Diels–Alder cycloaddition
A diene and an alkene join at both ends at once, making a six-membered ring with one double bond left in the middle.
mechanism writtenBalanced: every atom is accounted for
What it needs, and what it gives
- Reaction class
- Cycloaddition
- Heat. The alkene reacts faster when it carries an electron-withdrawing group.
- balanced — the co-products are written out, not dropped
- Mechanism
- Diels-Alder cycloaddition, one concerted step
How it is thought to happen
One step. Six electrons move round a ring at once, two new single bonds form at the ends and the double bond ends up in the middle.
- Six electrons move round at once
Try it on your own structures
Enter your reactants in the Reaction Lab. If this transformation matches what you drew, it is applied and the outcome is shown next to the records that back it — with the count of documented reactions doing the same thing on substrates like yours, rather than a confidence score.