Charge delocalization and aromaticity of doubly reduced double-walled carbon nanohoops

Abstract

Cycloparaphenylenes (CPPs) exhibit selective host capabilities, featuring the ability to incorporate smaller CPPs to form double-walled host–guest complexes. Moreover, CPPs can also be stabilized by global aromaticity under twofold oxidation or reduction, involving electronic conjugation along with the overall structural backbone. Herein we explore the structural modifications, bonding, electron delocalization and magnetic properties of doubly reduced double-walled CPP complexes with DFT methods, in the isolated and aggregate [n + 5]CPP⊃[n]CPP²⁻ (n = 5–8) species. Our results show that the hosts undergo structural, bonding and delocalization deformations towards quinoidal configurations and exhibit global long-ranged shielding cones similar to global aromatic free dianionic CPPs, accounting for charge delocalization on the outer nanohoops, whereas the guests preserve local aromatic benzenoid configurations, resulting in global and local aromatic circuits within the host–guest aggregate. This observation suggests that in multi-layered related species electronic delocalization will be retained at the outer structural surface. The aromaticity of the hosts is manifested in the strong upfield shifts of the guests ¹H-NMR signals. Hence, CPP complexes can be extended to doubly reduced species stabilized by global host aromaticity expanding our understanding of doubled-walled nanotubes at the nanoscale regime.