The mechanism of the Hantzsch ester hydrogenation of imines catalyzed by chiral BINOL-phosphoric acid has been investigated using DFT methods. Despite the importance of this reaction, there are a number of possible detailed mechanisms, and the preferred pathway has not been firmly established. Our calculations show that the catalyst not only activates the imine group for the reaction by acting as a Brønsted acid but also establishes an interaction with the Hantzsch ester that can lead to an explanation for the enantioselectivity.

There have been many comparisons of computational methods applied to ground states, but studies of organic reactions usually require calculations on transition states, and these provide a different test of the methods. We present calculations of the geometries of nineteen covalent-bond forming transition states using HF and twelve different functionals, including GGA, hybrid-GGA and hybrid meta-GGA approaches. For the calculation of the TS geometries, the results suggest that B3LYP is only slightly less accurate than newer, computationally more expensive methods, and is less sensitive to choice of integration grid. We conclude that the use of B3LYP and related functionals is still appropriate for many studies of organic reaction mechanisms.

Triazabicyclodecene (TBD) has recently been shown to be an effective organocatalyst for the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic esters. Using DFT methods, we have studied possible mechanisms of this reaction. Our studies explain not only the narrow polydispersity index (PDI) observed in the ROP of six-membered ring lactones, but also the surprising failure of the ROP for the more reactive butyrolactone.

BINOL-phosphoric acid catalysts have been used successfully in many reactions involving imines. In this paper, we present a model, based on DFT calculations, for describing the degree and sense of the enantioselectivity of these reactions that is able to predict the correct enantioselectivity for the reactions in more than 40 recent publications. We rationalize the different factors on which the enantioselectivity depends, focusing on the E- or Z-preference of the transition structures and the orientation of the catalyst with respect to the electrophile.

Chiral phosphoric acids have become powerful catalysts for the stereocontrolled synthesis of a diverse array of organic compounds. Since the initial report, the development of phosphoric acids as catalysts has been rapid, demonstrating the tremendous generality of this catalyst system and advancing the use of phosphoric acids to catalyze a broad range of asymmetric transformations ranging from Mannich reactions to hydrogenations through complementary modes of activation. These powerful applications have been developed without a clear mechanistic understanding of the reasons for the high level of stereocontrol. This Account describes investigations into the mechanism of the phosphoric acid catalyzed addition of nucleophiles to imines, focusing on binaphthol-based systems. In many cases, the hydroxyl phosphoric acid can form a hydrogen bond to the imine while the P═O interacts with the nucleophile. The single catalyst, therefore, activates both the electrophile and the nucleophile, while holding both in the chiral pocket created by the binaphthol and constrained by substituents at the 3 and 3' positions. Detailed geometric and energetic information about the transition states can be gained from calculations using ONIOM methods that combine the advantages of DFT with some of the speed of force fields. These high-level calculations give a quantitative account of the selectivity in many cases, but require substantial computational resources. A simple qualitative model is a useful complement to this complex quantitative model. We summarize our calculations into a working model that can readily be sketched by hand and used to work out the likely sense of selectivity for each reaction. The steric demands of the different parts of the reactants determine how they fit into the chiral cavity and which of the competing pathways is favored. The preferred pathway can be found by considering the size of the substituents on the nitrogen and carbon atoms of the imine electrophile, and the position of the nucleophilic site on the nucleophile in relation to the hydrogen-bond which holds it in the catalyst active site. We present a guide to defining the pathway in operation allowing the fast and easy prediction of the stereochemical outcome and provide an overview of the breadth of reactions that can be explained by these models including the latest examples.

Oxyanion holes stabilize oxygen anions in transition states. Data have been gathered both from enzyme structures and from corresponding structures from the Cambridge Crystallographic Database. The two data sets show a striking contrast. The small molecule interactions in the Cambridge database optimize hydrogen bonding. The enzyme active sites do not. Analyzing the data with the help of DFT calculations on theozyme-like models, we conclude that enzymes have not optimized binding to the transition state structures in reaction pathways involving oxyanion holes, because the best binding arrangement for the anions also optimizes binding for the starting materials of the reactions. Instead, enzymes arrange the hydrogen bonds so that the oxyanions are stabilized reasonably, but suboptimally, in order to avoid overstabilization of the ground state.

The mechanism and the origin of the selectivity for the BINOL-phosphoric acid-catalyzed Strecker reaction on N-benzyl imines has been investigated by theoretical methods and compared with earlier studies of N-aryl imines. ONIOM calculations show that the reverse in selectivity which is observed experimentally is not due to differences in the steric bulk of aryl and benzyl groups, but rather because of a switch from a preference for a Z imine to an E imine in the transition state of benzaldehyde-derived imines. The calculations predict this change will not be present for imines formed from acetophenone.

DFT methods have been used to study the mechanism and the enantioselectivity of the Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles with acyl and tosyl imides catalyzed by BINOL-phosphoric acid catalysts. The results are in excellent agreement with the experimental enantioselectivities. The energies of the competing transition structures and, thus, the enantioselectivity are rationalized from calculations on a model system. We propose a simple model to predict the absolute configuration of the products.