Experimental and DFT study of the aza-Diels-Alder reaction between cyclopentadiene and protonated benzylimine derivated from glyoxylates

A theoretical study was carried out at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of calculation in order to predict and interpret the exo/endo ratio of adducts obtained by Diels-Alder cycloaddition of N-benzyl imine of methyl glyoxylate to cyclopentadiene. The theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experimental study based on NMR spectroscopy.