The Houk-List transition states for organocatalytic mechanisms revisited

Alan Armstrong, Roberto A. Boto, Paul Dingwall, Julia Contreras-García, Matt J. Harvey, Nicholas J. Mason, Henry S. Rzepa*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

143 Citations (Scopus)
631 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The ten year old Houk-List model for rationalising the origin of stereoselectivity in the organocatalysed intermolecular aldol addition is revisited, using a variety of computational techniques that have been introduced or improved since the original study. Even for such a relatively small system, the role of dispersion interactions is shown to be crucial, along with the use of basis sets where the superposition errors are low. An NCI (non-covalent interactions) analysis of the transition states is able to identify the noncovalent interactions that influence the selectivity of the reaction, confirming the role of the electrostatic NCHδ+⋯O δ- interactions. Simple visual inspection of the NCI surfaces is shown to be a useful tool for the design of alternative reactants. Alternative mechanisms, such as proton-relays involving a water molecule or the Hajos-Parrish alternative, are shown to be higher in energy and for which computed kinetic isotope effects are incompatible with experiment. The Amsterdam manifesto, which espouses the principle that scientific data should be citable, is followed here by using interactive data tables assembled via calls to the data DOI (digital-object-identifiers) for calculations held on a digital data repository and themselves assigned a DOI.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2057-2071
JournalChemical Science
Volume5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01 May 2014

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry

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