Theoretical investigations of 1,4‐butanediol and 2‐butene‐1,4‐diol cyclodehydration using postprocessing visualization of quantum chemical calculation data

Cyclodehydration of 1,4‐butanediol and 2‐butene‐1,4‐diol to the corresponding cyclic ethers was studied using the AM1 semiempirical method. It was established that the cyclodehydration reaction of 1,4‐butenediol and 2‐butene‐1,4‐diol is effected by converting of semicyclic conformers in the presence of acidic and basic active centers. The calculation results indicate that a concerted mechanism is probably realized in the cyclodehydration of both diols, while the sequences of the predicted steps in the cyclodehydration reaction for 1,4‐butanediol and 2‐butene‐1,4‐diol are different. The calculated reaction heats for 1,4‐butanediol and 2‐butene‐1,4‐diol transformations are ?184.029 and ?308.746 kcal/mol, respectively. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2002