A theoretical study on the mechanism of the addition reaction between carbene and epoxyethane

The mechanism of addition reaction between carbene and epoxyethane has been investigated employing the MP2 and B3LYP/6-311+G* levels of theory. Geometry optimization, vibrational analysis, and energy property for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface have been calculated. Based on the calculated results at the MP2/6-311+G* level of theory, it can be predicted that there are two reaction mechanisms (1) and (2). In the first reaction carbene attacks the atom O of epoxyethane to form an intermediate 1a (IM1a), which is a barrier-free exothermic reaction. Then, IM1a can isomerize to IM1b via a transition state 1a (TS1a), where the potential barrier is 48.6 kJ/mol. Subsequently, IM1b isomerizes to a product epoxypropane (Pro1) via TS1b with a potential barrier of 14.2 kJ/mol. In the second carbene attacks the atom C of epoxyethane firstly to form IM2 via TS2a. Then IM2 isomerizes to a product allyl alcohol (Pro2) via TS2b with a potential barrier of 101.6 kJ/mol. Correspondingly, the reaction energies for the reactions (1) and (2) are −448.4 and −501.6 kJ/mol, respectively. Additionally, the orbital interactions are also discussed for the leading intermediate. The results based on the B3LYP/6-311+G* level of theory are paralleled to those on the MP2/6-311+G* level of theory. Furthermore, the halogen and methyl substituent effects of H₂C: on the two reaction mechanisms have been investigated. The calculated results indicate that the introductions of halogen or methyl make the addition reaction difficult to proceed.