Theoretical study of the Diels-Alder reaction between o-benzoquinone and norbornadiene

Abstract

The reaction between norbornadiene and o-benzoquinone is an important step in polyalicyclic rigid structures synthesis. It has been considered that this reaction is an example of Diels-Alder (DA) and hetero-Diels-Alder (HDA) cycloadditions with o-benzoquinone acting as diene (forming C-C bonds) and heterodiene (forming O-C bonds). We have performed a Density Functional Theory study of this reaction, employing B3LYP, mPW1PW91, and B1B95 functionals and 6-31G(d,p) and 6-31+G(d,p) Gaussian type basis sets. The results indicate that Diels-Alder is a feasible mechanism for both reactions, but should not be the main route to the formation of products with C-C bonds. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.