Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.119, No.39, 10091-10100, 2015
Study of Electron Delocalization in 1,2-, 1,3-, and 1,4-Azaborines Based on the Canonical Molecular Orbital Contributions to the Induced Magnetic Field and Polyelectron Population Analysis
The electron delocalization in 1,2-azaborine, 1,3-azaborine, and 1,4-azaborine is studied using canonical molecular orbital contributions to the induced magnetic field (CMO-IMF) method and polyelectron population analysis (PEPA). Contour maps of the out-of-plane component of the induced magnetic field (B-z(ind)) of the pi system show that the three azaborines, in contrast with borazine, sustain much of benzene's pi-aromatic character. Among them, 1,3-azaborine exhibits the strongest pi delocalization, while 1,4-azaborine is the weakest. Contour maps of B-z(ind) for individual pi orbitals reveal that the differentiation of the magnetic response among the three isomers originates from the pi-HOMO orbitals, whose magnetic response is governed by rotational allowed transitions to unoccupied orbitals. The low symmetry of azaborines enables a paratropic response from HOMO to unoccupied orbitals excitations, with their magnitude depending on the shape of interacting orbitals. 1,3-Azaborine presents negligible paratropic contributions to B-z(ind) from HOMO to unoccupied orbitals transitions, where 1,2- and 1,4-azaborine present substantial paratropic contributions, which lead to reduced diatropic response. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis employing PEPA shows that only the 1,3-azaborine contains pi-electron fully delocalized resonance structures.