Archive for February 3rd, 2021

The thermal reactions … took precisely the opposite stereochemical course to that which we had predicted. A non-covalent-interaction view of the model.

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021

Another foray into one of the more famous anecdotal chemistry “models”, the analysis of which led directly to the formulation of the WoodWard-Hoffmann (stereochemical) rules for pericyclic reactions. Previously, I tried to produce a modern computer model of what Woodward might have had to hand when discovering that the stereochemical outcome of a key reaction in his vitamin B12 synthesis was opposite to that predicted using his best model of the reaction.

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