Reaction rates of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions correlate closely with the energy required to distort the 1,3-dipole and dipolarophile to the transition-state geometry (see scheme). A bridge can be built connecting these new findings to the traditional frontier molecular orbital theory, which was and still is enormously successful in the rationalization of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions.
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Engels et al. (2009) studied this question.