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The covalent diamantyl (C 28 H 38 ) and oxadiamantyl (C 26 H 34 O 2 ) dimers are stabilized by London dispersion attractions between the dimer moieties. Their solid-state and gas-phase structures were studied using a multitechnique approach, including single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD), gas-phase electron diffraction (GED), a combined GED/microwave (MW) spectroscopy study, and quantum chemical calculations. The inclusion of medium-range electron correlation as well as the London dispersion energy in density functional theory is essential to reproduce the experimental geometries. The conformational dynamics computed for C 26 H 34 O 2 agree well with solution NMR data and help in the assignment of the gas-phase MW data to individual diastereomers. Both in the solid state and the gas phase the central C-C bond is of similar length for the diamantyl [XRD, 1.642(2) Å; GED, 1.630(5) Å] and the oxadiamantyl dimers [XRD, 1.643(1) Å; GED, 1.632(9) Å; GED+MW, 1.632(5) Å], despite the presence of two oxygen atoms. Out of a larger series of quantum chemical computations, the best match with the experimental reference data is achieved with the PBEh-3c, PBE0-D3, PBE0, B3PW91-D3, and M06-2X approaches. This is the first gas-phase confirmation that the markedly elongated C-C bond is an intrinsic feature of the molecule and that crystal packing effects have only a minor influence.

We investigated the valence electronic structure of diamondoid particles in the gas phase, utilizing valence photoelectron spectroscopy. The samples were singly or doubly covalently bonded dimers or trimers of the lower diamondoids. Both the bond type and the combination of bonding partners are shown to affect the overall electronic structure. For singly bonded particles, we observe a small impact of the bond on the electronic structure, whereas for doubly bonded particles, the connecting bond determines the electronic structure of the highest occupied orbitals. In the singly bonded particles a superposition of the bonding partner orbitals determines the overall electronic structure. The experimental findings are supported by density functional theory computations at the M06-2X/cc-pVDZ level of theory.

The metal-induced coupling of tertiary diamondoid bromides gave highly sterically congested hydrocarbon (hetero)dimers with exceptionally long central C-C bonds of up to 1.71 Å in 2-(1-diamantyl)[121]tetramantane. Yet, these dimers are thermally very stable even at temperatures above 200 °C, which is not in line with common C-C bond length versus bond strengths correlations. We suggest that the extraordinary stabilization arises from numerous intramolecular van der Waals attractions between the neighboring H-terminated diamond-like surfaces. The C-C bond rotational dynamics of 1-(1-adamantyl)diamantane, 1-(1-diamantyl)diamantane, 2-(1-adamantyl)triamantane, 2-(1-diamantyl)triamantane, and 2-(1-diamantyl)[121]tetramantane were studied through variable-temperature (1)H- and (13)C NMR spectroscopies. The shapes of the inward (endo) CH surfaces determine the dynamic behavior, changing the central C-C bond rotation barriers from 7 to 33 kcal mol(-1). We probe the ability of popular density functional theory (DFT) approaches (including BLYP, B3LYP, B98, B3LYP-Dn, B97D, B3PW91, BHandHLYP, B3P86, PBE1PBE, wB97XD, and M06-2X) with 6-31G(d,p) and cc-pVDZ basis sets to describe such an unusual bonding situation. Only functionals accounting for dispersion are able to reproduce the experimental geometries, while most DFT functionals are able to reproduce the experimental rotational barriers due to error cancellations. Computations on larger diamondoids reveal that the interplay between the shapes and the sizes of the CH surfaces may even allow the preparation of open-shell alkyl radical dimers (and possibly polymers) that are strongly held together exclusively by dispersion forces.

Steric effects in chemistry are a consequence of the space required to accommodate the atoms and groups within a molecule, and are often thought to be dominated by repulsive forces arising from overlapping electron densities (Pauli repulsion). An appreciation of attractive interactions such as van der Waals forces (which include London dispersion forces) is necessary to understand chemical bonding and reactivity fully. This is evident from, for example, the strongly debated origin of the higher stability of branched alkanes relative to linear alkanes and the possibility of constructing hydrocarbons with extraordinarily long C-C single bonds through steric crowding. Although empirical bond distance/bond strength relationships have been established for C-C bonds (longer C-C bonds have smaller bond dissociation energies), these have no present theoretical basis. Nevertheless, these empirical considerations are fundamental to structural and energetic evaluations in chemistry, as summarized by Pauling as early as 1960 and confirmed more recently. Here we report the preparation of hydrocarbons with extremely long C-C bonds (up to 1.704 Å), the longest such bonds observed so far in alkanes. The prepared compounds are unexpectedly stable--noticeable decomposition occurs only above 200 °C. We prepared the alkanes by coupling nanometre-sized, diamond-like, highly rigid structures known as diamondoids. The extraordinary stability of the coupling products is due to overall attractive dispersion interactions between the intramolecular H•••H contact surfaces, as is evident from density functional theory computations with and without inclusion of dispersion corrections.

The transformations of apical mono- and bisacetyl diamondoids to the respective oxetanes and subsequent acid-catalyzed ring opening/dehydration lead to diamondoidyl mono- and bis-1,3-dienes in high preparative yields.

[reaction: see text] Treatment of acyclic as well as polycyclic tertiary mono- and dihydroxy hydrocarbon derivatives with thiourea in the presence of hydrobromic and acetic acid represents a convenient one-step route to the respective tertiary thiols and dithiols. This procedure was used for the preparation of diamondoid thiols of diamantane, triamantane, [121]tetramantane, and others that are prospective nanoelectronic materials.