Aromaticity of graphene nanoflakes in a new way: fragment analysis by combination of the nucleus-independent chemical shifts and the anisotropy of current induced density.

A graphene nanoflake (GNF) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) with a huge two-dimensional π-conjugated carbon material in which a central benzene ring is surrounded by identical benzene-type rings through infinite alternant method. In this paper, we explore the structure-aromaticity relationship of the GNFs and the GNFs with hollow sites (GNFHs) by combining the nucleus-independent chemical shifts (NICS) with the anisotropy of the current induced density (ACID). Firstly, the benzene is a typical aromatic molecule (NICS = -9.671 ppm), GNFs 1-6 is darned with benzene and the corresponding GNFHs 1'-6'. Secondly, the NICS values of GNFs 1-6 alternately vary: -1.214 (1) > -13.847 (2) < -2.662 (3) > -14.530 (4) < -3.932 (5) > -13.978 (6) ppm, the GNFs (2, 4, 6) with even fragments of annulene have larger aromaticity than that of GNFs (1, 3, 5) with odd fragments of annulene. Significantly, the NICS values of GNFs 1-6 can also be fragment analyzed by the NICS values and ACID of benzene and corresponding GNFHs 1'-6'. The NICS values for GNFs (2, 4, 6) can be roughly estimated by the NICS value of benzene minus the NICS value of the GNFHs (2', 4', 6'), respectively. The NICS values for GNFs (1, 3, 5) can be roughly estimated by the NICS value of the GNFHs (1', 3', 5') minus the NICS value of benzene, respectively. We hope that the present work can provide a simple and reliable method for the rational design of the GNF with aromaticity, which may be used to understand the origin of the graphene nanoflake aromatic properties.