Effects of fused benzene rings on tautomerizations and inversions of benzo, azabenzo, and oxabenzocycloheptatrienes at theoretical levels

Biologically important bicyclic species, including 6H-, 6H-6-aza-, and 6-oxabenzocycloheptatrienes (in which the benzene moiety is fused meta with respect to the tetrahedral constituents: -CH₂-, -NH-, and -O-, respectively), show strong shifts of tautomerizations in favor of the corresponding tricyclic benzonorcaradienes (with ΔH values of -11.49, -14.55, and -19.20 kcal mol^-1, respectively), at B3LYP/6- 311++G*//B3LYP/6-31G, and MP2/6-311++G*//MP2/6-31G*levels, and at 298 K. In contrast, such shifts are strongly disfavored by the isomeric bicyclic species in which the benzene moieties are fused ortho or para with respect to -CH₂-, -NH-, and -O-, respectively. Hence for species with ortho benzene rings including 5H-, 5H-5-aza- and 5-oxabenzocycloheptatrienes, tautomerization ΔH values are 30.76, 31.89, and 25.27 kcal mol ^-1, respectively, while for species with para fused benzene moieties including 7H-, 7H-7-aza-, and 7-oxabenzocycloheptatrienes, tautomerization ΔH values are 24.12, 26.00, and 19.55 kcal mol^-1, respectively. NICS calculations are successfully used to rationalize these results. The calculated energy barriers for inversion of the seven-membered rings of bicyclic species predict a dynamic nature for all the structures except for the virtually planar 6H-6-aza- and 6-oxabenzocycloheptatrienes. Finally, our theoretical data are compared to the experimental results where available.