Diels−Alder Reactions of Acyclic 2-Azadienes: A Semiempirical Molecular Orbital Study

Abstract

Molecular orbital calculations (AM1) have been performed to obtain the frontier orbitals' (HOMO and LUMO) energies and polarization of a series of acyclic 2-azadienes. The results are used to rationalize the reactivity of the compounds studied with both electron-rich and electron-deficient dienophiles as well as the observed regioselectivity of the corresponding Diels−Alder reactions.