Aromaticity of caffeine, xanthine and the dimethyl xanthines

Xanthine, caffeine and three isomeric dimethyl xanthines (theobromine, theophylline and paraxanthine) are often described as aromatic on various criteria. Here we complete the picture by assessing these molecules for aromaticity on the ring-current criterion. Magnetic response calculations are performed at the B3LYP and CHF/6-31G∗∗ ipsocentric levels of theory on structures optimised at the B3LYP/6-31G∗∗ level. All five systems display consistent π-electron ring-currents delocalised around the imidazole moiety in all cases; these are accompanied by localised features on the six-membered rings attributed to nitrogen and oxygen ‘lone-pair’ π-electron circulations. All are therefore aromatic on the magnetic criterion, with a ‘locally delocalised’ ring current in the imidazole moiety, similar to those in the isolated imidazole and methylimidazole molecules.