Conventional frontier molecular orbital theory is not able to satisfactorily explain the regioselectivity outcome of the nitrilimine-alkene cycloaddition. We considered that conceptual density functional theory (DFT) could be an effective theoretical framework to rationalize the regioselectivity of the title reaction. Several nitrilimine-alkene cycloadditions were analyzed, for which we could find regioselectivity data in the literature. We computed DFT reactivity indices at the B3LYP/6-311G(2d,p)//B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) and employed the grand potential stabilization criterion to calculate the preferred regioisomer. Experimental and calculated regioselectivity agree in the vast majority of cases. It was concluded that predominance of a single regioisomer can be obtained by maximizing (i) the chemical potential difference between nitrilimine and alkene and (ii) the local softness difference between the reactive atomic sites within each reactant. Such maximization can be achieved by carefully selecting the substituents on both reactants.
Keywords: 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition; alkene; conceptual density functional theory; nitrilimine; reactivity indices; regioselectivity; softness.