RESUMEN

The pi-donating effects of pi-accepting X-substituents in substituted benzylic cations, X-C(6)H(5)-CHR(+) where R = CF(3), H and OCH(3), and X = p-NH(2), p-OCH(3), p-CH(3), H, p-F, p-Cl, p-CHO, m-CN, p-CN, m-NO(2) or p-NO(2), have been studied theoretically by using isodesmic hydride transfer reactions at various levels of theory. It might be difficult to determine the pi-donating effects of pi-acceptors using the simple Hammett-type linear equation, because it is not sensitive enough to include small pi-donating effects. Therefore, this effect was estimated using the NBO deletion energy (DeltaE(D)) of the second-order charge-transfer interaction (DeltaE(ct)) between the pi-orbitals (or lone pair orbitals) of the X-substituent and the pi-orbitals of phenyl ring. The extents of pi-donating effects increased in the order X = p-NO(2) < p-CHO < p-CN << p-Cl for both neutral and cationic species, and these effects were found to be more important for para- than for meta-substituents. Moreover, this could represent a general trend for pi-donation by pi-acceptors. On the other hand, the effects of R-substituents on this pi-donating effect were found to be in the order R = OCH(3) < H congruent with CF(3), as predicted by natural resonance theory (NRT) analyses.