Acrolein acetals Diels-Alder reactions

Similarly, the diethyl acetal of acrolein undergoes facile Diels-Alder reactions in the presence of triflic acid, although yields are only moderate. 2-Vinyl-l,3-dioxolane is recommended as the reagent of choice because of higher yields.2... 

Some alicyclic alcohols are important as synthetic sandalwood fragrances. A few alicyclic aldehydes are valuable perfume materials and are obtained by Diels Alder reactions using terpenes and acrolein. Esters derived from hydrogenated aromatic compounds, such as /cr/-butylcyclohexyl and decahydro-/3-naphthyl acetates, are also used in large amounts as fragrance materials. 

As a result of their accessibility, dihydropyrans provide a useful source of 4//-pyrans. Indeed one of the earliest syntheses of the parent compound involved the pyrolysis of 2-acetoxy-3,4-dihydropyran (165) (62JA2452). The concomitant formation of acrolein, vinyl acetate and acetic acid indicates that a reverse Diels-Alder reaction competes with the pyrolysis. 

Chiral dienes have proved to be less popular in asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions than their chiral dienophile counterparts. This is primarily a result of the problem of designing a molecule that incorporates a chiral moiety, such as the formation of a chiral isoprenyl ether or vinyl ketene acetal.187-190 In addition, diastereoselectivities often are not high,54 191-199 as illustrated by the cycloaddition of the chiral butadiene 5 with acrolein (Scheme 26.4). Improved stereoselection is observed through the use of double asymmetric induction, although this is a somewhat wasteful protocol.35,54 177 200... 

Scheme 51 presents an entirely different mode of catalyzed [4 + 2] cycloadditions. Thus irimediylsilyl triflate or triflic acid apparently transform vinyl orthoesters and acrolein acetals to powerful transient allyl cation dienophiles (214) and (219), respectively. The ionic Diels-Alder reactions (213) (216)... 

Nitrile, azo, and nitroso groups, and even the oxygen molecule, take part in such reactions, and acetylenic triple bonds in particular confer reactivity as philodiene. As for dienes, so for philodienes the reactivity depends on the constitution. Activating groups particularly favor addition. The most reactive components include <%,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compounds such as acrolein, acrylic acid, maleic acid and its anhydride, acetylenedicarboxylic acid, p-benzo-quinone and cinnamaldehyde, as well as saturated nitriles and <%,/ -unsaturated nitro compounds. Tetracyanoethylene also reacts with dienes.41,42 Conjugation of the double bond to an active group is not absolutely essential for a philodiene, for dienes add under certain conditions also to philodienes with isolated double bonds examples of the latter type are vinyl esters and vinyl-acetic acid. Ketenes do not undergo the Diels-Alder reaction with dienes, but instead yield cyclobutanone derivatives 43,44... 

Diels-Alder reactions of cyclopentadiene with different alkenes proceed at different rates. Cyclopentadiene reacts with acrolein in ether at room temperature (24 h) to give a 95% yield of 27.59 contrasts with the reaction of cyclopentadiene and ethene in ether to give a 74% yield of norbornene (28), but required heating to 200°C in an autoclave at 5800 psi pressure or 32 h. The presence of an electron releasing group on the alkene causes the reaction to proceed with greater difficulty. Vinyl acetate reacted with cyclopentadiene at 190°C in an autoclave (10 h, neat) to give only 25% of 29. 

This sequence has been used for the synthesis of 6-methoxymurrayanine (232) (Scheme 55) [214]. Reaction of butane-2,3-dione (226) with 4-methoxyphenyl isocyanate (227) to 4,5-dimethylene-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-l,3-oxazolidin-2-one (228) followed by regioselective boron trifluoride-catalyzed Diels-Alder reaction with acrolein afforded the oxazolone 229. Only minor amounts of the undesired regioisomer were formed. Aromatization using 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-l,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) afforded the benzoxazol-2-one 230. Saponification of the cyclic carbamate and subsequent O-methylation led to the diarylamine 231. Finally, oxidative cyclization using stoichiometric amounts of palladium(ll) acetate provided 6-methoxymurrayanine (232). 

Acyloxydihydropyrans 12, accessible by Diels-Alder reaction with inverse electron demand (cf p. 315) between enones and vinylacetates, give 4H-pyrans on eUmination of HOAc, as illustrated by one of the earliest syntheses of the parent compound [56] from acrolein and vinyl acetate ... 

Examples with 2-vinylindoles are also found. Thus, the reaction of N-methyl-2-(2-methoxyvinyl)indole, as a cis-trans mixture, with acrylonitrile and ethyl and methyl acrylate gives the corresponding Diels-Alder compounds [83IJC(B)846]. With N-methyl-2-(2-nitrovinyl)indole as diene, similar reactions occur with methyl acrylate, acrylonitrile, and acrolein acetal but in these cases, the fully aromatic compounds were isolated. The cycloaddition reaction with acrolein acetal was nonregioselective and the isolated adducts had a CHO group, indicating that the acetal had been hydrolyzed (presumably during work-up). 

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