Barrelene to semibullvalene

Early applications of this reaction are found in the conversion of barrelene to semibullvalene 324) (3.15) or in the preparation of an azabullvalene (3.16) 325). In a similar reaction azabarbaralene has been prepared from aza-bicyclononatriene 326). 

Aside from simple processes such as cis-trans isomerization, the first example of a potential energy surface derived for a photochemical rearrangement or reaction was in 1967. This was work by the Zimmerman group 44-47) in which the hypersurface for the Di-u-Methane rearrangement of barrelene to semibullvalene was obtained note Fig. 13. 

Another example of an early and simplistic computation is the barrelene to semibullvalene transformation. In Scheme... 

MORE MODERN COMPUTATION OF THE BARRELENE TO SEMIBULLVALENE CONVERSION... 

Figure 1.3 Triplet hypersurface for conversion of barrelene to semibullvalene (ellipsoids). The diamonds correspond to ground-state points. Solid triangles are selected Sj points. The ordinate is in Hartrees (-307.54 to -307.40).

DETAILED REACTIVITY OF INTERMEDIATE DIRADICALS IN THE BARRELENE TO SEMIBULLVALENE REARRANGEMENT... 

Given the need for photoactivation, an often encountered additional requirement for substrates participating in DPM reactions is the presence of a strong chromophore as provided, for example, by the presence of a phenyl group on at least one of the double bonds. In acyclic 1,4-dienes, the central sp -hybridized carbon normally needs to be tetrasubstituted otherwise, competing 1,2-hydrogen shifts can occur. This requirement does not apply, however, to those cyclic substrates where isomerization would lead to an anti-Bredt olefin (as would be the case for the conversion of barrelene to semibullvalene, 6 7, shown in Scheme 9.2). 

Barrelene was obtained via a double Diels-Alder reaction from a-pyrone with methyl acrylate (H.E. Zimmerman, I969A). The primarily forming bicyclic lactone decarboxylates in the heat, and the resulting cyclohexadiene rapidly undergoes another Diels-Alder cyclization. Standard reactions have then been used to eliminate the methoxycarbonyl groups and to introduce C—C double bonds. Irradiation of barrelene produces semibullvalene and cyclooctatetraene (H.E. Zimmerman. 1969B). 

The di- r-methane rearrangement is a fairly recent reaction. One of the first examples has been reported in 1966 by Zimmerman and Grunewald with the isomerization of barrelene 8 to semibullvalene 9. This rearrangement reaction occurs in the presence of acetone as photosensitizer, and proceeds from the Ti-state. ... 

However, some substrates, generally rigid bicyclic molecules, (e.g., barrelene, which is converted to semibullvalene) give the di-7t-methane rearrangement only from triplet states. 

In fact, barrelene rearranges by the di-7t-methane pathway to semibullvalene only when acetone sensitized direct irradiation produces cyclooctatetraene as the major photoproduct. A number of similar examples exist, each demonstrating the general phenomenon of preferred triplet multiplicity for di-7r-methane rearrangements in rigidly constrained systems, i.e. structures which prohibit free rotation about the Ti-bonds. ... 

In mechanism (8.43) the bridgehead hydrogens of barrelene should be found at the a positions of semibullvalene (2a, 0/3,0y). Mechanism (8.44) can give three different hydrogen-label distributions. If the final bond formation is concerted with bond fission, and bond fission and formation take place at the same carbon atom [mechanism (8.44A)], the label distribution should be (la, 0/3, ly). If bond formation is concerted with bond fission but with a preference for bond formation at the carbon allylic to bond fission [mechanism (8.44B)], the label distribution should be (2a, 0/3, Oy). If there is a symmetric allylic biradical which has a finite existence [mechanism (8.44AB)], then the hydrogen-label distribution should be (1.5a, 0/3,0.5y). 

With the exception of the a-naphtho position, bridging to aromatic sites is very unfavorable in the barrelene-semibullvalene rearrangements. If we exclude anthraceno-vinyl bridging, there is insufficient energy available (43 kcal/mole) for vinyl-vinyl bridging (58 kcal/mole) in the lowest anthrabarrelene triplet state. Consequently, it is not surprising that the 7 state is unreactive. In contrast, (76 kcal/mole) and T2 (74 kcal/mole) are not subject to this limitation. Evidence in favor of one or the other of these two possible electronic states is not available. 

Studies of di-ir-methane photochemical rearrangements have been one of the main areas of research in organic photochemistry for many years (for reviews, see Refs. 1-4). The first example of a reaction of this type was reported by Zimmerman in 1967 in the sensitized irradiation of barrelene 1 that yields semibullvalene 2 [5] (Scheme 1). The reaction has been extended to a large number of acyclic and cyclic 1,4-dienes that yield the corresponding vinylcyclo-propanes on irradiation, in the di-ir-methane (DPM) version of the rearrangement. This reaction also takes place when a vinyl unit is replaced by an aryl group. A few representative examples of DPM rearrangements are shown in Scheme 1 [6-9]. 

The di-TT-methane rearrangement was discovered and conceptually developed by H. E. Zimmerman (University of Wisconsin), one of the earliest examples being the photoisomerization of barrelene (1) into semibullvalene (2) (equation 2). Through intensive subsequent work, this photoreaction was shown to be quite general for 1,4-dienes. In view of the major contributions by the original author, the rearrangement is also referred to as the Zimmerman rearrangement. 

One of the first examples of the di-7t-methane rearrangement was found in the photochemical conversion of bicyclo[2.2.2]octa-2,5,7-triene (barrelene, 1) to tricyclo[5.1.0.0 ]octa-2,5-diene (semibullvalene, 2). ... 

From this initial study it was clear that the loss of nitrogen by thermolysis leads to the ground state. Whether this is a concerted process (i.e., a reverse [2 + 2 + 2]) or generates Sq of diradical 1, which then fragments to barrelene, is debatable. In any case, the transition structure for the concerted process is just diradical 1 loosely bonded to a molecular nitrogen molecule. What is clear is that sensitization leads to diradical 1 and preferentially to the semibullvalenes rather than radiationless decay to ground state. 

---