Theoretical studies of 5-exo selective intramolecular cyclization of o-alkynylbenzoic acid catalyzed by organic base

Theoretical studies of the organic base-catalyzed 5-exo intramolecular cyclization of o-alkynylbenzoic acid were documented. The acidic fragment participating in the transition states was shown to reduce the activation energy significantly on the basis of hybrid DFT (BHandHLYP) calculation of 5-exo and 6-endo transition states. Furthermore, preference for the 5-exo cyclization mode was rationalized by natural population analysis of optimized structures of the transition states and the reactants.