Diverse Methods with Stereoselective Induction in the Asymmetric Biginelli Reaction.

The relevance of the asymmetric Biginelli reaction (ABR) has been increased in this century, due to the pharmacological application of its products. This review focuses predominantly on articles published in the period from 2015 to 2024 on asymmetric synthetic advances in the formation of dihydropyrimidinones (DHPMs), dihydropyrimidinethiones (DHPMTs), and related compounds. The relevant bibliography on general processes in the Biginelli reaction and some methods of separation of isomers have also been referenced.

Exploring the regioselectivity in the cycloaddition of azides to alkynes catalyzed by dinuclear copper clusters (CuAAC reaction) using the topologies of ∇ ρ (r) and ∇∇ ρ (r).

The regioselectivity of the dinuclear-Cu(I)-catalyzed version of the Huisgen reaction, abbreviated in this paper to CuAAC, was analyzed using quantum topological methods in order to study how the electronic charge distribution evolved along different reaction paths. Electronic densities were computed at the LC-wPBE/6-311++G(2d,2p)//LC-wPBE/6-311++G(d,p) level. The presence of two copper ions in the catalyst was found to lead to an electrophilic site in the external alkyne carbon that, in a generalized Sharpless-type mechanism, undergoes an initial donor-acceptor interaction with the azide molecule, but with an inverted electrophile-nucleophile pattern when compared with the corresponding mononuclear process (CuAAC).

Rationalizing the catalytic activity of copper in the cycloaddition of azide and alkynes (CuAAC) with the topology of ∇(2)ρ(r) and ∇∇(2)ρ(r).

The distinct role of the Cu(I) in the Huisgen dipolar cycloaddition of azides to alkynes (denoted as CuAAC) is disclosed by following the evolution of the topology of the Laplacian of the electronic charge density, ∇(2)ρ(r), and its gradient vector field, ∇∇(2)ρ(r), along the reaction coordinate with several density functionals (wB97XD, LCwPBE, M06-2X, M06-L, B3LYP) and the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. Remarkably, in view of the topology of ∇(2)ρ(r) and ∇∇(2)ρ(r), the mechanism appears to be diverse (asynchronous concerted or stepwise) depending on the reaction conditions. Overall, the catalyst orchestrates first the formation of the external N-C and subsequently the internal one by following alternatively a pericyclic-like or a pseudopericyclic-like mechanism.

On the regioselectivity of the mononuclear copper-catalyzed cycloaddition of azide and alkynes (CuAAC). A quantum chemical topological study.

New density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the nature of the mechanism for the classical copper-catalyzed cycloaddition of azide to terminal alkynes--widely known as the CuAAC reaction--also depends on the ligands attached to Cu(I). Further, the topological evolution of the charge density, ρ (r), the laplacian of ρ (r), ∇²ρ(r), and its gradient field along the reaction coordinate shed light on the regioselectivity of the process. The performance of most suitable functionals for DFT calculations in this kind of system was tested.

Pericyclic versus pseudopericyclic reactions. What the Laplacian of the charge density, inverted Delta2rho(r), has to say about it? The case of cycloaddition reactions.

The pseudopericyclic character of a group of cycloaddition reactions is theoretically investigated with the quantum theory of atoms in molecules of Bader at B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) and MP2/6-311++G(d,p) levels of theory. The analysis of the topology of the Laplacian of the charge density, inverted Delta2rho(r), along the reaction coordinate sets out a clear cut between pericyclic and pseudopericyclic processes and also allows one to account for intermediate cases.