Theoretical study of the mechanism generating azomethine ylide from formaldehyde and glycine

Abstract

The mechanism to generate azomethine ylide from formaldehyde and glycine is systematically investigated. The density functional theory at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level is employed for both geometry optimization and single point energy calculation. Our results indicate that two possible pathways can lead to the generation of the carbinolamine intermediate with a favorable step-wise pathway. However, as for the step to form azomethine ylide, a concerted elimination of water and carbon dioxide is preferred. This calculation result is totally different from the widely accepted revised Rizzi mechanism.