Long-Range Reactivity Modulations in Geranyl Chloride Derivatives

Derivatives of geraniol are versatile synthetic intermediates that are useful for synthesizing a variety of terpenoid natural products; however, the results presented herein show that subtle differences in the structures of functionalized geranyl chlorides can significantly impact their abilities to function as effective electrophiles in synthetic reactions. A series of focused kinetics experiments identify specific structure-activity relationships that illustrate the importance not only of steric bulk, but also of electronic effects from distant regions of the molecules that contribute to their overall levels of reactivity. Computational modeling suggests that destabilization of the reactant by filled-filled orbital mixing events in some, but not all, conformations may be a critical contributor to these important electronic effects.