Bond breaking of furan-maleimide adducts via a diradical sequential mechanism under an external mechanical force

22 July 2022, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

Substituted furan-maleimide Diels-Alder adducts are bound by dynamical covalent bonds that make them particularly attractive mechanophores. Thermally activated [4+2] retro Diels-Alder (DA) reactions predominantly proceed via a concerted mechanism on the ground electronic state. We show that an asymmetric stretching direction along the anchoring bonds in both the endo and exo isomers of proximal dimethyl furan-maleimide adducts favors a sequential pathway. The switching from a concerted to a sequential mechanism occurs at external forces ≈ 1nN. The first bond rupture occurs for a projection of the pulling force on the scissile bond ≈ 4 nN for the exo adduct and ≈ 4.5 nN for the endo one. The reaction is inhibited for external forces up to ≈3.1 nN for the endo adduct and 3.6 nN the exo one after which it is activated. In the activated region, at 4 nN, the rupture rate of the first bond for the endo adduct is computed to be ≈ 2 orders of magnitude larger than for exo one in qualitative agreement with recent sonication experiments [ Z. Wang, S. L. Craig, Chemical Communications 2019, 55, 12263-12266.] In the intermediate region of the path between the rupture of the first and the second bond the lowest singlet state exhibits a diradical character for both adducts and is close in energy to a diradical triplet state. The computed values of spin-orbit coupling along the path are too small for inducing intersystem crossings. These findings open the way for the rational design of DA mechanophores.

Keywords

Diels-Alder mechanophores
diradicalar intermediate
furan-maleimide adducts
mechanochemistry

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
Actions
Title
additional computational details and figures
Description
additional computational details and figures
Actions

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.