I am trying to explain the bonding between Cr(CO)5 and benzene. The hapto-2 bond strength between benzene and the Chromium pentacarbonly complex is 16.2 kcal/mol according to my calculations.. When a bromine is added to the ring, the bond becomes weaker at around 12.1 kcal/mol. How could this be explained in terms of MO basis, electron donation, or steric factors.
I am attaching the structures as a word file
Thanks