✍ Scribed by Sperling, Dirk ;Reißig, Hans-Ulrich ;Fabian, Jürgen
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The prototypical 1,2‐cis‐vinylcyclopropanecarbaldehyde‐to‐2,5‐dihydrooxepin hetero‐Cope‐type rearrangement was studied by “exact” first‐principle methods. The reaction pathway was examined. The reaction, as well activation energies, was calculated for the unimolecular transformation of vinylcyclopropanecarbaldehyde and various derivatives. The derivatives differ from vinylcyclopropanecarbaldehyde by replacement of the formyl (CHO) by the thioformyl (CHS) or formiminyl (CHNH) group and, in part, by replacement of hydrogen atoms at the substituted carbon atoms of the cyclopropane ring by hydroxyl or formyl substituents. The experimental reaction parameters of vinylcyclopropanecarbaldehyde are surprisingly well reproduced by B3LYP/6‐31G* density functional and MP2/6‐31G* ab initio quantum theoretical calculations. Reactant and product are nearly isoenergetic, while the activation energy amounts to about 25 kcal/mol. In the case of the nitrogen and sulfur containing compounds the isomeric seven‐membered ring structures are considerably favoured over the cyclopropanes. Due to a low calculated activation energy a rapid formation of the 2,5‐dihydrothiepin is expected. Substitution of the hydrogen at the substituted ring carbon atoms in vinylcyclopropanecarbaldehyde by OH and CHO also lowers the barrier and increases, in general, the exothermicity of the reaction. As shown by the reaction energies of isodesmic reactions both reactants and products are stabilized by substitution. However, the seven‐memberd ring compounds are more strongly stabilized than the cyclopropanes. The OH group exerts a different effect depending on whether the linkage is geminal or vicinal to the CX group. The difference is caused by hydrogen bond formation in geminal arrangements. The substituent effects in the cyclopropane series parallel those for the prototypical Cope‐type and Claisen‐type series. The particular feature of the cyclopropane series is the lower stability of the cyclopropanes relative to the corresponding open chain congeners. This is obviously due to the ring strain which over‐compensates for attractive interactions between cyclopropane and the substituents. In consequence, the formation of seven‐membered ring compounds proceeds more easily than the formation of the corresponding compounds in related Cope‐type rearrangements.
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