Theoretical Study of Sigmatropic Rearrangement of Cycloprop-2-en-1-ol and its Fluorine Derivatives: Pericyclic or Pseudopericyclic Character from NICS and LLPE

Abstract

Sigmatropic rearrangement reaction of cycloprop-2-en-1-ol and its fluorine derivatives has been studied theoretically in gas phase and its energy barrier has been calculated. Nucleus-independent chemical shift (NICS) shows sigmatropic rearrangement of cycloprop-2-en-1-ol is pericyclic in nature whereas fluorine derivatives show pseudopericyclic and pericyclic nature. Substitution of fluorine atom at ring is found to increase the energy barrier for –OH migration, while substitution at oxygen atom reduces the barrier. To know the involvement of lone pair of electrons during the reaction, lone pair electron present on oxygen atom is locked by hydrogen bonding. CR-CCSD(T)/6-311+G** levels are used to study the reactions more accurately.