Disrotatory, Woodward-Hoffmann rules

Electi ocyclic reactions are examples of cases where ic-electiDn bonds transform to sigma ones [32,49,55]. A prototype is the cyclization of butadiene to cyclobutene (Fig. 8, lower panel). In this four electron system, phase inversion occurs if no new nodes are fomred along the reaction coordinate. Therefore, when the ring closure is disrotatory, the system is Hiickel type, and the reaction a phase-inverting one. If, however, the motion is conrotatory, a new node is formed along the reaction coordinate just as in the HCl + H system. The reaction is now Mdbius type, and phase preserving. This result, which is in line with the Woodward-Hoffmann rules and with Zimmerman s Mdbius-Huckel model [20], was obtained without consideration of nuclear symmetry. This conclusion was previously reached by Goddard [22,39]. 

According to the Woodward-Hoffmann rule [6, 7], conjugate polyenes with 4n and 4n+2 n electrons undergo cychzations in conrotatory and disrotatory fashions under the thermal conditions, respectively. Recently, novel cycloisomerizations were found to be catalyzed by Lewis acid and to afford bicychc products [39] as photochemical reactions do [40]. The new finding supports the mechanistic spectrum of chemical reactions. 

Hexatrienes undergo disrotatory ring closure by thermal activation to afford cyclohex-adienes in agreement with the Woodward-Hoffmann rule (delocalization band in Scheme 8) [41 3]. Photo-irradiation of hexatrienes is known to give bicylic products in a stereospecific [4n +2nJ manner (delocalization band in Scheme 8) [40] in contrast to this rule. 

Trauner and colleagues [39] recently found a striking contrast in the thermal and catalyzed reactions of a triene. Thermal reaction of a trienolate readily underwent disrotatory electrocyclization to afford cyclohexadiene (delocalization band in Scheme 8) in accordance with the Woodward-Hoffmann rule. Surprisingly, treatment of the trienolate with Lewis acid did not result in the formation of the cyclohexadiene but rather gave bicyclo[3.1.0]hexene in a [4n +2nJ manner (pseudoexcitation band in Scheme 8). The catalyzed reaction is similar to the photochemical reaction in the delocalization band. 

The SC descriptions of the electronic mechanisms of the three six-electron pericyclic gas-phase reactions discussed in this paper (namely, the Diels-Alder reaction between butadiene and ethene [11], the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition offiilminic acid to ethyne [12], and the disrotatory electrocyclic ring-opening of cyclohexadiene) take the theory much beyond the HMO and RHF levels employed in the formulation of the most popular MO-based treatments of pericyclic reactions, including the Woodward-Hoffmann rules [1,2], Fukui s frontier orbital theory [3] and the Dewar-Zimmerman model [4-6]. The SC wavefunction maintains near-CASSCF quality throughout the range of reaction coordinate studied for each reaction but, in contrast to its CASSCF counterpart, it is very much easier to interpret and to visualize directly. 

Similarly, electrocyclic reactions7 follow the Woodward-Hoffmann rules and proceed in either a con- or disrotatory manner. For example, the diene 5 cyclizes to the cyclobutene 6 or 7, which are enantiomers. No diastereomers with R1/Ri trams geometry are formed. 

The spontaneous oxepin-benzene oxide isomerization proceeds in accordance with the Woodward-Hoffmann rules of orbital symmetry control and may thus be classified as an allowed thermal disrotatory electrocyclic reaction. A considerable amount of structural information about both oxepin and benzene oxide has been obtained from theoretical calculations using ab initio SCF and semiempirical (MINDO/3) MO calculations (80JA1255). Thus the oxepin ring was predicted to be either a flattened boat structure (MINDO/3) or a planar ring (SCF), indicative of a very low barrier to interconversion between boat conformations. Both methods of calculation indicated that the benzene oxide tautomer... 

The thermal retro-reaction of 3-sulfolenes to dienes and sulfur dioxide occurs under mild conditions (about 120-200°C), and is, as predicted from the Woodward-Hoffmann rules, a disrotatory process so for 2,5-dimethyl-3-sulfolenes [541,542] ... 

This intuitive parallel can be best demonstrated by the example of electrocye-lic reactions for which the values of the similarity indices for conrotatory and disrotatory reactions systematically differ in such a way that a higher index or, in other words, a lower electron reorganisation is observed for reactions which are allowed by the Woodward-Hoffmann rules. In contrast to electrocyclic reactions for which the parallel between the Woodward-Hoffmann rules and the least motion principle is entirely straightforward, the situation is more complex for cycloadditions and sigmatropic reactions where the values of similarity indices for alternative reaction mechanisms are equal so that the discrimination between allowed and forbidden reactions becomes impossible. The origin of this insufficiency was analysed in subsequent studies [46,47] in which we demonstrated that the primary cause lies in the restricted information content of the index rRP. In order to overcome this certain limitation, a solution was proposed based on the use of the so-called second-order similarity index gRP [46]. This... 

Since the detailed calculation of these matrices is sufficiently described in the original literature [33, 58], it is possible to present directly the final results first for the case of concerted reactions for which there are two alternative reaction mechanisms, conrotatory and disrotatory. The first of these mechanisms is allowed by the Woodward-Hoffmann rules while the second one is forbidden. 

Note that the stereospecificity of the reaction in Scheme 2 follows the orbital symmetry predicted by the Woodward-Hoffmann rules [2] the oxide and ylide interconvert via a disrotatory mode. As is the case with all three-membered heterocycles mentioned here, UV irradiation of the heterocycle generates a highly colored ylide intermediate. Unfortunately, the stability of the ylides derived from monocyclic oxiranes is poor and photochromic behavior is evident only upon irradiation at low temperatures (77 K) [3]. This drawback has been somewhat circumvented in a few cases by annulation of the ylide functionality, which increases its stability. For example, 5-oxabicyclo[2.1.0] pentane develops a purple color when irradiated at 253.7 nm at room temperature [4], This reaction is shown in Scheme 3. 

Apply the Woodward-Hoffmann rules to the electrocyclic reaction of hex-atriene to cyclohexadiene considering the appropriate Hiickel MO s. Determine whether the mechanism is conrotatory or disrotatory for both thermal and photochemical reactions. 

Problem 4.7. Draw the HOMO for the pentadienyl cation H2C=CH-CH= CII-CII2 1, and determine whether it should undergo disrotatory or conrota-tory ring closing under thermal conditions. Then do the same for the pentadienyl anion H2C=CH-CH=CH-CH2. Are the stereochemical courses of these reactions consistent with the Woodward-Hoffmann rules ... 

The Woodward-Hoffmann rules for electrocyclic reactions can also be formulated using the terms suprafacial and antarafacial (Table 4.3). A it system is said to react suprafacially in a pericyclic reaction when the bonds being made to the two termini of the it system are made to the same face of the 77 system. It reacts an-tarafacially when the bonds are made to opposite faces of the 7r system. In electrocyclic reactions, disrotatory reactions are suprafacial, and conrotatory reactions are antarafacial. 

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