London dispersion-driven hetero-aryl–aryl interactions in 1,2-diaryldisilanes

Abstract

Non-covalent aryl–aryl interactions for the molecular structures of three 1,2-diaryltetramethyldisilanes X₅C₆–(SiMe₂)₂–C₆Y₅ (X ≠ Y; X, Y = H, F, Cl) were studied by single crystal X-ray and gas electron diffraction as well as by SAPT calculations. Aryl–aryl interactions cause all to adopt exclusively rather untypical eclipsed syn-conformers in the gas phase, and C₆F₅–(SiMe₂)₂–C₆Cl₅ also in the solid state.