 are now available … and the winner is Infinitene.[1],[2] This is a benzocirculene in the form of a figure eight loop (the infinity symbol), a shape which is also called a lemniscate [3] after the mathematical (2D) function due to Bernoulli. The most common class of molecule which exhibits this (well known) motif are hexaphyrins (hexaporphyrins; porphyrin is a tetraphyrin)[4],[5],[6], many of which exhibit lemniscular topology as determined from a crystal structure. Straightforward annulenes have also been noted to display this[7] (as first suggested here for a [14]annulene[8]) and other molecules show higher-order Möbius forms such as trefoil knots.[9],[10] This new example uses twelve benzo groups instead of six porphyrin units to construct the lemniscate. So the motif is not new, but this is the first time it has been constructed purely from benzene rings. (more…)

References

1. K. Itami, M. Krzeszewski, and H. Ito, "Infinitene: A Helically Twisted Figure-Eight [12]Circulene Topoisomer", 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2021-pcwcc
2. M. Krzeszewski, H. Ito, and K. Itami, "Infinitene: A Helically Twisted Figure-Eight [12]Circulene Topoisomer", Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 144, pp. 862-871, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c10807
3. C.S.M. Allan, and H.S. Rzepa, "Chiral Aromaticities. AIM and ELF Critical Point and NICS Magnetic Analyses of Möbius-Type Aromaticity and Homoaromaticity in Lemniscular Annulenes and Hexaphyrins", The Journal of Organic Chemistry, vol. 73, pp. 6615-6622, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jo801022b
4. H. Rath, J. Sankar, V. PrabhuRaja, T.K. ChandrashekarPresent address: The D, B.S. Joshi, and R. Roy, "Figure-eight aromatic core-modified octaphyrins with six meso links: syntheses and structural characterization", Chemical Communications, pp. 3343, 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b502327k
5. H. Rath, J. Sankar, V. PrabhuRaja, T.K. Chandrashekar, and B.S. Joshi, "Aromatic Core-Modified Twisted Heptaphyrins[1.1.1.1.1.1.0]:  Syntheses and Structural Characterization", Organic Letters, vol. 7, pp. 5445-5448, 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ol0521937
6. S. Shimizu, N. Aratani, and A. Osuka, "meso‐Trifluoromethyl‐Substituted Expanded Porphyrins", Chemistry – A European Journal, vol. 12, pp. 4909-4918, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.200600158
7. T. Perera, F.R. Fronczek, and S.F. Watkins, "2,9,16,23-Tetrakis(1-methylethyl)-5,6,11,12,13,14,19,20,25,26,27,28-dodecadehydrotetrabenzo[a,e,k,o]cycloeicosene", Acta Crystallographica Section E Structure Reports Online, vol. 67, pp. o3493-o3493, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/S1600536811048604
8. H.S. Rzepa, "A Double-Twist Möbius-Aromatic Conformation of [14]Annulene", Organic Letters, vol. 7, pp. 4637-4639, 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ol0518333
9. G.R. Schaller, F. Topić, K. Rissanen, Y. Okamoto, J. Shen, and R. Herges, "Design and synthesis of the first triply twisted Möbius annulene", Nature Chemistry, vol. 6, pp. 608-613, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NCHEM.1955
10. S.M. Bachrach, and H.S. Rzepa, "Cycloparaphenylene Möbius trefoils", Chemical Communications, vol. 56, pp. 13567-13570, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/D0CC04190D

I have been discussing some historical aspects of the absolute configuration of molecules and how it was connected to their optical rotations. The nomenclature for certain types of molecules such as sugars and less commonly amino acids includes the notation (+) to indicate that the specific optical rotation of the molecule has a positive (rather than a negative) value. What is rarely mentioned is the implicit wavelength at which the rotation is measured. Historically polarimeters operated at the so-called sodium Fraunhofer D-line (588.995nm, hence the name [α]_D) and only much more recently at the mercury e-line (546.073nm). The former was used for uncoloured organic molecules, since it was realised early on that colour and optical rotation did not mix well. Here I take a closer look at this aspect by constructing the hypothetical molecule shown below.

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In this series of posts on optical rotations, I firstly noted Kirkwood’s 1937 attempt to correlate the optical rotation of butan-2-ol with its absolute configuration. He had identified as essential knowing the relative orientation (the term conformation was not yet in common use) of the two methyl groups (the modern terms are gauche vs anti) and also that of the hydroxyl group, noting that anisotropy from this group could influence his result (he had assumed it was linear, or axially symmetric). I then looked at D-(+)-glyceraldehyde, noting that this species itself has a strongly negative rotation and that it is the hydrated diol that results in a positive rotation and hence the (+) designation. Here I take another look at this latter system to see what effect adding explicit water molecules to the unhydrated form of glyceraldehyde might have on its computed rotation, on the premise that strong hydrogen bonds can also contribute anisotropy to the system.

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