Pristine Graphene-Based Catalysis: Significant Reduction of the Inversion Barriers of Adsorbed and Confined Corannulene, Sumanene, and Dibenzo[a,g]corannulene

Herein, we investigated the inversion of corannulene, sumanene, and dibenzo[a,g]corannulene when they are adsorbed onto graphene or intercalated in bilayer graphene. The results obtained with the M06-L, M06-2X, TPPS-D3, TPSS-D3BJ, B3LYP-D3, and B3LYP-D3BJ methods supported a significant reduction of the inversion barriers. In the case of corannulene adsorbed onto graphene, nonbonded interactions reduce the inversion barrier by at least a 50% with respect to the gas phase, whereas for adsorbed sumanene and dibenzo[a,g]corannulene the reductions are at least 39 and 67%, respectively. When the molecules are intercalated in bilayer graphene the lowering of the activation energy is more significant. In the particular case of dibenzo[a,g]corannulene the molecule is expected to display an almost planar structure, with its 0.83 Å bowl depth almost completely quenched. For intercalated corannulene and sumanene, the inversion barriers are at least 66 and 60% lower, respectively. It is our hope that these results can help to improve the design of receptors that can catalyze the inversion of buckybowls.