Azomethine imines, cycloaddition with sydnones

The answer to this dilemma was provided by Huisgen et al. (1962 a, 1962 b) by the cycloaddition reaction of C-methyl-A-phenylsydnone (6.10) with styrene, which yields, via the bicyclic intermediate 6.11 and elimination of CO2, 4,5-dihydro-5-methyl-l,3-diphenyl-li/-pyrazole (6.12). As mentioned briefly in Section 6.2 (Table 6-1, footnote a), sydnones are cyclic azomethine imines. As Huisgen (1968) demonstrated later, sydnone and azomethine imine cycloadditions are kinetically very similar with respect to solvent effects and in the sequence of reactivity with a series of 11 dipolarophiles. 

Cycloadditions were found to be first-order reactions with respect to both 1,3-dipole and dipolarophile, in all cases so far investigated. There are some limits to kinetic studies of these reactions, as many 1,3-dipoles are very reactive substances. While aryl azides, diazoalkanes, some classes of azomethine imines (for instance sydnones), and some classes of azomethine oxides (nitrones) are stable and isolable, azomethine ylides are usually unstable, an exception being represented by a mesoionic oxazolone that has been used for kinetic investigations benzonitrile oxide has a very limited stability, although some substituted derivatives are stable for long periods nitrile imines are not commonly isolable because of their strong tendency to dimerise. 1,3-Dipoles of... 

Mesoionic compounds have been known for many years and have been extensively utilized as substrates in 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions.158-160 Of the known mesoionic heterocycles, munchnones and sydnones have generated the most interest in recent years. These heterocyclic dipoles contain a mesoionic aromatic system i.e. 206) which can only be depicted with polar resonance structures.158 Although sydnones were extensively investigated after their initial discoveiy in 1935,160 their 1,3-dipolar character was not recognized until the azomethine imine system was spotted in the middle structure of (206). C-Methyl-N-phenylsydnone (206) combines with ethyl phenylpropiolate to give the tetrasub-... 

Sydnones can be regarded as cyclic azomethine imines and as such they undergo thermal cycloaddition reactions with a range of dipolarophiles. Thus, reaction with phenyl isocyanate converts 401 into 1,2,4-triazole 402. On photolysis, 3,4-diarylsydnones lose carbon dioxide and give nitrile imines, which can also be intercepted by dipolarophiles. Thermal reactions with acetylenic dipolarophiles lead to the formation of pyrazoles (Scheme 88) however, these reactions are rarely completely regioselective with unsymmetrical alkynes, e.g., <2000BKC761, 2000TL1687>. 

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