Reactions qualitative molecular orbital theory

The first pair of examples we would like to discuss occurs in a field which lends itself naturally to be conquered by theory. Indeed, the past three decades have seen the exploration of mechanistic details of pericyclic reactions as one of the major success stories of computational chemistry. Rooted in qualitative molecular orbital theory, the key concept of... 

QUALITATIVE MOLECULAR ORBITAL THEORY AND PERICYCLIC REACTIONS... 

Chapter 12 Qualitative Molecular Orbital Theory Pericyclic Reactions... 

This chapter is an introduction to qualitative molecular orbital theory and pericyclic reactions. Pericyclic reactions have cyclic transition states and electron flow paths that appear to go around in a loop. The regiochemistry and stereochemistry of these reactions are usually predictable by HOMO-LUMO interactions, so to understand them we need to understand molecular orbital theory, at least on a qualitative basis. 

Chemists have increasingly used computational chemistry to study aspects of organometallic chemistry. Although Chapter 2 and subsequent chapters make good use of qualitative molecular orbital theory, the ready availability of easy-to-use computational chemistry software and the powerful capability of modem desktop computers allow chemists to effectively model complex systems to obtain minimum energy geometry of molecules, determine transition state energies, and predict the course of chemical reactions, particularly if two or more isomeric products could form. Researchers have modeled entire catalytic cycles, which... 

Thus the backward shift in the CH3 reaction may be partly a mass effect. Qualitative molecular orbital theory is able to account102 for a similarity in the potential surfaces of H + XY and CH3 + XY and their contrast to the halogen atom plus halogen molecule, Z + XY, potential surface. The molecular orbitals are illustrated for the linear reaction complexes in Fig. 22. 

Ab initio and semiempirical computational methods have proved extremely useful. But also needed is a simple conceptual scheme that enables one to predict the broad outlines of a calculation in advance, or else to rationalize a coii5)uted result in a fairly simple way. Chemistry requires conceptual schemes, simple enough to carry around in one s head, with which new information can be evaluated and related to other information. Such a theory has developed alongside the mathematical methods described in earlier chapters. We shall refer to it as qualitative molecular orbital theory (QMOT). In this chapter we describe selected aspects of this many-faceted subject and illustrate QMOT applications to questions of molecular shape and conformation, and reaction stereochemistry. 

Although a separation of electronic and nuclear motion provides an important simplification and appealing qualitative model for chemistry, the electronic Sclirodinger equation is still fomiidable. Efforts to solve it approximately and apply these solutions to the study of spectroscopy, stmcture and chemical reactions fonn the subject of what is usually called electronic structure theory or quantum chemistry. The starting point for most calculations and the foundation of molecular orbital theory is the independent-particle approximation. 

The period 1930-1980s may be the golden age for the growth of qualitative theories and conceptual models. As is well known, the frontier molecular orbital theory [1-3], Woodward-Hoffmann rules [4, 5], and the resonance theory [6] have equipped chemists well for rationalizing and predicting pericyclic reaction mechanisms or molecular properties with fundamental concepts such as orbital symmetry and hybridization. Remarkable advances in aeative synthesis and fine characterization during recent years appeal for new conceptual models. 

Having learnt about the concerted reactions, we can now undertake the theory of these reactions. The development of the theory of concerted reactions has been due chiefly to the work of R.B. Woodward and R. Hoffmann. They have taken the basic ideas of molecular orbital theory and used them, mainly in a qualitative way, to derive selection rules which predict the stereochemical course of various types of concerted reactions. These rules are best understood in terms of symmetries of interacting molecular orbitals. Here are will see some of the most important theoretical approaches and see how they are interrelated. 

Exponents of molecular-orbital theory treat the subject in two fairly well defined ways. One is to apply the theory in a qualitative or even semi-quantitative manner to aid understanding of chemical processes and the other is concerned more with ab initio calculations of molecular properties. Present ill-defined knowledge of ion structures and reaction mechanisms suggest that the latter approach is unlikely to be rewarding. 

The above molecular orbital theory is always widely used either quantitatively by performing explicit calculations of molecular orbitals or qualitatively for rationalizing various kinds of experimental or theoretical data. As nicely shown by Gimarc (1979) in his comprehensive book Molecular Structure and Bonding, qualitative MO theory allows an approach to many chemical problems related to molecular shapes and bond properties. Its most important achievement is the determination of reaction mechanisms by the well-known Woodward-Hoffmann (1970) rules and the general orientation rules proposed by Fukui (1970). 

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