Conformational effects, molecular orbitals, and reaction activities of bis(phthalocyaninato) lanthanum double-deckers: Density functional theory calculations

Abstract

The conformational effects on the frontier molecular orbital energy and stability for reduced, neutral, and oxidized bis(phthalocyaninato) lanthanum double-deckers have been revealed on the basis of density functional theory calculations. Calculation results indicate that the frontier orbital coupling degree changes along with the molecular conformation of the double-decker compound, first decreasing along with the increase of rotation angle β from 0 to 20° and then increasing along with the increase of rotation angle β from 20 to 45°. In addition, the stability for the three forms of double-decker changes in the same order, but first increasing and then decreasing along with the change of the rotation angle β in the range of 0 to 45° with a rotation energy barrier of (31.3 ± 3.1) kJ mol⁻¹ at 20°. This reveals that the rotation of the two phthalocyanine rings for the reduced, neutral, and oxidized bis(phthalocyaninato) lanthanum double-deckers are able to occur at room temperature. Nevertheless, the superior coordination reaction activity of the neutral bis(phthalocyaninato) lanthanum double-decker complex over their reduced form in forming sandwich-type tris(phthalocyaninato) lanthanum triple-decker compounds has also been clearly clarified on the basis of comparative calculations on the Fukui function of [La(Pc)₂] and [La(Pc)₂]⁻ using the DFT method. Fukui function analysis reveals the reaction center of the 18-electron-π-conjugated core in the bis(phthalocyaninato) lanthanum double-decker molecule against both electrophilic and radical attack. Nevertheless, the larger global chemical softness (S) for the neutral [La(Pc)₂] than the reduced form [La(Pc)₂]⁻ indicates the higher reaction activity of the former form over the latter one. This explains well the experimental findings that only the neutral instead of the reduced form of bis(tetrapyrrole) rare earth double-decker complexes, containing at least one phthalocyanine ligand, could be employed as starting materials towards the preparation of tris(tetrapyrrole) rare earth triple-decker complexes by a solution process.