Structural Aspects of Aromaticity

Initially envisaged as rather unreactive, aromatic-like molecules, the fullerenes instead undergo a wide variety of reactions characteristic of alkenes. The many derivatives of C60, and the few of C70, that have now been reported offer new directions for organic chemistry.

The Chemistry of Fullerenes

o-Quinone methides: intermediates underdeveloped and underutilized in organic synthesis

We describe quantitative numerical applications of the natural resonance theory (NRT) to a variety of chemical bonding types, in order to demonstrate the generality and practicality of the method for a wide range of chemical systems. Illustrative applications are presented for (1) benzene and polycyclic aromatics; (2) CO2, formate, and related acyclic species; (3) ionic and polar compounds; (4) coordinate covalent compounds and complexes; (5) hypervalent and electron-deficient species; (6) noncovalent H-bonded complex; and (7) a model Diels-Alder chemical reaction surface. The examples exhibit the general harmony of NRT weightings with qualitative resonance-theoretic concepts and illustrate how these concepts can be extended to many new types of chemical phenomena at a quanitative ab initio level. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 19: 628–646, 1998

Ivor Gray Nixon

Papers

CCCXXXII.—Stereochemical influences on aromatic substitution. Substitution derivatives of 5-hydroxyhydrindene