In the flat compounds, from phenanthrene to the compound with ten rings,
each extra ring contributes 18.0 - 18.4 kcals to the HoF (black
line in plot below).
In the helical structures this increment is larger,
but also rather constant:
about 24.5 kcal (red line).
In the symmetric Cs structures
(blue line), the
increment is initially very
large: 38.5 from [4] to [5], but it drops to 25.8 from [7] to [8], and
then just below the helix value: 23.8 from [8] to [9], 24.2 from [9]
to [10]. The blue and red lines run more or less parallel here.
From [10] onwards, the Cs structure and the racemization
transition state (TS) do not coincide anymore.
It can be expected, based on the 'sheep horn' effect, that the Cs
structures for [11], [12], etc. will
be significantly higher in energy than for [10]. Moreover, they will
be local maxima, on interesting, 'bumpy' energy profiles.
This makes a nice subject for a computational chemistry lab.
However, one can imagine
that the barrier levels off again for very long helices. Construct the
'helix-inversion-fold' in your telephone cord and move it from end to
the other end. All these structures have the same enthalpy, and maybe
somebody can explain what the role of entropy will be.
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