A DFT mechanistic study on oxidative dehydrogenative Diels-Alder reaction of alkylbenzenes.

Cross-dehydrogenative Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction between readily-available alkyl benzenes and electron-deficient dienophiles is an attractive synthetic route to access carbocyclic compounds which have high utility in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. This work reports a study at the M06-2X/6-311G(d) and M06-2X/6-311++G(d,p) levels of theory on the reaction of alkyl benzenes with electron-deficient dienophiles in the presence of 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) as an oxidant and hydroquinone as an activator, so as to understand the chemoselectivity of the reaction (addition across the alkene functionality versus the ketone functionality), the role of the activator, the effects of substituents and the effect of solvent on the reaction. The results show the addition of the alkene bonds of methylstyrene across the alkene functionality of the electron-deficient dienophiles has generally low barriers compared to the addition across the carbonyl functionality of the electron-deficient dienophile. Powerful electron-withdrawing group (cyano) on the electron-deficient dienophile decrease the energy barrier for the cycloaddition and decrease the stability of the product whiles weak electron-withdrawing (bromine and chlorine) and electron-donating groups increase the energy barrier for the cycloaddition and decrease the stability of the product. The hydroquinone as an activator decreases the activation barrier for the Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction.