Quantum study on the electrocyclic reactions of CH2CHCHCHX (XH,F, Cl)

The microscopic mechanisms of the electrocyclic reactions for cis‐1,3‐butadiene and its monofluoro‐, monochloroderivatives have been studied by density functional theory (DFT), using the B3LYP method and 6‐311++G** basis sets. We optimized the geometric configurations of reactants, transition states, and products; verified all the probable transition states through vibrational analysis; and calculated the relative single‐point energies at the QCISD(T)/6‐311++G**//B3LYP/6‐311++G**. The results show that the monofluoro‐, monochloroderivatives of cis‐1,3‐butadiene both have two conformers; the reactant favors the electrocyclic reaction when one outboard hydrogen atom of the CH₂ groups is substituted by the fluorine or chlorine atom. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004