Quantum mechanical mechanism behind 100-year-old textbook reaction revealed
By 
Katrina Krämer2019-05-20T09:57:00
Study challenges established understanding of Michael addition as it uncovers Pauli repulsion’s key role in halogen catalysis
Iodine catalyses the Michael reaction – but not in the way chemists thought, a computational study has revealed. Rather than stabilising the reactants’ interactions though halogen bonding, reducing quantum mechanical Pauli repulsion is the secret of iodine’s success. ‘Our finding is a paradigm shift of looking at this reaction,’ says the study’s leader Matthias Bickelhaupt from the Free University Amsterdam in the Netherlands.