title: Seeking Extremes in Molecular Design: To What Extent May Two "Non-Bonded" Hydrogen Atoms be Squeezed in a Hydrocarbon?
abstract: A series of novel and possibly synthetically accessible rigid hydrocarbon structures is computationally introduced, maintaining ultrashort non-bonded hydrogen-hydrogen (H⋅⋅⋅H) contacts smaller than 1.2 Å. These are the shortest non-bonded H⋅⋅⋅H contacts reported to date, bypassing previous world records of both experimentally observed, 1.56 Å, and computationally derived, 1.4 Å, H⋅⋅⋅H contacts in any stable molecular structure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Research Center of Iran, P.O. Box 14968-13151, Tehran, Iran. RFirouzi@ccerci.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Rohoullah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Firouzi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C. Evin, P.O. Box 19395-4716, Tehran, 19839, Iran. chemist_shant@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Shant
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shahbazian
keywords: computational chemistry; hydrogen-hydrogen interactions; molecular design; strained hydrocarbons; ultrashort contacts