How dihalogens catalyze michael addition reactions

We have quantum chemically analyzed the catalytic effect of dihalogen molecules (X2 = F2, Cl2 , Br2, and I2) on the aza-Michael addition of pyrrolidine and methyl acrylate using relativistic density functional theory and coupled-cluster theory. Our state-of-the-art computations reveal that activatio...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Hamlin, Trevor, Fernández López, Israel, Bickelhaupt, Matthias
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/101611
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/101611
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:547
Química orgánica (Química)
2306 Química Orgánica
Descripción
Sumario:We have quantum chemically analyzed the catalytic effect of dihalogen molecules (X2 = F2, Cl2 , Br2, and I2) on the aza-Michael addition of pyrrolidine and methyl acrylate using relativistic density functional theory and coupled-cluster theory. Our state-of-the-art computations reveal that activation barriers systematically decrease as one goes to heavier dihalogens, from 9.4 kcalmol@1 for F2 to 5.7 kcalmol@1 for I2. Activation strain and bonding analyses identify an unexpected physical factor that controls the computed reactivity trends, namely, Pauli repulsion between the nucleophile and Michael acceptor. Thus, dihalogens do not accelerate Michael additions by the commonly accepted mechanism of an enhanced donor– acceptor [HOMO(nucleophile) LUMO(Michael acceptor)] interaction, but instead through a diminished Pauli repulsion between the lone-pair of the nucleophile and the Michael acceptorQs p-electron system.