The stereochemistry of decaethylbiphenyl (5)
is analyzed. The potentially low-energy conformers of
5
were generated by formally linking two pentaethylphenyl subunits, and
by assuming that no more that one syn
interaction is present per ring. Molecular mechanics calculations
(MM3 program) indicate that the forms “f”, “i”,
“j”, and “m” represent the lowest energy conformations. As
previously observed for
decakis(bromomethyl)biphenyl,
the “a” conformation (devoided of any syn arrangement of
two neighboring ethyl groups) is destabilized by the
mutual steric interactions of ortho ethyl groups at
different rings. Decaethylbiphenyl (5) was synthesized
by exhaustive
ethylation of biphenyl. The compound exists in the crystal in
three different conformations (“i”, “j”, and
“m”).
Low-temperature 13C NMR data show that the compound
exists in CDCl2F at 149 K in two conformations in a
4:1
ratio, and the major conformer was assigned to the “m” form.
Dynamic NMR data indicate that “m” undergoes
ethyl rotation with a barrier of
ΔG
176
‡ = 8.2 ± 0.1 kcal
mol-1. The interconversion graph of
5 was analyzed, and
on the basis of the MM calculations and NMR data, it is concluded that
the rotational process followed by NMR
involves the stepwise rotation of the meta and
para ethyl groups of “m”.