Mechanism and stereoselection in a Y-catalyzed transacylation reaction. A computational modeling study

Density functional theory calculations were performed to evaluate the proposed mechanism of a yttrium-salen complex-catalyzed acylation of secondary alcohols using an enol acetate as the acyl-transfer agent. A key step in the proposed mechanism is an intramolecular nucleophilic reaction between the coordinated alcohol and enol ester, brought into close proximity by the yttrium catalyst. The use of the BP86 pure density functional for reproduction of the geometry of the yttrium complex was validated by comparison with the experimental crystal structure. Mapping of the free energy surface of the reaction followed, employing both the BP86 and B3LYP functionals, and results suggest that the proposed mechanism (Org. Lett. 2002, 4, 1607-1610) is a reasonable pathway for the reaction. Reproduction of the experimentally observed enantioselectivity of the reaction was subsequently attempted, with diastereomeric transition states identified for the turnover-limiting step in the reaction, the intramolecular nucleophilic attack of the alcohol into the enol ester reagent. The predicted experimental enantioselectivities were successfully reproduced for the three ligands studied, although the energetic predictions did not perfectly correlate with the experimental enantioselectivities.