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Updated: Sep 21, 2026

Microwave-assisted Intramolecular Dehydrogenative Diels-Alder Reactions for the Synthesis of Functionalized Naphthalenes/Solvatochromic Dyes
Published on: April 1, 2013
Theoretical Study of Endo Selectivity in the Diels-Alder Reactions between Butadienes and Cyclopropene
Masahiro Imade1, Hajime Hirao, Kiyoyuki Omoto
1Division of Molecular Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
Abstract:
The endo selectivity in the Diels-Alder reactions of some substituted butadienes with cyclopropene has been investigated theoretically. Electron delocalization between a diene and the dienophile has been presented in terms of pairs of interaction orbitals. In addition to the principal orbital interactions to form new sigma bonds between the diene and the dienophile, the cyclopropene occupied interaction orbital shows significant amplitudes on the methylenic hydrogens to overlap in phase with the paired unoccupied interaction orbital of butadiene at the backbone C(2) and C(3) carbons. The contribution of this secondary orbital interaction to the stabilization of the transition state has been estimated numerically. It has been demonstrated that neither electron delocalization nor the electrostatic interaction interprets preference of the endo-addition over the exo-addition, but the sum of the two terms has been found to show a correlation with the difference in the barrier heights for the two modes of cycloadditions.
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