There and back again: the role of hyperconjugation in the fluorine gauche effect

Abstract

The origin of the fluorine gauche effect has been debated for decades and recently different interpretations have been raised in the scientific community as new computational methods emerged and were applied to rationalize 1,2-difluoroethane (DFE) gauche preference. In this context, we revisited 1,2-difluoroethane (DFE) and its chlorine and bromine derivative conformational preferences through a comparative approach: the conformational behavior and hyperconjugative, steric and electrostatic contributions for the internal rotational barrier of DFE were compared with several analogue backbones, such as peroxides, disulfides and ammonia boranes. By using the Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analysis it was found that hyperconjugation is the driving force of the conformational preference in DFE and its chlorine and bromine analogues. Electrostatics was found to be negligible and steric effects played a minor role in general, but are important in ClCH₂CH₂Cl and BrCH₂CH₂Br to counterbalance gauche stabilization by hyperconjugation and for the preference of the anti conformer.