Valence Tautomerism and Alkaline Properties of Global Aromatic Imine‐ and Methine‐Bridged all‐Benzenoid Macrocyclic Superpyrazine and Supertriazine
Abstract The comprehensive understanding of the ground‐state electronic structures of all‐benzenoid macrocycles and their charged species, particularly those exhibiting global (anti)aromaticity, remains poorly resolved. Here, we present two imine‐ and methine‐bridged all‐benzenoid [6]cyclo‐ para ‐phenylenes SPAZ (superpyrazine) and STAZ (supertriazine)‐designed as π‐extended analogues of 1,4‐pyrazine and 1,3,5‐triazine, respectively. For the first time, we elucidate their unprecedented valence tautomerism between “super‐Kekulé” alternating benzenoid/quinoidal structures and a “super‐sextet” transient structure, mediated by a 30π azaannulene conjugated pathway. The aromatic stabilization energy of global aromatic delocalization would partially counterbalance the energy penalty for disrupting three benzenoid sextets. Further protonation studies demonstrate their alkaline characteristics (p K a = 0.97 for SPAZ ; 3.27 for STAZ ), with diprotonated SPAZ‐DH and monoprotonated STAZ‐MH adopting planarized geometries that amplify global aromaticity through charge‐induced structural constraints and enhanced π‐electron delocalization. Notably, two‐electron reduction generates a dianion SPAZ‐DA exhibiting 32π electron global antiaromaticity with amine N atom embedded aza[30]annulene pathway. These findings establish a framework for decoding electronic structure property relationships in all‐benzenoid macrocycles, offering insights into aromaticity modulated regulations through tautomerism, protonation, and redox switching.
Authors
- Tao Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9516-4259)
- Yi Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5000-8818)
- Chunyan Chi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4677-3546)
- Shaoqiang Dong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7498-145X)
- Zekun Tong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0587-3807)
- Johnathan Joo Cheng Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9533-6270)
- Xinyue Tian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7790-3633)
Institutions
- Tianjin University (CN)
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Nankai University (CN)
- Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie
- Published
- 2025-05-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202507187
- Primary Topic
- Synthesis and Properties of Aromatic Compounds
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00