Nickel(I)-catalysed multicomponent reductive hydrocarbonylation of alkenes: A theoretical study of mechanism, regio-, enantio-, and chemoselectivity

In the present study, theoretical calculations were performed to gain a deeper understanding of the nickel-catalysed multicomponent reductive hydrocarbonylation of alkenes using ethyl chloroformate as the CO source and hydrosilane as the hydride source. The computations show Ni(I) species acts as the active catalyst entering the catalytic cycle. The calculated mechanism corroborates the experimental mechanistic proposals on the elementary steps. Nonetheless, the sequence of elementary steps and the oxidation state of the nickel center are different from the experimental proposal. The calculations reproduced quite well the experimentally observed regio- and enantioselectivity. The distortion/interaction analysis and frontier molecular orbital theory confirm that the interaction energy determines the regioselectivity. The high S-enantioselectivity arises from the stronger C–H/π interactions in the S-configuration compared to those in the R-type enantiomer. One of the biggest challenges faced by multicomponent reactions is competing side-reactions. To explore the reaction's chemoselectivity, we calculated the formation mechanisms of five potential by-products and analyzed the driving force behind the formation of the desired product.