Seeking for ultrashort "non-bonded" hydrogen-hydrogen contacts in some rigid hydrocarbons and their chlorinated derivatives

Abstract

In this communication a systematic computational survey on some rigid hydrocarbon skeletons, e.g. half-cage pentacyclododecanes and tetracyclododecanes, and their chlorinated derivatives in order to seek for the so-called ultrashort "non-bonded" hydrogen-hydrogen contacts is done. It is demonstrated that upon a proper choice and modifications of the main hydrocarbon backbones, and addition of some chlorine atoms instead of the original hydrogen atoms in parts of the employed hydrocarbons, the resulting strain triggers structural changes yielding ultrashort hydrogen-hydrogen contacts with inter-nuclear distances as small as 1.38 Angstrom. Such ultrashort contacts are clearly less than the world record of an ultrashort non-bonded hydrogen-hydrogen contact, 1.56 Angstrom, very recently realized experimentally by Pascal and coworkers in in,in-bis(hydrosilane) [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135, 13235 (2013)]. The resulting computed structures as well as the developed methodology for structure design open the door for constructing a proper set of molecules for future studies on the nature of the so-called non-bonded hydrogen-hydrogen interactions that is now an active and controversial area of research.