Benzocyclobutene aryne

Benzenesulfonic anhydride, 46, 88 Benzocyclobutenes, 1-substituted, from addition of a side-chain carban-ion to an aryne bond, 48, 55 Benzofuran, 46,28 Benzoic acid, 2-phenylethyl ester,... 

Cyclization by addition of a side-chain carbanion to an aryne bond has been proposed as the method of choice for synthesis of the versatile 1-substituted benzocyclobutene system.7 This general procedure now has been modified to permit convenient large-scale preparations utilizing a commercially available base, a minimum amount of liquid ammonia, and distillation for isolation of the product. 

Arynes react readily with simple alkenes to give either benzocyclobutenes or substituted benzenes (Scheme 7.31). The formation of benzocyclobutenes by [2+2] cycloaddition reaction of the aryne to the alkene proceeds best for strained and electron-rich carbon-carbon (C=C) double bonds. For example, dicyclopentadiene reacts to give the ex o-isomer of the corresponding four-membered ring in good yield. The addition to cyanoethene (acrylonitrile) and the reaction with the electron-rich ethoxyethene (ethyl vinyl ether) gives the cyano- and ethoxy-benzocyclobutenes in 20% and 40% yields, respectively. The latter reaction almost certainly involves nucleophilic addition of the enol ether to the electrophilic aryne followed by coUapse... 

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