Aromatic interactions of allenyl-anthracene derivatives with pi-electron acceptor molecules: an experimental and computational study

Electrostatic effects play an important role in aromatic interactions towards molecular recognition. Anthraceno-allenophanes are cyclic π-conjugated aromatic systems able to recognise complementary molecules through aromatic interactions. A computational and experimental study has shown that the dispersive contribution is the predominant stabilising term in the interaction of an allenyl-anthracene derivative with relevant π-acceptor molecules, such as pentafluorophenol, picric acid and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-quinone.