Conformational Preadjustment in Aqueous Claisen Rearrangement Revealed by SITS-QM/MM MD Simulations

An efficient sampling method was implemented in QM/MM hybrid molecular simulations to study aliphatic Claisen rearrangement in aqueous solutions. On the basis of the computational results, the necessary conformational adjustment to trap the reactant into a favorable compact conformation specifically in water was observed. The conformational equilibrium was shown to be important to the elucidation of the "water-acceleration" effect of Claisen rearrangement. Thus, a two-step process of aqueous Claisen rearrangement was proposed. It was similar to the pseudodiaxial-pseudodiequatorial conformational equilibrium observed in the enzymatic reaction of chorismate acid but with explicit inclusion of the solvent coordinates to explain the solvation effects. Polarization was found to occur during the reactant conformational transition. A solvent with high cohesive energy density (CED) like water was suggested to accommodate compact conformers better, thus facilitating the following reaction by concentrating the real "active" reactant. The substituent effects also manifested, leading to varied conformational distributions of different substituted allyl vinyl ethers (AVEs). The application of the enhanced sampling method allowed a systematic analysis of thermodynamic information without loss of solvent coordinates. These data showed the conformational transition of AVEs was an entropy-driving process which was sensitive to the substituent, and enthalpy played an important role in the solvation effect on the conformational equilibrium.