Orbital symmetry diagrams/rules

Predictions can be made about the suitability of different system trajectories on the basis of orbital symmetry conservation rules (207). The most suitable trajectory is an approximation to the reaction path of the reaction under study. The rules can also yield information about the possible structure of the activated complex. The correlation diagram technique has been improved in a series of books by Epiotis et al. (214-216). The method is based on self-consistent field-configuration interaction or valence bond (SCF-CI or VB) (including ionic structures) wave functions. Applications on reactions in the ground states as well as in the excited electronic states are impressive however, the price to be paid for the predictions seems to be rather high. 

Correlation diagrams can be constructed in an analogous fashion for the disrotatory and conrotatory modes for interconversion of hexatriene and cyclohexadiene. They lead to the prediction that the disrotatory mode is an allowed process whereas the conrotatory reaction is forbidden. This is in agreement with the experimental results on this reaction. Other electrocyclizations can be analyzed by the same method. Substituted derivatives of polyenes obey the orbital symmetry rules, even in cases in which the substitution pattern does not correspond in symmetiy to the orbital system. It is the symmetry of the participating orbitals, not of the molecule as a whole, that is crucial to the analysis. 

The most widely used qualitative model for the explanation of the shapes of molecules is the Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) model of Gillespie and Nyholm (25). The orbital correlation diagrams of Walsh (26) are also used for simple systems for which the qualitative form of the MOs may be deduced from symmetry considerations. Attempts have been made to prove that these two approaches are equivalent (27). But this is impossible since Walsh s Rules refer explicitly to (and only have meaning within) the MO model while the VSEPR method does not refer to (is not confined by) any explicitly-stated model of molecular electronic structure. Thus, any proof that the two approaches are equivalent can only prove, at best, that the two are equivalent at the MO level i.e. that Walsh s Rules are contained in the VSEPR model. Of course, the transformation to localised orbitals of an MO determinant provides a convenient picture of VSEPR rules but the VSEPR method itself depends not on the independent-particle model but on the possibility of separating the total electronic structure of a molecule into more or less autonomous electron pairs which interact as separate entities (28). The localised MO description is merely the simplest such separation the general case is our Eq. (6)... 

The photochemical disrotatory closure of butadiene to cyclobutene has been described with a state-correlation diagram, like that shown in Figure 21.4. It is based on the familiar orbital-correlation diagram of Woodward and Hoffmann," from which the intended correlations indicated by the dashed lines can readily be deduced. The solid lines indicate that there is an avoided crossing, which is put in as a result of the quantum mechanical noncrossing rule. It says that two states of the same total symmetry cannot cross. Instead, as they approach each other in energy, they will mix and separate, as the solid lines indicate. 

We have emphasized that the Diels-Alder reaction generally takes place rapidly and conveniently. In sharp contrast, the apparently similar dimerization of olefins to cyclobutanes (5-49) gives very poor results in most cases, except when photochemically induced. Fukui, Woodward, and Hoffmann have shown that these contrasting results can be explained by the principle of conservation of orbital symmetry,895 which predicts that certain reactions are allowed and others forbidden. The orbital-symmetry rules (also called the Woodward-Hoffmann rules) apply only to concerted reactions, e.g., mechanism a, and are based on the principle that reactions take place in such a way as to maintain maximum bonding throughout the course of the reaction. There are several ways of applying the orbital-symmetry principle to cycloaddition reactions, three of which are used more frequently than others.896 Of these three we will discuss two the frontier-orbital method and the Mobius-Huckel method. The third, called the correlation diagram method,897 is less convenient to apply than the other two. 

The lines joining reactant and product orbitals in Figure 11.8 are referred to as correlation lines, and the entire diagram is an orbital correlation diagram. It will be noted that since there are two orbitals of each symmetry type on each side, there is an alternative way the correlation might have been made, namely 77-i to a, 7r2 to 7T, 7t3 to 77, 7r4 to (j. This alternative is eliminated by the noncrossing rule Orbitals of the same symmetry do not cross. 

This rule can be understood from the orbital correlation diagram of Scheme 6-18, where the symbols S and A denote symmetric and antisymmetric orbitals, respectively (Bellville Bauld 1982 Bauld, Bellville, et al. 1983). The interaction between orbitals of equal symmetry is the indispensable condition of the condensation under consideration. As seen from the scheme, the condensation becomes possible only when the diene supplies four electrons and the dienophile provides one electron. Bauld and co-authors denote such interaction as [4 + 1], If the diene supplies three electrons and the dienophile provides two electrons (in the manner of [3 + 2] electrons), no cyclic adduct can be formed. 

Concerted syn 1-2-elimination is in violation of the orbital symmetry rules. Extenuating circumstances as well as valid exceptions have been indicated on several occasions. One need not abandon the orbital view, however, if the molecule as a whole is considered. In an orbital correlation diagram, e.g. Fig. 22, the higher energy syn path becomes more... 

The rules for the state correlation diagrams are the same as for the orbital correlation diagrams only states that possess the same symmetry can be connected. In order to determine the symmetries of the states, first the symmetries of the MOs must be determined. These are given for the face-to-face dimerization of ethylene in Table 7-1. The D2h character table (Table 7-2) shows that the two crucial symmetry elements are the symmetry planes a(xy) and v"(yz). The MOs are all symmetric with respect to the third plane, vide supra). The corresponding three symmetry operations will unambiguously determine the symmetry of the MOs. Another possibility is to take the simplest subgroup of D2t, which already contains the two crucial symmetry operations, that is, the C2v point group (cf.,... 

Although the state correlation diagram is physically more meaningful than the orbital correlation diagram, usually the latter is used because of its simplicity. This is similar to the kind of approximation made when the electronic wave function is replaced by the products of one-electron wave functions in MO theory. The physical basis for the rule that only orbitals of the same symmetry can correlate is that only in this case can constructive overlap occur. This again has its analogy in the construction of molecular orbitals. The physical basis for the noncrossing rule is electron repulsion. It is important that this applies to orbitals—or states—of the same symmetry only. Orbitals of different symmetry cannot interact anyway, so their correlation lines are allowed to cross. 

The Woodward-Hoffmann rules arise fundamentally from the conservation of orbital symmetry seen in the correlation diagrams. These powerful constraints govern which pericyclic reactions can take place and with what stereochemistry. As we have seen, frontier orbital interactions are consistent with these features,... 

The following sections present an empirical approach to applying the selection rules. The chapter continues with a basic introduction to the analysis of symmetry properties of orbitals and the application of orbital correlation diagrams to the relatively simply cyclobutene-butadiene interconversion it concludes with some examples of the frontier orbital approach to pericyclic reactions. 

However, for such well-known reactions 45> as positional isomerization and bimolecular substitution in simple square planar coordination compounds, very recently promissing attempts have been reported to derive selection rules on the basis of the orbital symmetry conservation principle 189> and state correlation diagrams 521> e.g. the cis-trans isomerization of square planar complexes has been predicted as a thermally forbidden and photochemically allowed process, in accordance with experiments 28,31,370) [see aiso section FI]. 

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