Bending Forks: a DFT Study

Abstract: Recently, Old Macdonald and co-workers reported the first synthesis of an En-Yn-En-Yn-Ol. Within this study, they reference the first predicted example of such a molecule; Oldmacdenynenynol (1). The conformation of 1 has been the subject of dispute since its publication in 1997. The original report displayed oldmacdenynenynol with a linear arrangement of the pitchfork carbons. This structure was contested by Ogden Flogg in 2020, who proposed 2 as a more stable conformer. One assumes he was locked down, with nothing better to do. We have applied DFT techniques in an attempt to resolve this dispute, and because we sensed an easy paper.