<![CDATA[The power of weak interactions]]>Here is a question for tonight: how many cases are out there where a single hydrogen bond dominates the regiochemical outcome of a chemical transformation? Let’s say we are comparing the protio version to its methylated congener, which is arguably the smallest steric perturbation that does not produce a confounding effect. Here is a case from Paul Carlier’s lab published some time ago in Organic Letters. If you look at the two epoxide-containing anilines depicted below, you will note that they differ by a methyl group. Their behavior is strikingly dissimilar, demonstrating how a single hydrogen bond can affect the reactive conformation. The reactions were run neat, by the way. Both outcomes are driven by the logic of trans-diaxial epoxide ring opening, yet the NH-to-O interaction flips the reactive conformation in the first case compared to the second one. If you are looking for a powerful demonstration of the Fürst-Plattner rule, there is probably no better way to show how a relatively weak interaction can control the reaction outcome.

33.jpghttp://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ol902856b

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