Lewis acids structural models

Nitrones are a rather polarized 1,3-dipoles so that the transition structure of their cydoaddition reactions to alkenes activated by an electron-withdrawing substituent would involve some asynchronous nature with respect to the newly forming bonds, especially so in the Lewis acid-catalyzed reactions. Therefore, the transition structures for the catalyzed nitrone cydoaddition reactions were estimated on the basis of ab-initio calculations using the 3-21G basis set. A model reaction indudes the interaction between CH2=NH(0) and acrolein in the presence or absence of BH3 as an acid catalyst (Scheme 7.30). Both the catalyzed and uncatalyzed reactions have only one transition state in each case, indicating that the reactions are both concerted. However, the synchronous nature between the newly forming 01-C5 and C3-C4 bonds in the transition structure TS-J of the catalyzed reaction is rather different from that in the uncatalyzed reaction TS-K. For example, the bond lengths and bond orders in the uncatalyzed reaction are 1.93 A and 0.37 for the 01-C5 bond and 2.47 A and 0.19 for the C3-C4 bond, while those in... 

The four different transition states in Fig. 8.10 were considered with BF3 as a model for the BLA catalyst in the theoretical calculations. It was found that the lowest transition-state energy for the BF3-catalyzed reactions was calculated to be 21.3 kcal mol for anti-exo transition state, while only 1.5 kcal mol higher in energy the syn-exo transition state, was found. The uncatalyzed reaction was calculation to proceed via an exo transition state having an energy of 37.0 kcal mol . The calculations indicated that the reaction proceeds predominantly by an exo transition-state structure and that it is enhanced by the coordination of the Lewis acid. 

The hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of formaldehyde with 1,3-butadiene has been investigated with the formaldehyde oxygen atom coordinated to BH3 as a model for a Lewis acid [25 bj. Two transition states were located, one with BH3 exo, and one endo, relative to the diene. The former has the lowest energy and the calculated transition-state structure is much less symmetrical than for the uncatalyzed reaction shown in Fig. 8.12. The C-C bond length is calculated to be 0.42 A longer, while the C-0 bond length is 0.23 A shorter, compared to the uncatalyzed reac-... 

The addition reaction of allylsilane to acetaldehyde with BF3 as the Lewis acid has been modeled computationally.95 The lowest-energy TSs found, which are shown in Figure 9.2, were of the synclinal type, with dihedral angles near 60°. Although the structures are acyclic, there is an apparent electrostatic attraction between the fluorine and the silicon that imparts some cyclic character to the TS. Both anti and syn structures were of comparable energy for the model. However, steric effects that arise by replacement of hydrogen on silicon with methyl are likely to favor the anti TS. 

Snapper and Hoveyda reported a catalytic enantioselective Strecker reaction of aldimines using peptide-based chiral titanium complex [Eq. (13.11)]. Rapid and combinatorial tuning of the catalyst structure is possible in their approach. Based on kinetic studies, bifunctional transition state model 24 was proposed, in which titanium acts as a Lewis acid to activate an imine and an amide carbonyl oxygen acts as a Bronsted base to deprotonate HCN. Related catalyst is also effective in an enantioselective epoxide opening by cyanide "... 

Having generated suitable (partially) cationic, Lewis acidic metal centers, several factors need to be considered to understand the progress of the alkene polymerisation reaction the coordination of the monomer, and the role (if any) of the counteranion on catalyst activity and, possibly, on the stereoselectivity of monomer enchainment. Since in d° metal systems there is no back-bonding, the formation of alkene complexes relies entirely on the rather weak donor properties of these ligands. In catalytic systems complexes of the type [L2M(R) (alkene)] cannot be detected and constitute structures more closely related to the transition state rather than intermediates or resting states. Information about metal-alkene interactions, bond distances and energetics comes from model studies and a combination of spectroscopic and kinetic techniques. 

The lactone concept is not restricted to the simple model biaryl synthesis presented here. It has been successfully expanded to a broad series of structurally diverse biaryl substrates (e.g., lactones with additional stereocenters and functional groups, configurationally stable lactones, seven-membered lactones, and again configurationally unstable biaryl hydroxy aldehydes ), to different activation modes in the ring-opening step (e.g., use of metallated nucleophiles, carbonyl activation by Lewis acids, (Ti -complexation, etc.), and for various strategies of stereoselection (e.g., external vs. internal asymmetric induction). ... 

Brown, I. D. (1980). A structural model for Lewis acids and bases. An analysis of the structural chemistry of acetate and trifluoroacetate ions. /. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans. pp. 1118-1123. 

The authors also investigated the mode of activation of these BINOL-derived catalysts. They proposed an oligomeric structure, in which one Ln-BINOL moiety acts as a Brpnsted base, that deprotonates the hydroperoxide and the other moiety acts as Lewis acid, which activates the enone and controls its orientation towards the oxidant . This model explains the observed chiral amplification effect, that is the ee of the epoxide product exceeds the ee of the catalyst. The stereoselective synthesis of cw-epoxyketones from acyclic cw-enones is difficult due to the tendency of the cw-enones to isomerize to the more stable fraw5-derivatives during the oxidation. In 1998, Shibasaki and coworkers reported that the ytterbium-(f )-3-hydroxymethyl-BINOL system also showed catalytic activity for the oxidation of aliphatic (Z)-enones 129 to cw-epoxides 130 with good yields... 

Butler, A. Baldwin, A.H. (1997)Vanadium Bromoperoxidase and Functional Mimics. In Structure and Bmiding Metal Sites in Proteins and Models, Lewis Acids, and Vanadium, Sadler, P., Hill, H.A.O., Thompson, A., eds. Springs-Vwlag, New York, Volume 89, pp. 109-131. 

Transmetalation of the perrhenate/aluminosilsesquioxane cube model with SnMe4 is considerably more exothermic than for the perrhenate/silsesquioxane cube model. A similar grafted trimethyltin fragment is formed, as is MeReOs however, the latter is not liberated. It remains bound to the aluminosilsesquioxane cube via the Lewis acid-base interaction with the A1 center. The optimized structure also contains a Lewis acid-base interaction between Re and an adjacent framework oxygen... 

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