The Gauche Effect in XCH₂ CH₂ X Revisited.

ABSTRACT: We have quantum chemically investigated the rotational isomerism of 1,2-dihaloethanes XCH₂ CH₂ X (X = F, Cl, Br, I) at ZORA-BP86-D3(BJ)/QZ4P. Our Kohn-Sham molecular orbital (KS-MO) analyses reveal that hyperconjugative orbital interactions favor the gauche conformation in all cases (X = F-I), not only for X = F as in the current model of this so-called gauche effect. We show that, instead, it is the interplay of hyperconjugation with Pauli repulsion between lone-pair-type orbitals on the halogen substituents that constitutes the causal mechanism for the gauche effect. Thus, only in the case of the relatively small fluorine atoms, steric Pauli repulsion is too weak to overrule the gauche preference of the hyperconjugative orbital interactions. For the larger halogens,

SUBMITTER: Rodrigues Silva D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8048458 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature