Ab Initio Study of Solvent Effects on Rate of 1,3-Dipolar Cycloadditions of Benzonitrile Oxide and Various Dipolarophiles

Abstract

Ab initio molecular orbital calculations have been used to investigate the structures and the transition states of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions between benzonitrile oxide with ethylene, cyclopentene, acrylonitrile and tetracyanoethylene in heptane and water: calculations reveal enhanced hydrogen bonding of a water molecule to the transition states for the cycloaddition 1,3-dipolar of reaction of benzonitrile oxide with cyclopentene, the optimal interaction energies being 0.7 kcal/mol more favourable for hydrogen bonding to the oxygen atom in the transition states than for the reactants.