Diels-Alder reactions butadiene with ethylene

Effect of Substituents on the Reactivity of the Dienophile The simplest of aU Diels-Alder reactions, cycloaddition of ethylene to 1,3-butadiene, has a high activation energy and a low reaction rate, so does not proceed readily. However, electron-attracting substituents such as C=0 and C=N, when attached directly to the double bond, activate the dienophile toward cycloaddition. Aaolein (H2C=CHCH=0), for example, reacts with 1,3-butadiene to give a high yield of the Diels-Alder adduct at a modest temperature. 

Elastomers. Ethylene—propylene terpolymer (diene monomer) elastomers (EPDM) use a variety of third monomers during polymerization (see Elastomers, ethyiene-propylene-diene rubber). Ethyhdenenorbomene (ENB) is the most important of these monomers and requires dicyclopentadiene as a precursor. ENB is synthesized in a two step preparation, ie, a Diels-Alder reaction of CPD (via cracking of DCPD) with butadiene to yield 5-vinylbicyclo[2.2.1]-hept-2-ene [3048-64-4] (7) where the external double bond is then isomerized catalyticaHy toward the ring yielding 5-ethyhdenebicyclo[2.2.1]-hept-2-ene [16219-75-3] (ENB) (8) (60). 

Cycloaddition involves the combination of two molecules in such a way that a new ring is formed. The principles of conservation of orbital symmetry also apply to concerted cycloaddition reactions and to the reverse, concerted fragmentation of one molecule into two or more smaller components (cycloreversion). The most important cycloaddition reaction from the point of view of synthesis is the Diels-Alder reaction. This reaction has been the object of extensive theoretical and mechanistic study, as well as synthetic application. The Diels-Alder reaction is the addition of an alkene to a diene to form a cyclohexene. It is called a [47t + 27c]-cycloaddition reaction because four tc electrons from the diene and the two n electrons from the alkene (which is called the dienophile) are directly involved in the bonding change. For most systems, the reactivity pattern, regioselectivity, and stereoselectivity are consistent with describing the reaction as a concerted process. In particular, the reaction is a stereospecific syn (suprafacial) addition with respect to both the alkene and the diene. This stereospecificity has been demonstrated with many substituted dienes and alkenes and also holds for the simplest possible example of the reaction, that of ethylene with butadiene ... 

The chemical reactions through cyclic transition states are controlled by the symmetry of the frontier orbitals [11]. At the symmetrical (Cs) six-membered ring transition state of Diels-Alder reaction between butadiene and ethylene, the HOMO of butadiene and the LUMO of ethylene (Scheme 18) are antisymmetric with respect to the reflection in the mirror plane (Scheme 24). The symmetry allows the frontier orbitals to have the same signs of the overlap integrals between the p-or-bital components at both reaction sites. The simultaneous interactions at the both sites promotes the frontier orbital interaction more than the interaction at one site of an acyclic transition state. This is also the case with interaction between the HOMO of ethylene and the LUMO of butadiene. The Diels-Alder reactions occur through the cyclic transition states in a concerted and stereospecific manner with retention of configuration of the reactants. 

In contrast with exo (top) facial selectivity in the additions to norbomene 80 [41], Diels-Alder reaction between isodicyclopentadiene 79 takes place from the bottom [40] (see Scheme 32). To solve this problem, Honk and Brown calculated the transition state of the parent Diels-Alder reaction of butadiene with ethylene [47], They pointed ont that of particular note for isodicyclopentadiene selectivity issue is the 14.9° out-of-plane bending of the hydrogens at C2 and C3 of butadiene. The bending is derived from Cl and C4 pyramidalization and rotation inwardly to achieve overlap of p-orbitals on these carbons with the ethylene termini. To keep the tr-bonding between C1-C2 and C3-C4, the p-orbitals at C2 and C3 rotate inwardly on the side of the diene nearest to ethylene. This is necessarily accompanied by C2 and C3 hydrogen movanent toward the attacking dienophile. They proposed that when norbomene is fused at C2 and C3, the tendency of endo bending of the norbomene framework will be manifested in the preference for bottom attack in Diels-Alder reactions (Schane 38). 

The Diels-Alder reaction is the best known and most widely used pericyclic reaction. Two limiting mechanisms are possible (see Fig. 10.11) and have been vigorously debated. In the first, the addition takes place in concerted fashion with two equivalent new bonds forming in the transition state (bottom center, Fig. 10.11), while for the second reaction path the addition occurs stepwise (top row, Fig. 10.11). The stepwise path involves the formation of a single bond between the diene (butadiene in our example) and the dienophile (ethylene) and (most likely) a diradical intermediate, although zwitterion structures have also been proposed. In the last step, ring closure results with the formation of a second new carbon carbon bond. Either step may be rate determining. 

The behavior described above has been verified by experiment and calculation on numerous substituted dienes and dienophiles. For example Fig. 10.13 shows results for 2°-D isotope effects on Diels-Alder reactions of 2-methyl-butadiene with cyano-ethylene and 1,1-dicyano-ethylene. The calculated and experimental isotope effects are in quantitative agreement with each other and with the results on (butadiene + ethylene). In each case the excellent agreement between calculated and observed isotope effects validates the concerted mechanism and establishes the structure of the transition state as that shown at the bottom center of Fig. 10.11 and the left side of Fig. 10.12a. 

In the Diels-Alder reaction, a diene, such as 1,3-butadiene, reacts with a dienophile, such as ethylene, to form a product with a six-membered ring. This is an important reaction, not only to students trying to pass Organic Chemistry, but also in organic synthesis. 

As a consequence of the concerted mechanism, the Diels-Alder reaction is also stereoselective, implying that the relative configuration of the groups of the reactants is retained. Besides the numerous examples of heterosubstituted compounds,521,522 this was also proved by 1,3-butadiene and ethylene labeled with deuterium [Eqs. (6.88) and (6.89)] 531... 

When 3,4-dihydro-2//-pyran (555) is given pulses of a laser beam, it decomposes by a retro-Diels-Alder reaction into acrolein and ethylene (78JA6111). 4-Methyl-5,6-dihydro-2//-pyran (555a) when irradiated in methanol through which oxygen is passed gives a mixture of four cyclic products on treatment with sodium borohydride (79JCS(P1)1806). Pyrolysis of the dihydropyran (555) at 350 °C yields butadiene. 

We will not develop all of the Woodward-Hoffmann rules, but we will show how the molecular orbitals can indicate whether a cycloaddition will take place. The simple Diels-Alder reaction of butadiene with ethylene serves as our first example. The molecular orbitals of butadiene and ethylene are represented in Figure 15-18. Butadiene, with four atomic p orbitals, has four molecular orbitals two bonding MOs (filled) and two antibonding MOs (vacant). Ethylene, with two atomic p orbitals, has two MOs a bonding MO (filled) and an antibonding MO (vacant). 

Figure 15-19 shows that the HOMO of butadiene has the correct symmetry to overlap in phase with the LUMO of ethylene. Having the correct symmetry means the orbitals that form the new bonds can overlap constructively plus with plus and minus with minus. These bonding interactions stabilize the transition state and promote the concerted reaction. This favorable result predicts that the reaction is symmetry-allowed. The Diels-Alder reaction is common, and this theory correctly predicts a favorable transition state. 

Cycloadditions. A cyclic movement of electrons can be drawn for any number of cycloadditions, but not all of them take place. Thus butadiene undergoes a Diels-Alder reaction with maleic anhydride, but ethylene and maleic anhydride do not give a cyclobutane when they are heated together. 

The Rates of Diels-Alder Reactions. Most Diels-Alder reactions require that the dienophile carries a Z-substituent before they take place at a reasonable rate. Butadiene 6.144 will react with ethylene, but it needs a temperature of 165 °C and high pressure, whereas the reaction with acrolein is faster, taking less time at a lower temperature. An X-substituent on the diene, on C-l or C-2, increases the rate further, with 1-methoxybutadiene 6.145 and 2-methoxybutadiene 6.146 reacting with acrolein at lower temperatures. Times and temperatures are not a reliable way of measuring relative rates, but these four reactions were taken to the point where the yields of isolated product are close to 80%. 

On this basis, let us examine the [4 + 2] cycloaddition of 1,3-butadiene and ethylene, the simplest example of the Diels-Alder reaction. The electronic configurations of these compounds—and of dienes and alkenes in general—have been given in Fig. 29.5 (p. 931) and Fig. 29.6 (p. 932). There are two combinations overlap of the HOMO of butadiene ( 2) with the LUMO of ethylene (tt ) and overlap of the HOMO of ethylene (tt) with the LUMO of butadiene ( 3). In either case, as Fig. 29.20 shows, overlap brings together lobes of the same phase. There is a flow of electrons from HOMO to LUMO, and bonding occurs. 

In addition to conventional ab initio methods, techniques based on the density functional theory (DFT) have also been used to study the Diels-Alder reaction between butadiene and ethylene . With these kinds of methods, a concerted mechanism through a symmetric transition state is also predicted. Several kinds of density functionals have been used. The simplest one is based on the Local Density Approach (LDA), in which all the potentials depend only on the density. More sophisticated functionals include a dependence on the gradient of the density, such as that of Becke, Lee, Yang and Parr (BLYP). 

These experimental secondary deuterium KIEs observed in Diels-Alder reactions have been compared with the respective theoretical KIEs for the stepwise mechanism involving a diradical intermediate (equation 88a) and for concerted synchronous and asynchronous mechanisms (equation 88b) for the Diels-Alder reaction of butadiene with ethylene . ... 

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