I've been looking through this stuff for some time now, and it doesn't make a lick of sense.
http://imgur.com/CBj0e
I understand that when X is an electron donating/withdrawing group, there is a definitive partial positive or negative charge at the attacking end of the diene.
But the dienophile doesn't make any sense.
1.) having methane on Y should make the molecule have a definitive partial positive charge at the region being attacked (at carbon 4).
2.) but having amine on Y should make the molecule have LESS of a partial positive charge because an electron pair is being pushed into carbon 4, and hence a full resonance structure is enabled from top to bottom.
Having established that the partial positive charge on carbon 4 of the dienophile is greater when we have a methane, NOT when we have a lone pair donating substituent, why in the world does having -NHCH3 as Y make it MORE selective for product A?
If anything, it should be far less selective.
(I know that N is more "electronegative" than methane, which is donating, but it's clear that the contributions of resonance structures should far far outweigh induction).
So, what is going on here?
http://imgur.com/CBj0e
I understand that when X is an electron donating/withdrawing group, there is a definitive partial positive or negative charge at the attacking end of the diene.
But the dienophile doesn't make any sense.
1.) having methane on Y should make the molecule have a definitive partial positive charge at the region being attacked (at carbon 4).
2.) but having amine on Y should make the molecule have LESS of a partial positive charge because an electron pair is being pushed into carbon 4, and hence a full resonance structure is enabled from top to bottom.
Having established that the partial positive charge on carbon 4 of the dienophile is greater when we have a methane, NOT when we have a lone pair donating substituent, why in the world does having -NHCH3 as Y make it MORE selective for product A?
If anything, it should be far less selective.
(I know that N is more "electronegative" than methane, which is donating, but it's clear that the contributions of resonance structures should far far outweigh induction).
So, what is going on here?
