Fluorine substituent effect on the stereochemistry of catalyzed and non-catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions. The case of R-butenone with cyclopentadiene: a computational assessment of the mechanism.

The present work studies theoretically the mechanisms involved in the fluorine substituent effect on the stereochemistry of Diels-Alder reactions. The case of R-butenone with cyclopentadiene is used for the purpose of modelling more general α-fluoro-α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, in catalyzed and uncatalyzed cases. A thorough analysis of the mechanism is performed using energy decomposition analysis (EDA) and conceptual DFT tools.