Recommendations for the evaluation of aromatic stabilization energies
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Updated: Sep 29, 2026

Synthesis of Esters Via a Greener Steglich Esterification in Acetonitrile
Published on: October 30, 2018
Paul Von Ragué Schleyer1, Frank Pühlhofer
1Computational Chemistry Annex, Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2525, USA. schleyer@chem.uga.edu
Abstract:
[reaction: see text] Perturbing influences, such as strain and the presence of heteroatoms, complicate the evaluation of aromatic stabilization energies (ASE). These complications are overcome easily by employing the "isomerization method". This is based on the differences (ISE) between total energies computed for only two species: a methyl derivative of the aromatic system and its nonaromatic exocyclic methylene isomer. The ISEs of benzene, pyridine, and naphthalene as well as the strained [5]paracyclophane, methano[10]annulene, and octadehydro[14]annulene are evaluated.
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