Ab initio computation of electron affinities of substituted benzalacetophenones (chalcones): a new approach to substituent effects in organic electrochemistry

摘要

The electron affinities (EAs) of a training set of 29 monosubstituted benzalacetophenones (chalcones) were computed at the ab initio density functional B3LYP/6-31G{sup}* level of theory. The EAs and experimental reduction potentials of the training set are highly linearly correlated (correlation coefficient of 0.969 and standard deviation of 10.8 mV). An additional 72 di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted chalcones were then synthesized. Their reduction potentials were predicted from computed EAs using the linear correlation derived from the training set. Agreement between the experimental and computed reduction potentials is remarkably good, with a standard deviation of less than 22 mV for this very large set of substances whose potentials extend over a range of almost 700 mV.