The possibility of incorporating a 1, 2, 3-butatriene moiety in various sized carbocyclic rings is explored through semiempirical (MNDO) and ab initio model calculations and through complete geometry optimization (MNDO) for five-through nine-membered rings. Strain in the butatriene is estimated to double with each decreasing carbon in the ring. 1, 2, 3- Cyclononatriene is synthesized for the fit time. This is likely to be the smallest isolable ...