Theoretical Study of the Diastereofacial Isomers of Aldrin and Dieldrin

The Diels-Alder reaction of hexachlorocyclopentadiene with norbornadiene givesaldrin but theoretically three other diastereofacial isomers are possible. On oxidation theseisomers can generate eight adducts one of which is known as dieldrin. All these, as well asthe corresponding reactions with hexafluorocyclopenadiene were studied by semiempirical(AM1 and PM3) and hybrid density functional (B3LYP) methods. Besides the energy levels,the transition states were calculated for the reactions leading to the diastereofacial isomers ofaldrin, which indicate that aldrin is the favored product of the reaction both fromthermodynamic and kinetic point of view