Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Dications Of Benzylidenefluorene And Diphenylmethylidene Fluorene: The Relationship Between Magnetic And Energetic Measures Of Antiaromaticity, Catherine Do, Julianne Hatfield, Shirali Patel, D Vasudevan, Cornelia Tirla, Nancy S. Mills

Chemistry Faculty Research

Oxidation of m- and p-substituted benzylidene fluorenes to antiaromatic dications was attempted by electrochemical and chemical means. Electrochemical oxidation to dications was successful for benzylidene fluorenes with p-methoxy, p-methyl, p-fluoro, and unsubstituted phenyl rings in the 3-position; attempts to oxidize the m-substituted derivatives via electrochemistry were unsuccessful. Chemical oxidation with SbF5/SO2ClF gave the dication of 9-[(4-methoxyphenyl)methylene]-9H-fluorene cleanly; oxidation of all other substituted benzylidene fluorenes resulted in mixtures of products. The excellent linear relationship between the chemical shifts calculated by the GIAO method and the experimental shifts for the p-methoxy-substituted benzylidene fluorene dication …