Dynamic Origin of the Stereoselectivity of a Nucleophilic Substitution Reaction

A nucleophilic substitution on a dichlorovinyl ketone was studied experimentally and computationally. A mixture of products is observed experimentally, but a conventional computational analysis does not account for the formation of the minor stereoisomer. Instead, the product mixture is predicted accurately from a dynamic trajectory study on a bifurcating energy surface. The dynamic origin of the stereoselectivity of the reaction is discussed.