Hyperconjugative Aromaticity and Antiaromaticity Control the Reactivities and π-Facial Stereoselectivities of 5-Substituted Cyclopentadiene Diels-Alder Cycloadditions.

The reactivities and π-facial stereoselectivities of Diels-Alder reactions of 5-substituted cyclopentadienes were studied using density functional theory. Burnell and co-workers previously showed that the π-facial selectivities result from the energies required to distort the reactants into the transition state geometries. We have discovered the origins of these distortions.

Origins of halogen effects in bioorthogonal sydnone cycloadditions.

Halogen substituents increase sydnone cycloaddition reactivities substantially. Fluoro-sydnones are superior to bromo- and chloro-sydnones, and can achieve extremely high second-order rate constants with strained alkynes. Computational studies have revealed the fluorine substituent increases the reactivity of sydnone mainly by lowering its distortion energy.

Thermodynamic Control of Isomerizations of Bicyclic Radicals: Interplay of Ring Strain and Radical Stabilization.

The rearrangements of 4-substituted bicyclo[2.2.2]oct-5-en-2-yl radicals, generated from the corresponding Diels-Alder adducts with phenylseleno acrylates by radical-induced reductive deselenocarbonylations, give the 2-substituted bicyclo[3.

Schleyer hyperconjugative aromaticity and Diels-Alder reactivity of 5-substituted cyclopentadienes.

Schleyer's discovery of hyperconjugative aromaticity and antiaromaticity in 5-substituted cyclopentadienes further expanded our understanding of the pervasive influence of aromaticity. Acceptors induce antiaromatic character by Schleyer's negative hyperconjugative aromaticity, and donors have the opposite effect. We computationally explored the Diels-Alder reactivity of 5-substituted cyclopentadienes with ethylene and maleic anhydride.

Improving physical properties via C-H oxidation: chemical and enzymatic approaches.

Physicochemical properties constitute a key factor for the success of a drug candidate. Whereas many strategies to improve the physicochemical properties of small heterocycle-type leads exist, complex hydrocarbon skeletons are more challenging to derivatize because of the absence of functional groups. A variety of C-H oxidation methods have been explored on the betulin skeleton to improve the solubility of this very bioactive, yet poorly water-soluble, natural product.

Chiral phosphoric acid catalyzed highly enantioselective desymmetrization of 2-substituted and 2,2-disubstituted 1,3-diols via oxidative cleavage of benzylidene acetals.

A highly enantioselective catalytic protocol for the desymmetrization of a wide variety of 2-substituted and 2,2-disubstituted 1,3-diols is reported. This reaction proceeds through the formation of an "ortho ester" intermediate via oxidation of 1,3-diol benzylidene acetal by dimethyldioxirane (DMDO) and the subsequent proton transfer catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid (CPA). The mechanism and origins of enantioselectivity of this reaction are identified using DFT calculations.

Carboxylate-assisted C(sp³)-H activation in olefin metathesis-relevant ruthenium complexes.

The mechanism of C-H activation at metathesis-relevant ruthenium(II) benzylidene complexes was studied both experimentally and computationally. Synthesis of a ruthenium dicarboxylate at a low temperature allowed for direct observation of the C-H activation step, independent of the initial anionic ligand-exchange reactions. A first-order reaction supports an intramolecular concerted metalation-deprotonation mechanism with ΔG(‡)(298K) = 22.

Mechanism and enantioselectivity in palladium-catalyzed conjugate addition of arylboronic acids to β-substituted cyclic enones: insights from computation and experiment.

Enantioselective conjugate additions of arylboronic acids to β-substituted cyclic enones have been previously reported from our laboratories. Air- and moisture-tolerant conditions were achieved with a catalyst derived in situ from palladium(II) trifluoroacetate and the chiral ligand (S)-t-BuPyOx. We now report a combined experimental and computational investigation on the mechanism, the nature of the active catalyst, the origins of the enantioselectivity, and the stereoelectronic effects of the ligand and the substrates of this transformation.

Cafestol to Tricalysiolide B and Oxidized Analogues: Biosynthetic and Derivatization Studies Using Non-heme Iron Catalyst Fe(PDP).

The tricalysiolides are a recently isolated class of diterpene natural products featuring the carbon backbone of the well-known coffee extract, cafestol. Herein we validate the use of our non-heme iron complex, Fe(PDP), as an oxidative tailoring enzyme mimic to test the proposal that this class of natural products derives from cafestol via cytochrome P-450-mediated furan oxidation. Thereafter, as predicted by computational analysis, C-H oxidation derivatization studies provided a novel 2° alcohol product as a single diastereomer.

Enhanced reactivity in dioxirane C-H oxidations via strain release: a computational and experimental study.

The site selectivities and stereoselectivities of C-H oxidations of substituted cyclohexanes and trans-decalins by dimethyldioxirane (DMDO) were investigated computationally with quantum mechanical density functional theory (DFT). The multiconfiguration CASPT2 method was employed on model systems to establish the preferred mechanism and transition state geometry. The reaction pathway involving a rebound step is established to account for the retention of stereochemistry.

Computational methods to calculate accurate activation and reaction energies of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of 24 1,3-dipoles.

Theoretical calculations were performed on the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of 24 1,3-dipoles with ethylene and acetylene. The 24 1,3-dipoles are of the formula X≡Y(+)-Z(-) (where X is HC or N, Y is N, and Z is CH(2), NH, or O) or X═Y(+)-Z(-) (where X and Z are CH(2), NH, or O and Y is NH, O, or S). The high-accuracy G3B3 method was employed as the reference.