Benzene fused five-membered heterocycles.: A theoretical approach

The Nuclear Independent Chemical Shift of each ring, as a criterion of aromaticity, is used to explain the stability order of benzopyrrole, benzofuran and benzothiophene, and their isomers. The results indicate that the benzene ring is aromatic in all the systems. The five-membered rings of benzopyrrole, benzofuran and benzothiophene, are also aromatic, whereas those of isobenzopyrrole, isobenzofuran and isobenzothiophene are non-aromatic. This could be an explanation of the stability of the former molecules. The molecular orbitals and the condensed Fukui functions derived from the electronic structure calculations are also reported. These reactivity indices explain the expected electrophilic substitution of these compounds. The theoretical structure, ionization energies, order of aromaticity, stability and reactivity are in good agreement with the experimental results. The usefulness of this approach to determine the reactivity is discussed since their stability and reactivity may be understood. The reactivity indices are useful to explain and confirm the experimental information, and for molecules with unknown reactive behavior, this approach could help to predict some of the reactions. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.