Electronic structure study of thermal intraconversions of some dicyclopenta-fused polycyclic aromatic compounds

The electronic structure of dicyclopenta[de,mn]anthracene (P1), dicyclopenta[ de,kl]anthracene (P2), and dicyclopenta[jk,mn]phenanthrene (P3) and their mutual isomerization processes are investigated using density functional theory. Two mechanisms for the thermal intraconversion of P1 to P2 were found. The first mechanism occurs via ethynylaceanthrylene (I0), and the second involves a 1,2-hydrogen shift. It is supposed that I0 is initially formed during the flash vacuum pyrolysis experiments, eventually rearranging to P2 on high temperatures. The energetics of the latter mechanism also indicate that P1 isomerizes to P2. The mechanism for a transformation of P2 to P3 is based on a ring contraction/ring conversion process and requires extremely high temperatures. Our investigation is in accord with the experimental results: unsuccessful synthesis of P1, stability of P2 at high temperature, and formation of P3 under extreme temperature regime.