Allylic strain (also known as A1,3 strain, 1,3-allylic strain, or A-strain) in organic chemistry is a type of strain energy resulting from the interaction between a substituent on one end of an olefin (a synonym for an alkene) with an allylic substituent on the other end. If the substituents (R and R') are large enough in size, they can sterically interfere with each other such that one conformer is greatly favored over the other. Allylic strain was first recognized in the literature in 1965 by Johnson and Malhotra. The authors were investigating cyclohexane conformations including endocyclic and exocylic double bonds when they noticed certain conformations were disfavored due to the geometry constraints caused by the double bond. Organic chemists capitalize on the rigidity resulting from allylic strain for use in asymmetric reactions.
The "strain energy" of a molecule is a quantity that is difficult to precisely define, so the meaning of this term can easily vary depending on one's interpretation. Instead, an objective way to view the allylic strain of a molecule is through its conformational equilibrium. Comparing the heats of formation of the involved conformers, an overall ΔHeq can be evaluated. This term gives information about the relative stabilities of the involved conformers and the effect allylic strain has one equilibrium. Heats of formation can be determined experimentally though calorimetric studies; however, calculated enthalpies are more commonly used due to the greater ease of acquisition.
Different methods utizilized to estimate conformational equilibrium enthalpy include: the Westheimer method, the homomorph method, and more simply—using estimated enthalpies of nonbonded interactions within a molecule. Because all of these methods are approximations, reported strain values for the same molecule can vary and should be used only to give a general idea of the strain energy.
The simplest type of molecules which exhibit allylic strain are olefins. Depending on the substituents, olefins maintain varying degrees of allylic strain.
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The cobalt-catalyzed hydrohydrazination reaction of dienes and enynes is presented. Allylic and propargylic hydrazides were obtained in synthetically useful yields (allylic amines, 60-90%; propargylic