Abstract

The regioselectivity of ring-forming radical reactions is investigated within the framework of the so-called spin-polarized conceptual density functional theory. Two different types of cyclizations were studied. First, a series of model reactions of alkyl- and acyl-substituted radicals were investigated. Next, attention was focused on the radical cascade cyclizations of N-alkenyl-2-aziridinylmethyl radicals (a three-step mechanism). In both of these reactions, the approaching radical (carbon or nitrogen centered) adds to a carbon-carbon double bond within the same molecule to form a radical ring compound. In this process, the number of electrons is changing from a local point of view (a charge transfer occurs from one part of the molecule to another one) at constant global spin number N s (both the reactant and the product ring compound are in the doublet state). It is shown that the experimentally observed regioselectivities for these ring-closure steps can be predicted using the spin-polarized Fukui functions for radical attack, f NN O(r). © 2007 American Chemical Society.