Issue 21, 2015

Borazine: spin blocker or not?

Abstract

The spin blocker capacity of borazine is investigated. Specifically, meta-B–B, meta-N–N and para-B–N connected borazines are used as spin-blocker couplers comprised of a pair of radicals: two iminonitroxides (IN); IN and tetrathiafulvalene radical cations (TTF); or two TTFs. Density functional theory (DFT) is used to elucidate the spin blocker capacity of the linkage-specific (meta or para) borazine-coupler and elaborate the role of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) in magnetic–exchange. Furthermore, a qualitative relation between different magnetic aromaticity indices is made using both nuclear-independent chemical shift (NICS) and the harmonic oscillator model of aromaticity (HOMA). The NICS values are calculated at the centre of the borazine spacer fragment of these diradical species and then also at 0.5 Å increments of the virtual probe from this centre position up to an orthogonal distance of 2.0 Å from the centre. The HOMA values are calculated for the borazine ring fragment in these diradicals. Based on the HOMA and NICS values, it is evident that the borazine exhibits less aromatic character than benzene itself – due to the polar nature of B–N π-bonding. The LUMO mediated spin-exchange between the two consecutive singly occupied molecular orbitals (SOMOs) is explicitly discussed and confirmed to play a pivotal role. The parity of the coupler pathways, i.e. even or odd number of bonds along a selected pathway, between radical moieties is an important factor in predicting the nature and extent of magnetic exchange for these diradicals. Surprisingly, borazine does not always act as a spin-coupling blocker – rather in some cases the coupling is enhanced as compared to a homoatomic (carbon-based) benzene coupler.

Graphical abstract: Borazine: spin blocker or not?

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Feb 2015
Accepted
29 Apr 2015
First published
30 Apr 2015

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2015,17, 14223-14237

Author version available

Borazine: spin blocker or not?

D. Bhattacharya, S. Shil, A. Misra, L. Bytautas and D. J. Klein, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2015, 17, 14223 DOI: 10.1039/C5CP00801H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements