A HeI photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical study of 2,6-dichloropyrazine, 2,3-dichloropyrazine, 4,6-dichloropyrimidine and 3,6-dichloropyridazine

Abstract The electronic structures of C 4 H 2 Cl 2 N 2 isomers have been studied by HeI photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) combined with the outer valence Green’s function (OVGF) calculations at 6-311++G(d,p) basis sets. The vertical first ionization potentials for 2,6-dichloropyrazine, 2,3-dichloropyrazine, 4,6-dichloropyrimidine and 3,6-dichloropyridazine are determined to be 9.93, 9.89, 10.45 and 10.07 eV, respectively, and the PE spectra were assigned based on molecular orbital analysis and by comparison with related compounds. The effects of chlorine substituent and different positions of nitrogen atoms in these C 4 H 2 Cl 2 N 2 isomers have been carefully analyzed by comparing the C 4 H 2 Cl 2 N 2 isomers with their matrixes (pyrazine, pyridazine, pyrimidine). The inductive effect of chlorine substituent leads to the stabilization of the nitrogen lone pair orbitals. The resonance effect predominates over the inductive effect, and the consequence is the destabilization of the π orbitals. Owing to the different positions, the effects of nitrogen atoms are different and lead to the different sequence of π orbitals.