Fluorine-Induced Pseudo-Anomeric Effects in Methoxycyclohexanes through Electrostatic 1,3-Diaxial Interactions

We report counter-intuitive axial preferences in non-stereochemically biased, selectively fluorinated methoxycyclohexanes. These pseudo-anomeric effects are apparent when electronegative CF₂ groups are placed at the C-2, C-4 and C-6 positions of the cyclohexane ring to render the C-3/5 axial hydrogen atoms electropositive. The electrostatic interaction between these axial hydrogen atoms and the -OMe oxygen is stabilising. The effect is explored using high-level ab initio and DFT calculations in the framework of NBO, QTAIM and NCI analysis across a range of derivatives, and experimentally (¹⁹ F{¹ H}-NMR at -80 °C) for some illustrative examples. The effect is significant in energy terms for a weak interaction, and illustrates a new stereoelectronic aspect attributed to selective fluorine substitution in organic chemistry.