Reaching for two new stable ambiphilic quinoline-derivedN-heterocyclic carbenes at DFT level

Abstract

A detailed investigation on the thermodynamic and kinetic stability of four carbenic tautomers of quinoline 1, including quinoline-2-ylidene 2, quinoline-3-ylidene 3, quinoline-4-ylidene 4, and 3,4-dihydroquinoline-4-ylidene 5, reveals that singlet planar six-membered ring N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) 2 and 4 have less stability than Arduengo type NHC but seems to have enough conceivably for reaching at B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ//B3LYP/6–31+G* and B3LYP/6–311++G**//B3LYP/6–31+G* levels. All these six-membered NHCs are extremely ambiphilic with the more nucleophilic and electrophilic characters compared to the Arduengo type one. The aromaticity of singlet 2 and 4 is a significant contributor to their stability which is confirmed through their Nucleus-independent chemical shift(1)zz values. Finally, among 2–5, the normal NHC 2 is thermodynamically preferred but the remote NHC 4 is kinetically proffered over the other isomeric carbenes. The effects of different N- or C-substituted NHCs of 2 are studied using appropriate isodesmic reactions. The trimethylsilyl substituent exhibits slightly larger carbene stabilization in quinoline-derived NHCs than the pyridine analogue. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.