Hexahalogenated and their mixed benzene derivatives as prototypes for the understanding of halogen···halogen intramolecular interactions: New insights from combined DFT, QTAIM-, and RDG-based NCI analyses.

Abstract

A large number of fully halogenated benzene derivatives containing the fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine atoms have been experimentally synthesized both as single- and co-crystals (e.g., Desiraju et al., Chem. Eur. J. 2006, 12, 2222), yet the natures of the halogen ··· halogen interactions between the vicinal halogens in these compounds within the intramolecular domain are undisclosed. Given a fundamental understanding of these interactions is incredibly important in many areas of chemical, biological, supramolecular, and material sciences, we present here our newly discovered theoretical results that delineate whilst the nature of an F···F interaction in a pair of two adjacent fluorine atoms in either of the hexafluorobenzene and 1,4-dibromotetrafluorobenzene compounds examined is almost unclear, each of the latter three hexahalogenated benzene derivatives (viz., C6 Cl6 , C6 Br6 , and C6 I6 ), and each of the seven of their fully mixed hexahalogenated benzene analogues, are found to be stabilized by means of a number of halogen···halogen interactions, each a form of long-range attraction within the intramolecular domain. The Molecular Electrostatic Surface Potential model was found to be unsurprisingly unsuitable in unraveling any of the aforesaid attractions between the halogen atoms. However, such interactions successfully enunciated by a set of noncovalent interaction descriptors of geometrical, topological, and electrostatic origins. These latter properties were extracted combining the results of the Density Functional Theory electronic structure calculations with those revealed from Atoms in Molecules, and Reduced Density Gradient charge density-based topological calculations, and are expounded in detail to formalize the conclusions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.