Relevance of torsional effects to the conformational equilibria of 1,5-diaza-cis-decalins: a theoretical and experimental study

1,5-Diaza-cis-decalin populates two conformations in which the nitrogen atoms are either gauche (N-in) or anti (N-out) to one another. The equilibrium mixture of the two conformers depends on the substituents at the nitrogen atom, as well as the reaction conditions. Ab initio (HF/6-31G, B3LYP/6-31+G) and molecular mechanics (Amber) calculations have been performed to examine the possible role of stereoelectronics and steric effects in controlling the equilibrium of substituted 1,5-diaza-cis-decalins. In the present study, N,N'-diethyl- and N,N'-bistrifluoroethyl-1,5-diaza-cis-decalins have been synthesized, and the equilibrium mixtures have been measured using 1H and 13C NMR experiments. Steric effects appear to control the equilibria between the two conformational isomers of 1,5-diaza-cis-decalin while torsional effects appear to dominate the equilibria for the N,N'-dialkyl derivatives.