TY  - JOUR
A1  - Nees, Samuel
A1  - Kupfer, Thomas
A1  - Hofmann, Alexander
A1  - Braunschweig, Holger
T1  - Planar Cyclopenten‐4‐yl Cations: Highly Delocalized π Aromatics Stabilized by Hyperconjugation
JF  - Angewandte Chemie International Edition
N2  - Theoretical studies predicted the planar cyclopenten‐4‐yl cation to be a classical carbocation, and the highest‐energy isomer of C\(_{5}\)H\(_{7}\)\(^{+}\). Hence, its existence has not been verified experimentally so far. We were now able to isolate two stable derivatives of the cyclopenten‐4‐yl cation by reaction of bulky alanes Cp\(^{R}\)AlBr\(_{2}\) with AlBr3. Elucidation of their (electronic) structures by X‐ray diffraction and quantum chemistry studies revealed planar geometries and strong hyperconjugation interactions primarily from the C−Al σ bonds to the empty p orbital of the cationic sp\(^{2}\) carbon center. A close inspection of the molecular orbitals (MOs) and of the anisotropy of current (induced) density (ACID), as well as the evaluation of various aromaticity descriptors indicated distinct aromaticity for these cyclopenten‐4‐yl derivatives, which strongly contrasts the classical description of this system. Here, strong delocalization of π electrons spanning the whole carbocycle has been verified, thus providing rare examples of π aromaticity involving saturated sp\(^{3}\) carbon atoms.
KW  - ACID
KW  - carbocations
KW  - cyclopenten-4-yl cation
KW  - hyperconjugation
KW  - π aromaticity
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218358
VL  - 59
IS  - 42
SP  - 18809
EP  - 18815
ER  -