The Remarkably Stabilized Trilithiocyclopropenium Ion, C3Li3+, and Its Relatives

The structures and energies of lithiated cyclopropenyl cations and their acyclic isomers (C3H3-nLin+, n = 0−3) have been calculated employing ab initio MO (HF/6-31G*) and density functional theory (DFT, Becke3LYP/6-311+G*) methods. The cyclic isomers (4, 6, 10, and 14) are always favored, but when lithium is substituted sequentially along the C3H3+, C3H2Li+, C3HLi2+, and C3Li3+ series, the acyclic forms (5, 7, 11, 16) become progressively less competitive energetically. A triply bridged c-C3(μ-Li)3+ geometry, 14, was preferred over the classical form 3 by 8.7 kcal/mol. A single lithium substituent results in a very large (67 kcal/mol) stabilization of the cyclopropenyl cation. The favorable effects of further lithium substitution are attenuated but are still large: 48.2 and 40.5 kcal/mol for the second and third replacements, respectively. Comparison with polyamino-substituted cyclopropenyl cations suggest c-C3Li3+ (3 and 14) to be a good candidate for the thermodynamically most stable carbenium ion. The...