Anthracene Diels-Alder reactions

Keywords 1,4-dithiin, anthracene, Diels-Alder reaction, single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation... 

Breslow studied the dimerisation of cyclopentadiene and the reaction between substituted maleimides and 9-(hydroxymethyl)anthracene in alcohol-water mixtures. He successfully correlated the rate constant with the solubility of the starting materials for each Diels-Alder reaction. From these relations he estimated the change in solvent accessible surface between initial state and activated complex " . Again, Breslow completely neglects hydrogen bonding interactions, but since he only studied alcohol-water mixtures, the enforced hydrophobic interactions will dominate the behaviour. Recently, also Diels-Alder reactions in dilute salt solutions in aqueous ethanol have been studied and minor rate increases have been observed Lubineau has demonstrated that addition of sugars can induce an extra acceleration of the aqueous Diels-Alder reaction . Also the effect of surfactants on Diels-Alder reactions has been studied. This topic will be extensively reviewed in Chapter 4. 

Butenediol is a weak dienophile in Diels-Alder reactions. Adducts have been described with anthracene (108) and with hexachlorocyclopentadiene... 

Bis(trifluoromethyl)-l,l-dicyanoethylene is a very reactive dienophile. It undergoes facile and high-yield [2+4] cycloadditions with 1,3-dienes, cyclopen-tadiene, and anthracene [707] (equation 86). It is reactive enough in a Diels-Alder reaction with styrene [702] (equation 86). 

The synthesis of bisantrene begins with Diels-Alder reaction of anthracene (52) and ethylene... 

For a recent discussion on the stereochemical aspects of the Diels-Alder reaction with vinyl sulphoxides see References 662, 663. It should be pointed out that vinyl sulphoxides can be considered in [2 + 4]-cycloadditions as acetylene synthons since the sulphinyl moiety may be removed from the product by sulphenic acid elimination. Paquette and coworkers took advantage of this fact in the synthesis of properly substituted anthracenes 562664, (equation 360). 

The discovery that Lewis acids can promote Diels-Alder reactions has become a powerful tool in synthetic organic chemistry. Yates and Eaton [4] first reported the remarkable acceleration of the reactions of anthracene with maleic anhydride, 1,4-benzoquinone and dimethyl fumarate catalyzed by aluminum chloride. The presence of the Lewis-acid catalyst allows the cycloadditions to be carried out under mild conditions, reactions with low reactive dienes and dienophiles are made possible, and the stereoselectivity, regioselectivity and site selectivity of the cycloaddition reaction can be modified [5]. Consequently, increasing attention has been given to these catalysts in order to develop new regio- and stereoselective synthetic routes based on the Diels-Alder reaction. 

Luche and coworkers [34] investigated the mechanistic aspects of Diels-Alder reactions of anthracene with either 1,4-benzoquinone or maleic anhydride. The cycloaddition of anthracene with maleic anhydride in DCM is slow under US irradiation in the presence or absence of 5% tris (p-bromophenyl) aminium hexachloroantimonate (the classical Bauld monoelectronic oxidant, TBPA), whereas the Diels Alder reaction of 1,4-benzoquinone with anthracene in DCM under US irradiation at 80 °C is slow in the absence of 5 % TBPA but proceeds very quickly and with high yield at 25 °C in the presence of TBPA. This last cycloaddition is also strongly accelerated when carried out under stirring solely at 0°C with 1% FeCh. The US-promoted Diels Alder reaction in the presence of TBPA has been justified by hypothesizing a mechanism via radical-cation of diene, which is operative if the electronic affinity of dienophile is not too weak. 

The single-electron transfer from one excited component to the other component acceptor, as the critical step prior to cycloaddition of photo-induced Diels Alder reactions, has been demonstrated [43] for the reaction of anthracene with maleic anhydride and various maleimides carried out in chloroform under irradiation by a medium-pressure mercury lamp (500 W). The (singlet) excited anthracene ( AN ), generated by the actinic light, is quenched by dienophile... 

The low solubility of fullerene (Ceo) in common organic solvents such as THE, MeCN and DCM interferes with its functionalization, which is a key step for its synthetic applications. Solid state photochemistry is a powerful strategy for overcoming this difficulty. Thus a 1 1 mixture of Cgo and 9-methylanthra-cene (Equation 4.10, R = Me) exposed to a high-pressure mercury lamp gives the adduct 72 (R = Me) with 68% conversion [51]. No 9-methylanthracene dimers were detected. Anthracene does not react with Ceo under these conditions this has been correlated to its ionization potential which is lower than that of the 9-methyl derivative. This suggests that the Diels-Alder reaction proceeds via photo-induced electron transfer from 9-methylanthracene to the triplet excited state of Ceo-... 

Rideout and Breslow first reported [2a] the kinetic data for the accelerating effect of water, for the Diels Alder reactions of cyclopentadiene with methyl vinyl ketone and acrylonitrile and the cycloaddition of anthracene-9-carbinol with N-ethylmaleimide, giving impetus to research in this area (Table 6.1). The reaction in water is 28 to 740 times faster than in the apolar hydrocarbon isooctane. By adding lithium chloride (salting-out agent) the reaction rate increases 2.5 times further, while the presence of guanidinium chloride decreases it. The authors suggested that this exceptional effect of water is the result of a combination of two factors the polarity of the medium and the... 

Table 6.2 Sodium and guanidinium salt effects (relative reaction rates) of Diels-Alder reaction of anthracene-9-carbinol and N-ethylmaleimide...

An example of a /zctcro-Diels-Alder reaction in SC-CO2 is the cycloaddition of anthracene with 4-phenyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione, carried out at 40 °C and at a pressures between 75 and 216 bar [86]. The rate constant increases with decreasing pressure and the highest reactivity was observed at the critical pressure. The value of the rate constant at the critical pressure was higher than that observed in liquid CHCI3 and MeCN at the same temperature. At higher pressures, the rate is slower than that in the polar solvents, which reflects the apolar nature of SC-CO2 as a solvent. 

Keywords Mg2+-catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions, anthracenes, p-benzoquin-one, photoinduced electron transfer... 

Scheme 24 Use of PS-anthracene to scavenge excess of dienophiles after a hetero Diels-Alder reaction...

Another interesting scavenger is polymer-supported anthracene, developed by Porco for the scavenging of dienophiles [109]. An example of its application to the synthesis of a complex 5,8-dihydro-(l,2,4)triazolo[l,2-a]pyridazine-l,3-diones via hetero-Diels-Alder reaction followed by removal of the excess of triazole-3,5-dione under microwave irradiation is depicted in Scheme 24. For this particular example, moving from thermal heating (toluene, 100 °C) to a microwave-assisted protocol (DCE, 150 °C) reduced scavenging time from 3 h to just 15 min. 

Edman and Simmons [146] synthesized bicyclo[2.2.1]hepta-2,5-diene-2,3-dicar-boxylic anhydride 80 as a facially perturbed dienophile on the basis of the norbornadiene motif, and its top selectivity in Diels-Alder reactions with cyclopentadiene (top-exo top-endo = 60 70 1) was observed by Bartlett (Fig. 14) [147], The most preferred addition was top-exo addition, along with the minor addition modes, top-endo bottom-enrfo addition (Fig. 14). The addition of butadiene to this anhydride preferentially afforded the top-adduct (top bottom = 6 1). In the addition of anthracene, a top-adduct was formed exclusively. 

Starting from 27, cyclo-Cig was prepared in the gas phase by laser flash heating and the neutral product, formed by stepwise elimination of three anthracene molecules in retro-Diels-Alder reactions, was detected by resonant two-photon-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry [23]. However, all attempts to prepare macroscopic quantities of the cyclocarbon by flash vacuum pyrolysis using solvent-assisted sublimation [50] only afforded anthracene and polymeric material. 

The Diels-Alder reaction is a purely cis-addition the relative positions of the substituents are retained in the adduct (compare anthracene and maleic anhydride above). ... 

Diels-Alder reaction of its anthracene adduct 194 to obtain hexamethyl-... 

The study of the cycloaddition behavior of l,l-dichloro-2-neopentylsilene, C Si =CHCH2Bu (2) [3], reveals the high polarity of the Si=C bond and a strong electrophilicity. The [4+2] cycloaddition reactions with anthracene (3), cyclopentadiene (4) and fulvenes (5) proceed as expected surprising, however, the Diels-Alder reactions with dienes are of lower activity, like naphthalene (6) and furans (7). 

Most forms of carbon interact strongly with microwaves. When irradiated at 2.45 GHz, amorphous carbon and graphite in powdered form rapidly reach ca. 1000 °C within 1 min of irradiation. An example of a solvent-free Diels-Alder reaction performed on a graphite support is shown in Scheme 4.5. Here, diethyl fuma-rate and anthracene adsorbed on graphite reacted within 1 min of microwave irradiation under open-vessel conditions to provide the corresponding cycloadduct in 92% yield [14]. The maximum temperature recorded by an IR-pyrometer was 370 °C. In other cases, it was necessary to reduce the microwave power and therefore the reaction temperature in order to avoid retro-Diels-Alder reactions [13]. 

Scheme 4.3 Diels—Alder reaction of anthracene with diethyl fumarate.

The first report suggesting specific activation of an organic reaction by MW was that of Berlan et al. [28] who observed that some Diels-Alder reactions occurred more rapidly on MW heating than under conventional heating at the same temperature (95 °C). The reactions were performed in two different solvents, xylene and dibutyl ether and the rate enhancements were slightly higher in xylene, the less polar solvent. For example the rate enhancement of the reaction of 2,3-dimethyl-l,3-butadiene 21 with methyl vinyl ketone 22 was 8 times in xylene and 2.3 times in dibutyl ether, based on the half lives of the reactions. Reaction of anthracene 3 with diethyl maleate 23 in xylene (Scheme 4.12) resulted in an approximately fourfold rate in-... 

Methods have been described that involve microwave-assisted graphite-supported dry media for the cycloaddition of anthracene, 1-azadienes and 1,2,4,5-tetrazines with several C-C dienophiles and carbonyl compounds in hetero-Diels-Alder reactions [35], This technique leads to a shortening of reaction times, a situation that enables work to be undertaken at ambient pressure in an open reactor to avoid the formation of unwanted compounds by thermal decomposition of reagents or products. 

Similarly, the use of a higher input power in retro-Diels-Alder reactions of anthracene derivatives has been reported to afford complete reaction in 3-5 min [36], This method is an alternative to the use of flash thermolysis. The use of graphite is a prerequisite for obtaining high temperatures in a short time. 

The scope of the microwave technique in the preparation of fullerene derivatives was determined in the well known Diels-Alder reaction of C6o with anthracene (1) [71], which has been reported to occur under thermal conditions (13% [71a], reflux, toluene, three days 25% [71b], reflux, benzene, 12 h) (Scheme 9.22). In addition to 76, multiply-substituted adducts that undergo cycloreversion to the starting materials were formed. 

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