FORCE-FIELD PARAMETERS FOR THE BORONATE FUNCTION AND THEIR CARBONYL-COMPLEXES AND APPLICATION TO MODELING BORONATE ESTERS

MM2 force field parameters have been developed for alkyl- and aryl-bor onates and for their carbonyl Lewis-acid complexes, from a combination of X-ray crystallographic data, infrared spectroscopy, ab initio and semi-empirical calculations. The resulting parameters, when used in co njunction with MacroModel, reproduce the geometry of ab initio and MND O calculated and X-ray crystal structures with high accuracy, and have been used to model chiral boronate esters to explain the origin of st ereoselective reduction reactions of boronate complexes 3 and 4.