Essential oils that contain large concentrations of germacrene D are typically accompanied by cadinane sesquiterpenoids. The acid-catalyzed cyclization of germacrene D to give cadinane and selinane sesquiterpenes has been computationally investigated using both density functional (B3LYP/6-31G(*)) and post Hartree-Fock (MP2/6-31G(* *)) ab initio methods. The calculated energies are in general agreement with experimentally observed product distributions, both from acid-catalyzed cyclizations as well as distribution of the compounds in essential oils.
Keywords: ab initio molecular orbital theory; amorphene; cadinene; density functional theory; germacrene D; muurolene; selinene.