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Cis-trans isomerization of dimethyl 2,3-dibromofumarate
Timothy H Vo1, Rafał Korlacki2, Alexander Sinitskii1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln 68588 NE USA sinitskii@unl.edu.
Abstract:
The isomerization of dimethyl 2,3-dibromofumarate in chloroform solutions was investigated by the combination of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The bromination of dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate leading to dimethyl 2,3-dibromofumarate produces the trans isomer initially, which however converts into the more stable cis isomer. The conversion from trans to cis is spontaneous and greatly accelerated by light.
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