Indolizines theoretical calculations

Jug and co-workers investigated the mechanism of cycloaddition reactions of indolizines to give substituted cycl[3,2,2]azines <1998JPO201>. Intermediates in this reaction are not isolated, giving evidence for a concerted [8+2] cycloaddition, which was consistent with results of previous theoretical calculations <1984CHEC(4)443>. Calculations were performed for a number of substituted ethenes <1998JPO201>. For methyl acrylate, acrylonitrile, and ethene, the concerted [8+2] mechanism seems favored. However, from both ab initio and semi-empirical calculations of transition states they concluded that reaction with nitroethene proceeded via a two-step intermolecular electrophilic addition/cyclization route, and dimethylaminoethene via an unprecedented two-step nucleophilic addition/cyclization mechanism (Equation 1). 

Several sets of theoretical calculations have been performed on the parent ring system. HMO calculations of total rr-electron densities and frontier electron densities successfully predicted that the nucleus would undergo electrophilic substitution at the 6- and 8-positions. Two groups, " have compared the electronic structure of indolizine and various aza derivatives using the SCF or semiempirical antisymmetric configuration interaction method. The results allowed interpretations of the electronic spectrum to be made which were in good agreement with experiment. 

The proton NMR spectra of some indolizines have been analyzed in detail by Black and co-workers122 and the chemical shifts compared with those calculated from various theoretical approaches.123-125... 

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