Proline-catalyzed aldol reactions of cyclic diketones: fluorine modifies pathways as well as transition states

Proline-catalysed aldol reactions are central to the development of organocatalysis, and have been the subjects of many studies. List’s results on the effect of fluorine substitution on proline catalysts for an intramolecular aldol condensation provide a perfect test set for computational analysis, as subtle changes in the catalyst structure lead to clear changes in the product ratios. The results show that the carbon-carbon bond forming transition states for the Hajos-Parrish-Wiechart reaction do not account for the observed selectivity in all cases. However, if an analysis of post transition-state epimerization pathways is also included, together with the effect of water, it is possible to account for all of the experimental data.