Third Time is a Charm - Protonating Tricarboxybenzenes

Triprotonation of the three constitution isomers of tricarboxybenzene was accomplished. Furthermore, the preparation of selected mono- and dications showed the sequence of protonation steps. The cations were mostly isolated as [SbF6] and [AsF6] species, which were characterized by Raman and NMR spectroscopy as well as X-ray structure determination. To further elucidate the experimental results, quantum chemical calculations are employed, especially in regard to charge distribution with NPA charges and aromaticity by NICS(0) values. Thermal decomposition of the compounds was investigated in order to explore the possibility of acyl cation formation. The influence of the aromatic system, substitution pattern and anomeric effect concerning the properties of the respective compounds was thus explained.