Influence of Molecular Structure on the Dimerization Reactivity of Germaaromatic Compounds： a Theoretical Study

摘要

Density functional theory （DFT） calculations, at the B3LYP/6-311G＊＊ level of theory, were performed to study the reaction mechanism and potenti4the potential energy surface of the studied reactions was investigated. Our calculation results show that [2 ＋ 2] and [4 ＋ 4] reactions are concerted and synchronous processes; while [4 ＋ 2] reactions proceed via a concerted but asynchronous way in general. [2 ＋ 2] and [4 ＋ 2] reactions of germabenzenes and 1-germana- phthalene proceed much more easily than the corresponding [4 ＋ 4] reaction, both thermo- dynamically and kinetically; while most [4 ＋ 2] paths have lower activation barrier than the corres- ponding [2 ＋ 2] ones. As the number of six-membered aromatic rings in reactant molecules becomes larger, [2 ＋ 2], [4 ＋ 2] and [4 ＋ 4] reactions become easier to proceed. The influence of substituents at the Ge atom of germabenzenes on the potential energy surface of [2 ＋ 2] and [4 ＋ 2] reactions correlates with their electronic properties and volume. Solvent effect is not crucial for the potential energy surfaces of the studied reactions.