Rhodium-catalyzed cycloaddition reactions are a powerful tool for the construction of polycyclic compounds. Combined experimental and DFT studies were used to investigate the temperature-controlled chemoselectivity of cationic rhodium-catalyzed intramolecular cycloaddition reactions of ene-vinylidenecyclopropanes. After a series of mechanistic studies, it was found that trace amounts of water in the reaction system play an important role in generating the product with endo double bond located on a five-membered ring and revealed that trace amounts of water in the reaction system, including the rhodium catalyst, substrate and solvent, were sufficient to promote the formation of the product with endo double bond located on a five-membered ring, and additional water could not further accelerate the reaction. DFT calculation results show that the addition of water indeed significantly lowers the energy barrier of the proton transfer step, making the formation of the product with endo double bond located on a five-membered ring more likely to occur and confirming the rationality of water-assisted proton transfer occurring in the selective access to the product with endo double bond located on a five-membered ring.
Keywords: mechanistic studies; rhodium-catalyzed cycloaddition; temperature-controlled chemoselectivity; water-assisted proton transfer.