Unveiling the Delicate Balance of Steric and Dispersion Interactions in Organocatalysis Using High-Level Computational Methods

Protobranching as repulsion-induced attraction: a prototype for geminal stabilization

Noncovalent interactions are traditionally defined within the context of their attractive components, such as electrostatics and dispersion. Sources of molecular strain are derived through the destabilization of Coulombic and exchange repulsion. Due to this binary designation, the underlying origin of geminal stability with respect to alkanes (referred to as protobranching) has been an active subject for debate between these competing perspectives. We recast this stabilization as a complementary (Gestalt) interaction between dispersion and exchange repulsion, each impacting the other. We use triplet hydrogen and argon dimer as foundational van der Waals adducts to develop a procedure for the visualization and quantification of both exchange repulsion, Δρ_SCF, and medium-range correlation, ΔΔρ, as perturbations in electron density. We use the framework of the DFT-D3 correction to reproduce the shape of the dispersion potential at medium range and successfully model the trend in stability for the eighteen isomers of octane with a diverse series of functionals: BLYP, B3LYP, BP86, PBE, and PBE0. Collectively, our findings show that protobranching is a manifestation of steric repulsion-reduction in vibrational enthalpy and medium-range electron correlation.

Strong and Confined Acids Control Five Stereogenic Centers in Catalytic Asymmetric Diels-Alder Reactions of Cyclohexadienones with Cyclopentadiene

We describe a highly enantioselective Diels-Alder reaction of cross-conjugated cyclohexadienones with cyclopentadiene, in which five stereocenters are effectively controlled by a strongly acidic and confined imidodiphosphorimidate catalyst. Our approach provides tricyclic products in excellent stereoselectivity. We also report methods to convert the obtained products into useful intermediates and a computational study that aids in gaining deeper insight into the reaction mechanism and origin of stereoselectivity.

Application of Halogen Bonding to Organocatalysis: A Theoretical Perspective

The strong, specific, and directional halogen bond (XB) is an ideal supramolecular synthon in crystal engineering, as well as rational catalyst and drug design. These attributes attracted strong growing interest in halogen bonding in the past decade and led to a wide range of applications in materials, biological, and catalysis applications. Recently, various research groups exploited the XB mode of activation in designing halogen-based Lewis acids in effecting organic transformation, and there is continual growth in this promising area. In addition to the rapid advancements in methodology development, computational investigations are well suited for mechanistic understanding, rational XB catalyst design, and the study of intermediates that are unstable when observed experimentally. In this review, we highlight recent computational studies of XB organocatalytic reactions, which provide valuable insights into the XB mode of activation, competing reaction pathways, effects of solvent and counterions, and design of novel XB catalysts.