Kinetic studies of inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reactions (iEDDA) of norbornenes and 3,6-dipyridin-2-yl-1,2,4,5-tetrazine

Inverse electron demand Diels-Alder additions (iEDDA) between 1,2,4,5-tetrazines and olefins have recently found widespread application as a novel 'click chemistry' scheme and as a mild technique for the modification of materials. Norbornenes are, due to their straightforward synthetic availability, especially interesting in the latter context. Therefore, the reactivity of different norbomene-based compounds was compared with unsubstituted norbornene and other alkenes using UV-vis measurements for the determination of reaction rates under pseudo first order conditions. Thereby, exo,exo-5-norbornene-2,3-dimethanol was found to be almost as reactive as unsubstituted norbomene whereas (+/-)-endo, exo-dimethy1-5-norbomene-2,3-dicarboxylate reacted only insignificanty faster than unstrained alkenes. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.