Chemical Double-Mutant Cycles for the Measurement of Weak Intermolecular Interactions: Edge-to-Face Aromatic Interactions

Quantitative descriptions of complex recognition processes rely on the measurement of the magnitude of weak intermolecular interactions such as the π‐π interaction between arene units. In one approach thermodynamic cycles of compounds with structural variations (mutations) are constructed. The association energy ΔG for the edge‐to‐face π‐π interaction in complex 1 was determined to be 1.4±0.8 kJ mol−1.