L-shaped three-center two-electron (C-C-C)+ bonding array.

The structures and reactivities of the complexes between carbenium ions (R(+)) and acetylene or propyne have been investigated with the aid of electron-correlated quantum mechanical calculations (hybrid density functional, perturbation theory, and coupled cluster methods). Depending on the R group, the acetylene/carbenium ion interaction can produce either an "open" 3c-2e structure or the conventional vinyl cation structure. The "open" 3c-2e C-C-C bonding geometry exists as a minimum for R = methyl and primary/secondary/tertiary alkyl, and hence is the most notable. The alignment of three carbon centers is neither bridged nor linear, but L-shaped, and represents a new type of "open" 3c-2e bonding that has so far escaped proper attention.