Molecular conformations of jet-cooled 2-methylindan and 2-phenylindan

Abstract

The molecular conformations of jet-cooled 2-methylindan (2MI) and 2-phenylindan (2PI) have been studied using resonant-enhanced two-photon ionization spectroscopy in combination with ab initio calculations. Both axial (2MI_ax) and equatorial (2MI_eq) conformers of 2MI have been observed. A 2MI_eq/2MI_ax conformer ratio of 2.3 was estimated at 298 K, leading to the energy difference, $\Updelta E = E_{{ 2 {\text{MI}}_{\text{ax}} }} - E_{{ 2 {\text{MI}}_{\text{eq}} }}$, of 0.49 kcal/mol. Ab initio calculations predicted three stable conformers of 2PI: two equatorial conformers (2PI_eq0 and 2PI_eq90), and one axial conformer (2PI_ax). Only the axial conformer of 2PI (2PI_ax) was experimentally observed. The indan ring of 2PI_ax is slightly more planar than the indan rings of the two equatorial conformers of 2PI because of the intramolecular C_sp2–H/π interactions in 2PI_ax. The equatorial conformers of 2PI relax to the more stable axial conformer because of the high pre-expansion temperature (383 K), and relatively low barrier (1.68 kcal/mol) to axial–equatorial interconversion. The barrier (2.33 kcal/mol) to axial–equatorial interconversion in 2MI is high enough to prevent conformational relaxation at the pre-expansion temperature of 298 K. Intramolecular C–H/π interactions are found to be more important in determining the conformational preference of 2PI than 2MI; this can be attributed to the higher acidity of the C_sp2–H bond than that of C_sp3–H bond.