Ab initio studies on the mechanism of dimerization reactions of ketene imine and bis(trifluoromethyl)ketene imine

The dimerization reactions of ketene imine and bis(trifluoromethyl)ketene imine were studied theoretically. All the dimerization processes take place in a concerted but asynchronous manner, each proceeding through a four-membered ring transition state. For the ketene imine dimerization reactions, three different processes have almost equal activation barriers, while for the three bis(trifluoromethyl)ketene imine dimerization processes the reaction giving symmetrical a four-membered heterocyclic product has the lowest activation barrier. Received: 15 July 1998 / Accepted 3 September 1998 / Published online: 17 December 1998