{"title":"DFT Elucidation\u0000of the Mechanism and Origins of Regio-\u0000and Stereoselectivity in Visible Light-Mediated Pd-Catalyzed 1,4-Aminoalkylation\u0000of 1,3-Dienes","authors":"Yanhong Liu,Tong Zheng,Yiding Dong,Qingfeng Hou,Dongju Zhang","doi":"10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6c03921","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6c03921","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We report a comprehensive DFT and TD-DFT investigation of the mechanism underlying the photosensitizer-free visible light-mediated palladium-catalyzed 1,4-aminoalkylation of 1,3-dienes with alkyl N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHP) redox-active esters, with particular emphasis on elucidating the catalytic cycle and the origins of the experimentally observed regio- and stereoselectivities. Our calculations reveal that the reaction proceeds through a Pd0/PdI/PdII/Pd0 catalytic cycle rather than the previously proposed Pd0/PdI/Pd0 pathway. TD-DFT calculations identify (PPh3)4Pd0, rather than the Pd0-diene complex, as the endogenous photosensitizer responsible for visible-light absorption and subsequent single-electron transfer (SET). The NHP ester plays dual roles by serving both as the alkyl radical precursor and as the nitrogen source for subsequent C–N bond formation. The C–N bond-forming step proceeds through an outer-sphere nucleophilic attack of the phthalimide anion on an η3-π-allylpalladium(II) complex rather than via inner-sphere reductive elimination, and this process is identified as the regio- and stereoselectivity-determining step. Distortion–interaction and energy decomposition analyses quantitatively account for the excellent regio- and stereoselectivities observed experimentally. These findings provide a comprehensive mechanistic picture of this visible light-mediated Pd catalysis and offer valuable insights for the rational design of related photochemical palladium-catalyzed transformations.","PeriodicalId":40,"journal":{"name":"Inorganic Chemistry","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149210050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}