Density Functional Theory Study on the Mechanism of Trimethylamine-Catalyzed Baylis–hillman Reaction

The trimethylamine-catalyzed Baylis–Hillman reaction of formaldehyde and vinylaldehyde has been studied with the density functional theory (DFT) method of B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p). In the gas phase, the reaction involves an amine–formaldehyde–vinylaldehyde trimolecular addition transition structure followed by rate-determining intramolecular 1,3-hydrogen shift. When a bulk solvent effect of water was considered with conductor-like polarizable continuum model (CPCM), the reaction was found to follow the sequence of Michael-addition of amine to vinylaldehyde (step 1), addition of formaldehyde (step 2), and 1,3-hydrogen shift (step 3), with the 1,3-hydrogen shift as rate-determining. The overall reaction barrier is significantly reduced. When a molecule of water is involved in the reaction, the 1,3-hydrogen shift is significantly promoted so that the rate-determining step becomes the C–C bond formation. The calculated overall reaction barrier is in agreement with experimental observations.