Understanding the kinetic solvent effects on the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of benzonitrile N-oxide: a DFT study

JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, ISSN : 0894-3230, DOI : 10.1002/poc.1858, Issue : 7, Volume : 24, pp. 611 – 618, JUILLET 2011.

Electronic fluxes during diels-alder reactions involving 1,2-benzoquinones: mechanistic insights from the analysis of electron localization function and catastrophe theory

By means of the joint use of electron localization function (ELF) and Thom's catastrophe theory, a theoretical analysis of the energy profile for the hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of 4-methoxy-1,2-benzoquinone 1 and methoxyethylene 2 has been carried out. The 12 different structural stability domains obtained by the bonding evolution theory have been identified as well as the bifurcation catastrophes (fold and cusp) responsible for the changes in the topology of the system. This analysis permits finding a relationship between the ELF topology and the evolution of the bond breaking/forming processes and electron pair rearrangements through the reaction progress in terms of the different ways o…

The Mysticism of Pericyclic Reactions: A Contemporary Rationalisation of Organic Reactivity Based on Electron Density Analysis