Theoretical studies of reactivity and selectivity in some organic reactions

Some organic reactions with biological or commercial interest have been studied by using reactivity and selectivity indices proposed in the density functional theory. The reactions studied include the electrophilic additions, the Baeyer- Villiger oxidations, and the nucleophilic substitutions. For the study, the concepts of electrophilicity and nucleophilicity have been applied as reactivity descriptors. The local hardness has been applied as well as a selectivity descriptor. In this way, the reactivity and selectivity patterns have been studied for the reactants involved in these organic reactions. They have been ranked in theoretical scales which are comparable with experimental scales obtained from kinetic data.