Acylnitrenes

Intramolecular acylnitrene-induced ring expansions of arenes are of great interest for the synthesis of novel 1//-azepines. Benzyl azidoformates, when subjected to spray-vacuum pyrolysis (SVP),152 yield l//,3//-oxazolo[3,4-a]azepin-3-ones which dimerize spontaneously 153,154 however, 2,6-dichlorobenzyl azidoformate yields the thermally stable (< 100 C) 5,9-dichloro-1 //,3//-oxazolo[3,4-a]azepin-3-one (8).154... 

An elegant extension of these intramolecular acylnitrene-induced ring expansions has been used for the synthesis of cyclopent[h]azepines.2 2-Haloindan-l-yl azidoformates 14 (X = Cl, Br), when subjected to pyrolysis at 300 °C in a hot tube packed with calcium oxide and copper turnings, produce cyclopent[6]azepine (15), as a dark turquoise oil, in excellent yield. Lesser yields (30 and 50%, respectively) of the 4-bromo and 3-methoxy derivatives can be similarly obtained. 

Intermolecular addition of photochemically generated nitrenes and in particular acylnitrenes to alkenes provides a useful and widely applied route to aziridines.385 An analogous intramolecular photoreaction is thought to be involved in the conversion of the o-azidophenylethylfuran 461 into the pyrrolo[l,2-a]quinoline 462 as outlined in Scheme 13,386 and intramolecular addition to an azo group has been observed in the 8-azido-1-arylazonaphthalenes 463.387... 

In remembrance of the isolation of carbene 78 (Section m.C) it seems acceptable that 141, formed from 140 by a [l,2]-migration of the substituent, functions as a second intermediate. Carbene 141 can subsequently fragment into a nitrene 143 and carbon monoxide or open to an isocyanate 144, which alternatively may also be generated from an acid azide via acylnitrene 142. In comparison to calculated reaction pathways 75 78 and 82 81 (Schemes... 

Photolysis of nitrile oxide 377 (R = CNO) gives acylnitrene 377 (R = CON), which undergoes intramolecular insertion reactions to give products 378 and 379 (428). 

In contrast to the somewhat limited synthetic utility of nitrenes, there is an important group of reactions in which migration occurs to electron-deficient nitrogen. One of the most useful of these reactions is the Curtius rearrangement 16 This reaction has the same relationship to acylnitrene intermediates that the Wolff rearrangement does to acylcar-benes. The initial product is an isocyanate, which can be isolated or trapped by a nucleophilic solvent. 

Benzofurazans are thermally more stable but can be cleaved photolytically. For example, benzo-furazan itself in benzene affords cyanoisocyanate (17) and azepine (18), the latter being formed by reaction of the solvent with the putative intermediate acylnitrene (19) (Scheme 5) further supporting evidence for the proposed pathway is provided by trapping the nitrile oxide precursor with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate and isolation of the methylurethane derivative of the isocyanate <75JOC2880>. Photolysis of diphenylfurazan yields benzonitrile, diphenylfuroxan and 3,5-diphenyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole. 

Alternatively, one could conclude the reaction is stepwise, but that the rearrangement of the acylnitrene is much faster than bimolecular chemistry. 

However, Lwowski and co-workers demonstrated that photolysis of 7 in cyclohexane, cyclohexene- or 2-methylbutane does lead to the formation of adducts. Therefore, the acylnitrene 8 is a trappable intermediate. The thermal Curtius rearrangement does not involve free nitrenes and it must be a concerted process. 

Pyrolysis or photolysis of methanesulfonyl azide in 2-methyl butane (RH) produces formal C H insertion adducts attributed to reactions of the thermally generated nitrene. The selectivity of this nitrene for 3°/2°/l° C—H bonds was 6/2.3/1.0 Sulfonyinitrenes, like acylnitrenes, insert into the OH bonds of alcohols. 

An interesting development of this azepine synthesis is the intramolecular addition of acylnitrenes to arenes, as exemplified in Scheme 27 for the nitrene (231) generated from benzyl azidoformate by spray pyrolysis (80CC1161). 

Averdung et al. also obtained several aziridinofullerenes by the reaction of C60 with acylnitrenes, generated by photolysis of aroylazides 85a-d, leading to the fullerene adducts 86a-d (Scheme 34) [260], In a typical experiment a solution of C6o and a five-fold excess of azide 85a-d in oxygen free 1,1,2,2-tetra-chloroethane was irradiated for 60 min in Pyrex tubes using a RPR 100 Rayonet... 

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