Notably, Valiev et al. also performed computational studies on compounds equivalent to 1a and the meso-free analog 1e in their investigation of the magnetically induced current pathways and optical properties of isophlorins. However, their 1a optimized structure exhibited imaginary frequencies related to the rotations of the C6F5 groups and was completely planar with the aryl groups positioned orthogonally to the isophlorin plane. In contrast, our 1a optimized structure represents a true energy minimum without imaginary frequencies, suggesting that our calculated nonplanar saddle-shaped conformation is more reliable. To verify this, we performed geometry optimizations of four conformers of 1a at the same computational level, including our reported saddle conformer (C2v) and the completely planar (D2h) conformer, similar to the model of Valiev et al. An energy comparison confirmed that our saddle structure was more stable (Figure ). The energy difference between this structure and the planar conformer without imaginary frequencies (D2) was remarkably small (0.58 kcal mol -1 ).