Theoretical Study of Intramolecular Nucleophilic Substitution on Nitrogen

Using the -CHR-(CH2)3-NFCH3(R=H, CH3, CH2CF3, CHO, COCH3) as the computational model, the two possible intramolecular reactions, nucleophilic substitution on nitrogen and elimination reaction, were studied at the theoretical level of MP2(full)/6-31+G(d,p). The results indicate that the elimination mechanism, when the -CHR radical is more basic (R=H, CH3, CH2CF3) leading to linear products R-CH2-(CH2)3N=CH2 is preferred. In contrast, electro-withdrawing groups CHO and COCH3 on the attacking site will favor the intramolecular nucleophilic substitution of nitrogen and form 5-membered heterocyclic compounds. These theoretical predictions agree with the available experiments.