Open Access

Hans Bock, Sabine Nick, Wolfgang Seitz, Christian Näther, Jan W. Bats

• The structures of seven di- or tetrasubstituted p-benzoquinone derivatives O=C(XC=CH )2C=O and O=C(XC=CX)2C=O with substituents X = -OCH3, -N(CH2)5, - N(CH2CH2)2O, -Cl, -CN and -⊕N(HC=CH)2C-N(CH3)2 are presented and discussed in comparison with published ones substituted by X = -Si(CH3)3, -C6H5, -N(CH3)2, -⊕N(HC=CH)2CN(CH3)2, -O⊖ , and - NO2. Based on the introduction, in which halfwave-reduction potentials, geometry-optimized quantum-chemical calculations on substituent perturbation and known structural data of p-benzoquinone derivatives are used to characterize their molecular ground states. The structural changes indicate how substituent perturbations might be rationalized. Of the categories defined - imperturbed, donor, donor/acceptor and acceptor perturbed - the donorsubstituted p-benzoquinones do exhibit the largest differences, often called cyanine distorsion. In very satisfactory agreement with extensive semiempirical calculations, all effects determined experimentally are discussed in terms of varying charge distribution. With respect to the biochemical importance of p-benzoquinone derivatives, this first structural summary points out important facets.