Comments

Cyclopentadiene

Good. Calculations and explanations are all correct. Could have discussed bond angles in 3 + 4. How could you find out the main product?

Taxol

Study the structure more closely! Taxol has a cyclohexane ring therefore there are 4 structure possible for 9 and 4 for 10! These need to be optimised.

Total energies here are higher than optimum. Final conclusion being 10 is correct – just not from the right numbers!

Explanation not correct due to not identifying the chairs and boats originally. Need to look at the sp2 carbonyl angles.

What about some information on hyperstable olefins? This is why you modelled the parent hydrocarbons!

NMR

Overall needs more discussion. You say ‘geometry as low as possibly, however this could not be sure’… This is not true! The above exercise would have shown this!

1H NMR – Literature values in comparison would have been good here

13C NMR- Good with shift and spin orbital coupling

Epoxide

Crystal structure

Great. Nice figures and discussion

NMR

I am assuming you realised both enantiomers would have given the same NMR – this needs to be stated though!!

Need to discuss NMR more

Rotations

Literature values should be equal but opposite – this is definitely not the case for 3!!

RR/SS calcs good.

Nice discussion of VCD/ECD!

TS

Great.

QTAIM and NCI

Nicely done, very thorough 

Suggestion

OK, but you were told to find something with an optical rotation of greater than 500 or less than -500!