Quantum calculation of the intrinsic torsional barrier of C-C and C-O bonds

Abstract

PCILO and ab initio calculations have been performed to investigate the energies associated to rotation about the central bond in n-butane and methyl ethyl ether. Quantum mechanical energies have been fit to a classical intramolecular force field, containing torsional and nonbonded (Lennard-Jones 6–12 plus Coulomb) contributions, with a standard deviation comprised between 0.03 and 0.09 kcal mol−1. Two conditions have proved indispensable to reach such level of accuracy: (a) the use of a torsional potential with threefold periodicity, which corrects for the part of the rotation barrier not covered by van der Waals repulsions and may be interpreted as bond-bond repulsion; (b) the introduction in the force field for ethers of terms accounting for orbital interaction effects of different nature than the normal molecular mechanics nonbonded interactions; these terms are represented either by low order rotational potential functions or preferably by interactions of atoms simulating lone-pair orbitals and bonded to oxygen in such a way as to render it sp3-hybridized. According to ab initio, the height of the threefold torsional potential about C-C and C-O bonds is comparable and is of the order of 3 kcal mol−1. According to PCILO, it is larger for C-C (ca. 1.5 kcal mol−1) than for C-O (ca. 0.5 kcal mol−1).