Origin of exo/endo selectivity in the intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction

Abstract

The stereoselectivity of the intramolecular Diels-Alder reactions of 1 and its derivatives were investigated by ab initio calculations. The stereoselectivity mainly originates from the steric repulsion and the orbital interactions. The additional s-cis and s-trans conformations by introducing the carbonyl group at the neighbor of diene or dienophile may change the stereoselectivity, hence this kind of substitution can be utilized for stereoselectivive asymmetric synthesis.