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basis set was employed. The solvent polarity was taken into
account by using the polarizable continuum model (PCM).[22]
All molecules gave similar optimized structures with the pho-
toreactive conformation as the most stable geometries (Fig-
ure S12 in the Supporting Information). A negligible difference
between 1a, 2a, and 3a was also found in the shape of FMOs
(HOMO and LUMO) (Figures S14–S16 in the Supporting Infor-
mation). The HOMOs were delocalized in the entire molecule,
whereas the LUMOs were rather localized in a thiazolyl side-
aryl group for all molecules. The energy differences between
the open-ring isomers a-form and the closed-ring isomers b-
form were also similar for all molecules (Figure S12).
tance in the range of 2.8–3.1 .[27] On the other hand, signifi-
cantly tight contacts between the sulfur atom in the central
benzothiophene and the thiazolyl nitrogen atom in a side-aryl
unit (S1–N1, S1’–N1’<3.0 in Figure 3c) was observed for 3a,
suggesting that the S/N interaction harnesses the rotation
about the benzothiophene-thiazole bond. Although no specific
interaction was suggested between the central and the Ar2
units for 3a, the CH/p interactions with the CH–aryl distance
[27]
in the range of 2.7–3.2 between the side-aryl units seem
to support the photoreactive conformations.
Overall, ordinary DFT calculations and X-ray crystallography
data failed to highlight the effect of the substitution of a phe-
nylthiazole with a phenylthiophene on the conformational be-
havior of 2,3-diarylbenzo[b]thiophenes. However, the ring-cycli-
zation quantum yield (FOÀC) in hexane dropped from 0.98 for
the parent compound to 0.50 and 0.71 for 2a and 3a, respec-
tively. Although CH/S and CH/N interactions were expected be-
tween the central and side-aryls in 2a as suggested in the X-
ray crystallographic data, the contribution of an unreactive
conformation with a flipped Ar1-unit stabilized by the Me/S in-
teraction may decrease the FOÀC in hexane.[10a,c] The absence
of CH/N interaction in 3a also resulted in a decreased FOÀC in
hexane. Interestingly, the FOÀC jumped in methanol from 0.54
of 1a to 0.91 and >0.99 for 2a and 3a, respectively. The
reason for the low reactivity of 1a in methanol was attributed,
at least partly, to a weakening of the H-bond-like CH/N interac-
tion between the 4-proton on the central benzothiophene and
the nitrogen in the Ar2-thiazolyl ring (Figure 1) in a protic sol-
vent,[11a] leading to a larger conformational fluctuation regard-
less of the photoreactive conformation in the single crystal.
The NMR chemical shift of the 4-proton (H4) (7.97 ppm) was
almost identical for both 1a and 2a in CD3OD (Figure S18 in
the Supporting Information). Therefore, the CH/N interaction
was expected to have a small effect on the conformational
preference of both molecules in methanol.
These three molecules successfully gave single crystals[23–25]
from methanol solution and exhibited photoreactive confor-
mations with distances between the photoreactive carbon
[26]
atoms below 3.7 (Figure 3, see also Figure S21, Tables S1
To gain further insight into the reason for the higher photo-
cyclization efficiency of 2a and 3a in comparison to 1a, the
conformational preferences for these diarylbenzothiophenes
1
were studied by H NMR measurements in CD3OD (Figure S18
in the Supporting Information). Here we focus on the values of
chemical shift of two methyl groups and the splitting between
them (Dd), which efficiently probe the substantial ring-current
effect operating on these methyl groups (Table 2) and relative
stability of the highly symmetric C2-conformation around the
photoreactive 6p system.[11a] Each methyl peak was assigned to
either Ar1- or Ar2-methyl groups based on differential nuclear
Overhauser effect (1D NOE) measurements (Figure S20 in the
Figure 3. Crystal structures of (a) 1a, (b) 2a and (c) 3a with the indication of
close contacts of noncovalent interactions (dotted lines). The dots indicate
the centroids of five-membered aryl rings.
and S2 in the Supporting Information). Since the packing
modes of molecules in the crystals were different from each
other with different space groups and intermolecular packing
manners (Table S1 in the Supporting Information), the atomic
distances of intramolecular interactions could not be directly
compared. Compound 1a gave photoreactive conformers very
similar to that found in the single crystal prepared from
hexane solution.[11a] The CH/S and CH/N interactions between
those atoms on the central benzothiophene and the side-aryl
units were suggested from the close atomic contacts (H5-S1:
3.058; H4-N1: 2.665 in Figure 3b) for 2a that appear to stabi-
lize the specific conformation with the aid of CH/p interactions
between methyl groups and aryl rings with the CH–aryl dis-
1
Supporting Information). For H NMR spectral simulations, the
GIAO model at the PBEPBE/6-311 + +G(2d,p) level was used.[28]
Compound 2a gave a set of peaks at 2.06 (Ar2-thiazole) and
2.28 ppm (Ar1-thiophene) with Dd of 0.22 ppm. The former
peak appeared more upfield than that of 1a (2.08 ppm). On
the other hand, 3a, which exhibited a photon-quantitative re-
activity in methanol, provided the peaks at 2.11 (Ar1-thiazole)
and 2.10 ppm (Ar2-thiophene) with a surprisingly small peak
splitting of only Dd=0.01 ppm. The thiazolyl-methyl peak at
2.11 ppm was a more upfield signal compared to the Ar1-thia-
Chem. Asian J. 2015, 10, 1725 – 1730
1727
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