Origin of the nonplanarity of tetrafluoro cyclobutadiene, C4F4

摘要

Density functional theory as well as Moller-Plesset investigations has been carried out on tetrafluoro cyclobutadiene, C4F4, to explore the origin of its nonplanarity. Although Petersson et al. (Petersson, E. J.; Fanuele, J. C.; Nimlos, M. R.; Lemal, D. M.; Ellison, G. B.; Radziszewski, J. G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 11122-11123) had earlier predicted a nonplanar geometry of this compound on the basis of spectral and bond orbital analysis, the explanation of the same from a more fundamental point of view is still missing. In the present study, we provide a heuristic explanation for the origin of nonplanarity of C4F4. The two major driving forces behind this nonplanar geometry are the unusual aromaticity of this cyclic homoatomic 4 pi electron system and the second-order Jahn-Teller effect (SOJTE). These driving forces can well be explained by various energy and density parameters and also by nucleus-independent chemical shift (NICS) values. Aromaticity of a cyclic homoatomic 4 pi electron system is quite remarkable. The enhancement of pi- delocalization as evidenced from molecular orbital analysis may be attributed to s-p(pi) mixing in nonplanar C4F4.