Abstract
The stereochemical structure of aromatic hydrocarbons in solution being overcrowded with hydrogen atoms is not known with certainty, because the conventional X-ray and electron diffraction methods are suitable only for samples in the crystalline and vapor phase. Using EPR spectroscopy for the aromatic hydrocarbon radicals biphenyl (—), phenanthrene (—) and pentaphenylcyclopentadienyl (PPCPD) innermolecular twist and bond angles could be determined by means of hfssplittings and g-factors. Stably solvated biphenyl radical ions are found to have twist angles of 38 ±2°; phenanthrene ions turn out to be planar but change their angles of hybridization at particular positions; in the PPCPD radical the phenyl rings oscillate with small amplitude around planes orthogonal to the five-membered ring.