Aniline oligomers have been intensively studied in the past years.
In particular, aniline oligomers substituted
with electron-donor groups have been synthesized and its electronic
properties calculated. However, when
an electron-acceptor group is attached to the benzenoid ring of the
oligoaniline, strong effects over its electronic
properties are expected to happen. In this work some semiempirical
quantum chemistry calculations of
geometric structures, and energy level distribution of aniline and
substituted anilines and its corresponding
oligomer are presented. Geometry calculations of aniline and
oligoanilines have been performed by using
the PM3 and AM1 methods. Energy calculations and UV−vis spectra
have been done by using the ZINDO/S-CI method. The studied substituents are methoxy, methyl,
fluorine, nitro, and cyano groups, located at
positions 2 or 3, in the benzenoid ring. This series of
substituent groups involves a large range of σ−π
electron-donor−acceptor capability. The methoxy and the nitro
substituted tetranilines show an interaction
between the oxygen of the substitutent and the nitrogen of the oligomer
through an hydrogen atom. These
hydrogen bonds modify largely the structure of the oligomers.
Particularly nitro groups show the strongest
electrostatic attraction between hydrogen and oxygen. The cyano
and the nitro groups (σ−π acceptor) induce
an increasing of the ionization potential. Theoretical analysis of
the orbital energies of molecules substituted
with electron-acceptor groups shows a lowering of the LUMO energy
values larger than those in the HOMOs
cases. A decreasing of the energy of the first optical transition
when the electron acceptor capability of the
substituent increases is shown. Tetranilines substituted with
nitro groups display a band around 380 nm in
the calculated UV−vis spectrum. Thus, oligoanilines substituted
with electron-acceptor groups (especially
nitro groups) show the lowest energy gap and they are the most
encouraging material for semiconducting
applications that we have studied.
We present some semiempirical quantum chemistry calculations, geometric structures, charge distribution, gap energy, and enthalpy of formation (AHf) for aniline oligomers in the different oxidation states using the AM 1 method. A linear relationship between calculated optical transition values and the experimental reported ones was found. The effect of the interaction between the chloride counterion and these molecules was analyzed and indicates a decrease both in A 1t/of the aniline oligomers in the radical cation state and in AE(SOMO-LUMO). The withdrawal of one electron from the reduced aniline tetramer to form a radical cation in the presence of chloride (C1-) yields to the radical cation band, similar to the polaron band in the polyaniline case. Contrary to the expected results, our calculations show that CI-was able to transfer about 80% of its charge to the oligomers.
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