Stereoelectronic Effects on the Nucleophilic Addition of Phosphite to the Carbonyl Double Bond: Ab Initio Molecular Orbital Calculations on Reaction Surfaces and the α-Effect

Ah initio molecular orbital calculations have been carried out on adducts of trihydroxy phosphine, P(OH)3, and formaldehyde, H2C=0. Stationary points were located and a reaction surface calculated. One stationary point exists as a stable pentacovalent phosphorane, and the other as a 1,3-dipolar transition state. Calculations differing in the conformation about the P-OH bonds of the phosphite reveal that an antiperiplanar (app) lone pair on oxygen to the phosphorus lone pair (acyclic analogue) raises the energy of the molecule by 1.7 kcal/mol relative to a phosphite conformation with no app lone pairs to the phosphorus lone pair (bicyclic analogue). In the transition state, the relative energy between the two conformations reverses with the acyclic analogue transition state 5 kcal/mol lower energy than the bicyclic analogue transition states. The lower energy for the acyclic analogue in the transition state is attributed to the mixing of the app lone pairs on the oxygens of the phosphite mixing with the σ orbital of the newly formed bond between phosphorus and carbon. This kinetic Stereoelectronic effect can explain why acyclic phosphites react much faster in nucleophilic reactions than bicyclic phosphites. This phenomenon suggests that the origin of the α-effect, the enhanced nucleophilicity of a base possessing a heteroatom with an adjacent unshared electron pair arises from the stereoelectronic effect.