Fig. 4: Energy profile of the dearomative [5 + 4] cycloaddition reaction of naphthalene-derived VCP.

Calculated at the (U)M062X-D3/def2-TZVPP (SMD, DCM)//(U)B3LYP-D3(BJ)/def2-SVP (SMD, DCM) level of theory. The Gibbs free energies (ΔG) are in kcal mol–1. The values in brown are bond distances (in Å), and the underlined values are Mulliken spin populations at specified atoms.