Diels-Alder reaction activation volume

As noted above, a recent compilation of values of AV 79 indicates that the vast majority of values fall within a range 30 cm3/mol. These correspond approximately at 100 MPa relative to ambient pressure, to a rate acceleration or retardation of a factor of about 3.5. Some reactions within organic chemistry, for example, Diels-Alder reactions, exhibit volumes of activation approaching —50cm3/mol. Volumes of... 

In summary, it seems that for most Diels-Alder reactions secondary orbital interactions afford a satisfactory rationalisation of the endo-exo selectivity. However, since the endo-exo ratio is determined by small differences in transition state energies, the influence of other interactions, most often steric in origin and different for each particular reaction, is likely to be felt. The compact character of the Diels-Alder activated complex (the activation volume of the retro Diels-Alder reaction is negative) will attenuate these eflfects. The ideas of Sustmann" and Mattay ° provide an attractive alternative explanation, but, at the moment, lack the proper experimental foundation. 

Apart from the thoroughly studied aqueous Diels-Alder reaction, a limited number of other transformations have been reported to benefit considerably from the use of water. These include the aldol condensation , the benzoin condensation , the Baylis-Hillman reaction (tertiary-amine catalysed coupling of aldehydes with acrylic acid derivatives) and pericyclic reactions like the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition and the Qaisen rearrangement (see below). These reactions have one thing in common a negative volume of activation. This observation has tempted many authors to propose hydrophobic effects as primary cause of ftie observed rate enhancements. 

The observation that in the activated complex the reaction centre has lost its hydrophobic character, can have important consequences. The retro Diels-Alder reaction, for instance, will also benefit from the breakdown of the hydrophobic hydration shell during the activation process. The initial state of this reaction has a nonpolar character. Due to the principle of microscopic reversibility, the activated complex of the retro Diels-Alder reaction is identical to that of the bimoleciilar Diels-Alder reaction which means this complex has a negligible nonpolar character near the reaction centre. O nsequently, also in the activation process of the retro Diels-Alder reaction a significant breakdown of hydrophobic hydration takes placed Note that for this process the volume of activation is small, which implies that the number of water molecules involved in hydration of the reacting system does not change significantly in the activation process. 

We conclude that the beneficial effects of water are not necessarily limited to reactions that are characterised by a negative volume of activation. We infer that, apart from the retro Diels-Alder reaction also other reactions, in which no significant reduction or perhaps even an increase of solvent accessible surface area takes place, can be accelerated by water. A reduction of the nonpolar nature during the activation process is a prerequisite in these cases. 

Most Diels-Alder reactions, particularly the thermal ones and those involving apolar dienes and dienophiles, are described by a concerted mechanism [17]. The reaction between 1,3-butadiene and ethene is a prototype of concerted synchronous reactions that have been investigated both experimentally and theoretically [18]. A concerted unsymmetrical transition state has been invoked to justify the stereochemistry of AICI3-catalyzed cycloadditions of alkylcyclohexenones with methyl-butadienes [12]. The high syn stereospecificity of the reaction, the low solvent effect on the reaction rate, and the large negative values of both activation entropy and activation volume comprise the chemical evidence usually given in favor of a pericyclic Diels-Alder reaction. 

Water s internal pressure acts on the volume of activation (AV ) of a reaction in the same way as an externally applied pressure does. Thus, the internal pressure of water influences the rates of nonpolar reactions in water in the same direction as external pressures. Nonpolar reactions with a negative volume of activation will thus be accelerated by the internal pressure of water, whereas nonpolar reactions with a positive volume of activation will be slowed by the internal pressure. For example, at 20° C the rate of Diels-Alder reaction between cyclopentadiene and butenone, which is known to have a negative volume of activation, in a 4.86 M LiCl solution is about twice as that of the reaction in water alone (Eq. 1.1).4... 

The effect of water on Diels-Alder reactions has been studied extensively by various theoretical and experimental methods. It was mentioned previously that Breslow studied the influence of the hydrophobic effect on the aqueous Diels-Alder reactions in detail8,9 while the volumes of activation for catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions were examined by Isaacs et al.69... 

Due to the AV (volume change of activation) of Claisen rearrangements having a negative value, as in the Diels-Alder reactions, the Claisen rearrangement reaction is expected to be accelerated by water according to the same effect.151,152... 

In Table 2 Diels-Alder reactions are complied showing ratios of activation volume to reaction volume that are smaller than or close to unity (0 = AV /AV < 1) and in Table 3 those that are close to or even larger than unity (0 > 1). Within the scope of transition state theory, the activation volume can be considered to be a measure of the partial molar volume of the transition state [AV = F — F (reactants)]. Accordingly, the transition state volumes of these reactions are close to or even smaller than the... 

The observation that the transition state volumes in many Diels-Alder reactions are product-like, has been regarded as an indication of a concerted mechanism. In order to test this hypothesis and to gain further insight into the often more complex mechanism of Diels-Alder reactions, the effect of pressure on competing [4 + 2] and [2 + 2] or [4 + 4] cycloadditions has been investigated. In competitive reactions the difference between the activation volumes, and hence the transition state volumes, is derived directly from the pressure dependence of the product ratio, [4 + 2]/[2 + 2]p = [4 + 2]/[2 + 2]p=i exp —< AF (p — 1)/RT. All [2 + 2] or [4 + 4] cycloadditions listed in Tables 3 and 4 doubtlessly occur in two steps via diradical intermediates and can therefore be used as internal standards of activation volumes expected for stepwise processes. Thus, a relatively simple measurement of the pressure dependence of the product ratio can give important information about the mechanism of Diels-Alder reactions. 

The powerful pressure-induced acceleration of most Diels-Alder reactions due to their highly negative volumes of activation has been exploited for synthetic purposes. Reviews... 

SCHEME 3. Comparison of van der Waals volumes of reaction and activation with the volumes of reaction and activation calculated for a pericyclic and stepwise Diels-Alder reaction of 1,3-butadiene with ethene... 

Diels-Alder reactions with acyclic and carbocyclic dienes are compiled in Scheme 5. The comparison between the Lewis-acid catalyzed and pressure-induced reaction (entry 1) shows that the application of high pressure, particularly in acid-sensitive systems, can sometimes lead to a better yield. Furthermore, pressure may shift the product ratio, if the activation volumes of the competing reactions are different, so that the application of pressure may also be useful in highly reactive systems, e.g. the reactive indenone 17 as dienophile, provided that a shift in the product ratio is desired. At atmospheric... 

While many observations are well understood, e.g. those dealing with the reaction rate or with the selectivity, there are some factors which cannot be generalized. Many transformations of particular reactants or under unusual reaction conditions led to unexpected results. There are often singular explanations for such reactions but no overall concept. For instance, computations on Diels-Alder transition structures and thermodynamics of retro-Diels-Alder reactions confirmed that the activation volume of these [4 + 2]-cycloadditions is negative80. This result, pointing to the compact character of the transition structure, is used to explain the dependence of reactivity and selectivity on internal as well as external pressure81-83. These effects are only observed at relatively high external pressures (Table 5). 

For concerted Diels-Alder reactions, as discussed above, both AV and AF are negative and Owl. In some unhindered Diels-Alder reactions, such as those involving maleic anhydride, it was observed [275] that AV > AF. This means that the transition state has an additional volume contraction with respect to the products. Since Diels-Alder cycloadditions are essentially solvent-insensitive and thus have negligible or small environmental contribution to the activation volume, this contraction seems to be of intramolecular origin, and it was suggested [284] that it could be due to secondary orbital interactions in the transition state. This contribution to AjF has been indicated as A, V. ... 

The retro-Diels-Alder reaction has been reviewed.A fully concerted cyclic transition state has been proposed for conrotatory opening of cyclobutenes, in order to account for the low activation entropy and unexpected activation volume of ca —2 to —3cm mol . ... 

For liquid-phase reactions it is known that they may be enhanced by applying higher pressures if the activation volumes are strongly negative, for example, with Diels-Alder reactions. At pressures up to 600 bar (6 x 10 Pa), Benito-Lopez et al. used fiber-based on-line UV-vis spectroscopy to monitor the nucleophilic aromatic substitution of l-fluoro-4-nitrobenzene with a ten-fold excess of pyrrolidine. ... 

Many studies have established that the Diels-Alder reaction is strongly accelerated by an increase in pressure and this property has been applied to the reaction between 1-methoxybuta-1,3-diene and various aldehydes, ketones and a-keto esters, when good yields of dihydropyrans are obtained at 50 °C (79S41, 81JOC2230). Endo addition yielding the cis isomer is preferred, whilst differences in the ratio of cis and trans products obtained at atmospheric and at high pressures suggest that endo and exo additions have different activation volumes. 

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