Regiochemical aspects and the molecular mechanism of the [3 + 2] cycloaddition between nitrous oxide and conjugated nitroalkenes were evaluated on the basis of the wb97xd/6-311 + G(d) (PCM) computational study. It was found that, independently of the nature of the nitroalkene, all considered processes are realized via polar, single-step mechanisms. All attempts at the localization of hypothetical zwitterionic intermediates were unsuccessful. Additionally, the DFT computational study suggested that, in the course of the reaction, the formation of respective Δ2-4-nitro-4-R1-5-R2-1-oxa-2,3-diazolines was preferred from the kinetic point of view.
Keywords: [3 + 2] cycloaddition; conceptual density functional theory; molecular electron density theory; molecular mechanism; nitroalkenes; nitrous oxide.