MOLECULAR VIBRATIONS AND MEAN AMPLITUDES OF KEKULENE, INCLUDING RELEVANT HISTORICAL GLIMPSES

The interesting polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon kekulene (C48H24), a m olecule with a hole, is suggested as a challenging subject for a gas e lectron diffraction investigation. The history of the synthesis of kek ulene is reviewed briefly. A Huckel molecular orbital analysis of keku lene is reported, and some comments on the Coulson and Pauling bond or ders are offered. The main topic is the normal coordinate analysis of kekulene with computations of the mean amplitudes and perpendicular am plitude correction coefficients which would be useful in the gas elect ron diffraction investigation.