Driving Force of Inverse Electron Demand Diels-Alder Reactions of Diphenyl Tetrazines

We explore the inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reactions of tetrazines with various functional groups employing quantum calculations. In general, the rate of inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reaction depends on molecular orbital levels of electron donor and electron acceptor. Likewise, ${\pi}$ orbital of the dienophile and ${\pi}^*$ orbital of the diene is a key factor. In this work, we discuss the case where the energy of diene's ${\pi}^*$ molecular orbital is not the sole governing factor to determine the reaction rate, rather the rate shows strong correlation with the charge density of dienes.