Ab initio and DFT study of the inner mechanism and dynamic stereochemistry of electrophilic addition reaction of bromine to bisbenzotetracyclo[6.2.2.23,6.02,7]tetradeca-4,9,11,13-tetraene

The inner mechanism and dynamic stereochemistry of electrophilic addition of bromine to bisbenzotetracyclo[6.2.2.2(3,6).0(2,7)]tetradeca-4,9,11,13-tetraene(BBTT) molecule have been investigated by the methods of quantum chemistry. The structure of the BBTT molecule has been studied by ab initio and DFT/B3LYP methods using the 6-31G(d) and 6-311G(d) basis sets. The double bonds of BBTT molecule are endo-pyramidalized. The structure and stability of the cationic intermediates and products of the addition reaction have been investigated by HF/6-311G(d), HF/6-311G(d,p), B3LYP/6-311G(d) and B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,p)//B3LYP/6-311G(d) methods. The bridged bromonium cation isomerized into the more stable nonclassical delocalized N- and U-type cations and the difference between the stability of these cations is small. For the determination of the direction of addition reaction and the stereochemistry of the products, the stability of nonclassical delocalized N- and U-type ions and the structure of their cationic centres play a vital role. Since the cationic centre of the N-type ion is in interaction with the benzene ring from the exo face, the nucleofilic attackof the bromide anion to this centre occurs from the endo face and the exo,endo-isomer of the N-type product is obtained. The attack of bromide anion, towards the cationic centre of U-type ion from the endo face is sterically hindered by the hydrogen atom therefore the attack occurs from the exo face, which interacts with the benzene ring and the more stable exo,exo-isomer of U-type product is formed. Although, the U-type cation was 2.232 kcal mol(-1) more stable than the N-type cation, the U-type product was 0.587 kcal mol(-1) less stable than the N-type product.