Deformation of the benzene ring upon fluorination: equilibrium structures of all fluorobenzenes.

Born−Oppenheimer equilibrium structure (rBOe) estimates are reported for benzene and all 12 possible fluorobenzenes, based on geometry optimizations performed at the coupled cluster level of electronic structure theory including single and double excitations augmented by a perturbational estimate of the effects of connected triple excitations [CCSD(T)] and Gaussian basis sets of at least triple zeta quality. Furthermore, accurate semiexperimental equilibrium (rSEe) structures are determined for C6H6, C6H5F, and 1,2- and 1,3-difluorobenzene. They are obtained through a least-squares structural refinement procedure based on equilibrium rotational constants of as many isotopologues as feasible, determined by correcting experimental vibrationally averaged ground-state rotational constants with computedab initiovibration–rotation interaction constants and electronicg-factors, and using a few structural constraints based on the bestrBOeestimates. TherBOeandrSEeequilibrium structures are in excellent agreement with each other for the four semirigid molecules but in almost all cases they differ significantly from previously determined equilibrium structure estimates based on rotational spectroscopy or gas electron diffraction. The nature of deformations of the benzene ring induced by a single fluorine substitution can be characterized as follows: (a) the strongest effect is the pushing of the ipso carbon atom toward the ring center resulting in a deformation at the ipso [by +2.7(1)°] and ortho [−1.7(1)°] CCC angles, (b) a simultaneous decrease in the ortho CC bond length of the benzene ring by 0.009 Å and (c) a decrease of all the CH bond lengths. Additivity relations concerning the F substitution effects are obtained based on the equilibrium structures of all possible fluorobenzenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]