Theoretical Study on Mechanism of Cycloadditional Reaction Between Dichloro-Germylidene and Formaldehyde

Abstract

Mechanism of the cycloadditional reaction between singlet dichloro-germylidene and formaldehyde has been investigated with MP2/6–31G* method, including geometry optimization, vibrational analysis and energies for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface. Prom the potential energy profile, we predict that the cycloaddition reaction between singlet dichloro-germylidene and formaldehyde has two competitive dominant reaction pathways, going with the formation of two side products (INT3 and INT4), simultaneously. Both of the two competitive reactions consist of two steps, two reactants firstly form a three-membered ring intermediate INT1 and a twisted four-membered ring intermediate INT2, respectively, both of which are barrier-free exothermic reactions of 41.5 and 72.3 kJ/mol; then INT1 isomerizes to a four-membered ring product P1 via transition state TS1, and INT2 isomerizes to a chlorine-transfer product P2 via transition state TS2, with the barriers of 2.9 and 0.3 kJ/mol, respectively. Simultaneously, P1 and INT2 further react with formaldehyde to form INT3 and INT4, respectively, which are also barrier-free exothermic reaction of 74.9 and 88.1 kJ/mol.