Two Ground State Conformers of the Proton Sponge 1,8-Bis(dimethylamino)naphthalene Revealed by Fluorescence Spectroscopy and ab Initio Calculations A. Szemik-Hojniak,* ,† J. M. Zwier, §,‡ W. J. Buma,* ,§ R. Bursi, ⊥ and J. H. van der Waals | Contribution from the Faculty of Chemistry, Wroclaw UniVersity, 14 Joliot-Curie Str., 50-383 Wroclaw, Poland, Laboratory for Physical Chemistry, UniVersity of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 127, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands, N. V. Organon, P.O. Box 20, 5340 BH Oss, The Netherlands, and Huygens Laboratory, Leiden UniVersity, Niels Bohrweg 2, P.O. Box 9504, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands ReceiVed December 15, 1997 Abstract: The S 1 T S 0 transitions of the “proton sponge” 1,8-bis(dimethylamino)naphthalene have been studied by experiment and ab initio calculations. Fluorescence excitation and single vibronic level emission spectroscopy on the sample seeded in a supersonic expansion lead to the conclusion that the molecule can adopt two conformations in the ground state. This conclusion is supported by ab initio calculations at the HF/6-31G* level. The most stable conformer is shown to carry the spectroscopic characteristics of the naphthalene chromophore, while torsional motions of the dimethylamino groups dominate the spectroscopy of the other conformer. I. Introduction Bi-center nitrogen bases which combine an exceptionally high basicity with a low nucleophilic character are called “proton sponges”. 1,2 The best-known representative is 1,8-bis(dimethy- lamino)naphthalene, henceforth called DMAN. Its basicity is exceptionally high (pK a ) 12.1) 3 and its gas-phase proton affinity (1030.1 kJ/mol) 4 is among the highest for aromatic bases. Among the diamino systems the proton sponges are characterized by the presence of two nearby nitrogens which can share a proton to form a strong intramolecular hydrogen bond. Apparently, the high basicity of the proton sponges depends on the proximity of these two nitrogens, and it has been discussed in terms of the changes on protonation of the repulsion between the nitrogen lone pairs, of the molecular strain, and of the energy of solvation. 5 Several reviews have been published on the proton sponges and their monoprotonated cations. 1,2,8-11 The crystal and molecular structure of DMAN have been determined by X-ray diffraction. 12 It was shown that the molecule is strained with a large deviation of the naphthalene skeleton from planarity. The central C-C bond is twisted so that the N(CH 3 ) 2 groups are on different sides of the naphthalene plane, with their nitrogen atoms lying 0.4 Å above and below this plane. Via rotation about the C aryl -N bonds, the dimethylamino groups assume a conformation where one of the methyl carbons in each of the two groups is practically located in the plane of the ring and the nitrogen lone pairs avoid the destabilizing overlap as far as possible. Protonation causes the molecule to become more planar, and the insertion of the proton into DMAN brings about the formation of a six-membered ring where the N‚‚‚N distance changes from 2.5 Å 6 to 2.71 Å. Relief of electron repulsion seems to be a driving force for protonation. Computed ab initio geometries of DMAN and its protonated form have recently been reported. 13 The isolated molecule was predicted to approximate C 2 symmetry with a distinctly nonplanar N-(C 10 H 6 )-N fragment, similar to that derived from the X-ray crystallographic data. 12 In the past few years one of us (A.S.-H.) has been involved in extensive studies of the solution spectra of DMAN in a range of solvents of different polarity. 14 From the puzzling results it seemed that in certain solvents one is dealing with a mixture of two species, and the same appeared to be true when the low- temperature emission spectra of glassy solutions were investi- gated. 15 At first impurities were suspected, but this suspicion † Wroclaw University. § University of Amsterdam. ‡ Present address: Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 129, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Neth- erlands. ⊥ N. V. Organon. | Leiden University. (1) Staab, H. A.; Saupe, T. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1988, 27, 865. (2) Alder, R. W. Chem. ReV. 1989, 89, 1215. (3) Hibbert, F. J. J. Chem. Soc., Perkin. Trans. 1974, 2, 1862. (4) Lou, Yan K.; Saluja, P. P. S.; Kebarle, P.; Alder, R. W. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1978, 100, 7328. (5) Perakyla, M. J. Org. Chem. 1996, 61, 7420. (6) Pyzalska, D.; Pyzalski, R.; Borowiak, T. J. Crystallogr. Spectrosc. Res. 1983, 13, 211. (7) Brzezinski, B.; Glowiak, T.; Grech, E.; Malarski, Z.; Sawka- Dobrowolska, W.; Sobczyk, L. J. Mol. Struct. 1993, 299, 1. (8) Alder, R. W. Tetrahedron 1990, 46, 683. (9) Llamaz-Saiz, A. L.; Foces-Foces, C.; Elguero, J. J. Mol. Struct. 1992, 273, 183. (10) Bakshi, P. K.; Cameron, T. S.; Knop, O. Can. J. Chem. 1996, 74, 201. (11) Brzezinski, B.; Glowiak, T.; Grech, E.; Malarski, Z.; Sobczyk, L. Croat. Chem. Acta 1992, 65, 101. (12) Einspar, H.; Robert, J. B.; Marsh, R. E.; Roberts, J. D. Acta Crystallogr. 1973, B29, 1611. (13) Platts, J. A.; Howard, S. T.; Wozniak, K. J. Org Chem. 1995, 59, 4647. (14) Szemik-Hojniak, A.; Rettig, W.; Herbich, J.; van der Waals, J. H.; Allonas, X. To be submitted for publication. (15) Unpublished results. 4840 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1998, 120, 4840-4844 S0002-7863(97)04245-5 CCC: $15.00 © 1998 American Chemical Society Published on Web 04/29/1998