Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.120, No.25, 6261-6269, 1998
Bergman, aza-Bergman, and protonated aza-Bergman cyclizations and intermediate 2,5-arynes : Chemistry and challenge to computation
Reaction coordinates are computed for the Bergman cyclizations of hex-3-en-1,5-diyne and neutral and protonated 3-azahex-3-en-1,5-diyne at various levels of correlated electronic structure theory, as are singlet-triplet splittings for intermediate arynes. To be effective in low-symmetry situations showing high degrees of biradical character, CCSD(T) calculations benefit from use of Brueckner orbitals. Replacement of a CH fragment by N is predicted to increase the stability of the aryne relative to the iminediyne, and to increase drastically the stability of the isomeric enynenitrile. The barrier for retro-aza-Bergman cyclization of 2,5-pyridyne to pent-3-en-1-ynenitrile is predicted to be only 0.9 kcal/mol, which, combined with a predicted singlet-triplet splitting of -11.6 kcal/mol, suggests that 2,5-pyridynes are poor hydrogen atom abstracting agents. Protonation of nitrogen decreases the singlet-triplet splitting and raises the barrier to retro-aza-Bergman cyclization such that protonated 2,5-pyridynes may be expected to show reactivities similar to all-carbon analogues.
Keywords:QUADRATIC CONFIGURATION-INTERACTION;2ND-ORDER PERTURBATION-THEORY;DENSITY-FUNCTIONAL CALCULATIONS;COUPLED-CLUSTER SINGLES;SELF-CONSISTENT-FIELD;ACTIVE SPACE SCF;AB-INITIO;ELECTRON CORRELATION;P-BENZYNE;TRIPLE EXCITATIONS