Alkylidene carbenes intramolecular cyclization

Wills in vestigated the intramolecular cyclizations of alkylidene carbenes and showed that the ketone depicted below was converted to a 3.6 1 mixture of two 2,5-dihydrofurans utilizing the Shiori protocol <03T4739>. 

The first preparative use of intramolecular C—insertion in organic synthesis was developed by Dreiding, who reported in 1979 that, on flash vacuum pyrolysis, a conjugated alkynyl ketone such as (36) is smoothly converted to a mixture of the cyclized enones (37) and (38) (equation 15). This elegant reaction apparently proceeds via isomerization of the alkyne to the corresponding alkylidene carbene. 

Various flve-membered heterocycles can be prepared by inter- or intramolecular addition/cyclizations of appropriate nucleophiles with alkynyliodonium salts via alkylidene carbene intermediates [856, 978, 979]. The intermolecular variant of this cyclization has been employed in the synthesis of 3-substituted-5,6-dihydroimidazo[2,l-( ]thiazoles [997], 2-substituted imidazo[l,2-a]pyrimidines [998] and 2-substituted-imidazo[l,2-fl]pyridines [999]. In a representative example, 2-substituted imidazo[l,2-fl]pyridines 744 were synthesized in good yield by cyclocondensation of 2-aminopyridine (742) with alkynyl(phenyl)iodonium tosylates 743 under mild conditions (Scheme 3.293) [999]. The mechanism of this cyclization involves... 

The intramolecular variant of the alkylidene carbene cyclization is achieved by treating functionalized alkynyliodonium salts with a suitable nucleophile. These cyclizations are exemplified by the following works the preparation of various functionalized 2,5-dihydrofurans by treatment of 3-alkoxy-l-alkynyl-(phenyl)iodonium triflates with sodium benzenesulfinate [1002], employment of the alkylidene carbene cyclization in the total syntheses of natural products agelastatin A and agelastatin B [1003] and preparation of the tricyclic core of ( )-halichlorine through the use of an alkynyliodonium salt/alkylidenecarbene/1,5 C—H insertion sequence [1004]. In particular, Wardrop and Fritz have employed the sodium benzenesulfinate-induced cyclization of alkynyliodonium triflate 751 for the preparation of dihydrofuran 752 (Scheme 3.295), which is a key intermediate product in the total synthesis of ( )-magnofargesin [1002]. 

Enyne metathesis is unique and interesting in synthetic organic chemistry. Since it is difficult to control intermolecular enyne metathesis, this reaction is used as intramolecular enyne metathesis. There are two types of enyne metathesis one is caused by [2+2] cycloaddition of a multiple bond and transition metal carbene complex, and the other is an oxidative cyclization reaction caused by low-valent transition metals. In these cases, the alkyli-dene part migrates from alkene to alkyne carbon. Thus, this reaction is called an alkylidene migration reaction or a skeletal reorganization reaction. Many cyclized products having a diene moiety were obtained using intramolecular enyne metathesis. Very recently, intermolecular enyne metathesis has been developed between alkyne and ethylene as novel diene synthesis. 

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