Biradicals cycloaddition

The relative rates of reaction of the singlet TMM derivative 14b with a series of alkenes (32) parallel those of a conjugated diene with the same alkenes in Diels-Alder reactions. These relative rates also are well correlated by the frontier orbital model for a concerted reaction. The absolute rates of the biradical cycloadditions are many orders of magnitude greater than those of the model dienes. The relative rates of the alkenes in the cycloadditions of the triplet biradical 14b, on the other hand, follow the reactivity order of their addition reactions with monoradicals. 

The photo-[4+2] cycloaddition of furan with Pummerer s ketone 102 [70,71] gives evidence for the intermediacy of the highly twisted enone intermediate 103, and a biradical cycloaddition pathway (Sch. 23). The structures of the endo and exo products 104 were confirmed by X-ray crystallography [72,73]. In a related comparison of cyclohexenone and cyclopentenone photochemistry, conditions that gave [4+2] adducts for the cyclohexenone produced only [2+2] adducts from cyclopentenone [74]. 

Perfluoromethylenecyclopropane does not, surprisingly, give [2 -h 2] cycloadditions, a result which is puzzling in view of the increased p character conferred by the C—F and cyclopropane C—C bonds, which would be anticipated to weaken the double bond and thus favour biradical cycloadditions [4 + 2] reactions with dienes are observed, however. ... 

Biradical cycloaddition of trimethylenemethanes, e.g. (548), to olefins generally competes unfavourably with intramolecular ring closure to methyl-enecyclopropanes (549). The latter reaction is discouraged by incorporation... 

The work with Porter on cyclic azo compounds coupled Bartlett s free radical studies into his ambitious effort to delineate the border between concerted and biradical cycloaddition mechanisms. Few demonstrations in chemistry have matched the clarity of his 1963 stereochemical proof with Montgomery that the 2 -f 2 cycloaddition of dichlorodifiuoro-ethylene to 2,4-hexadiene involves a biradical intermediate. Through the following decade Bartlett led the biradical parade. His long series of investigations on cycloaddition became particularly important in demonstrating nature s resourcefulness in coping with the supposedly inviolable constraints of orbital symmetry. 

Four-membered heterocycles are easily formed via [2-I-2] cycloaddition reac tions [65] These cycloaddmon reactions normally represent multistep processes with dipolar or biradical intermediates The fact that heterocumulenes, like isocyanates, react with electron-deficient C=X systems is well-known [116] Via this route, (1 lactones are formed on addition of ketene derivatives to hexafluoroacetone [117, 118] The presence of a trifluoromethyl group adjacent to the C=N bond in quinoxalines, 1,4-benzoxazin-2-ones, l,2,4-triazm-5-ones, and l,2,4-tnazin-3,5-diones accelerates [2-I-2] photocycloaddition processes with ketenes and allenes [106] to yield the corresponding azetidine derivatives Starting from olefins, fluonnaied oxetanes are formed thermally and photochemically [119, 120] The reaction of 5//-l,2-azaphospholes with fluonnated ketones leads to [2-i-2j cycloadducts [121] (equation 27)... 

Steady-state kinetics. The cycloaddition reaction between the singlet ground state of 2-isopropylidene cyclopentane-1,3-diyl ( = S ) with acrylonitrile (A) is believed to occur by way of a biradical intermediate (BR),17... 

Many such reactions may indeed be carried out preparatively under photochemical conditions, though, for reasons that cannot be gone into here (the detailed mechanism of photochemical changes), they are often not concerted but proceed via biradical intermediates. One photochemical (2n + 2n) cycloaddition that does, however, proceed via a concerted process is the example we have already referred to ... 

Photoelimination of nitrogen from 1-pyrazolines has also been employed in the synthesis of tricyclo[3.2.1.02,4]oct-6-ene,338 prismane,339 quadri-cyclane,340 snoutene ,341 and marasmic acid.342 The trimethylenemethanes 414 have been prepared by photolysis of azoalkanes 415 and characterized spectroscopically.343 Dimerization and cycloaddition to alkenes of these biradicals have been reported.344... 

Eq. 17 is meant to represent the possibility for a concerted formation of oxetane product. A problem that always exist in cycloadditions is the question of whether the reaction takes place by a two-step biradical reaction pathway or through a concerted mechanism. Such questions have not even been resolved for purely thermal reactions. 4> A recent speculation on this point proposes almost universal concertedness for all cycloaddition reactions. 79> In that work, mixed stereochemistry in the products of [2+2] cycloaddition reactions is generally attributed to a mixture of two concerted reactions, suprafacial-suprafacial, and supra-facial-antarafacial. It will be seen later that the PMO calculations generally do not support this idea. A mixture of biradical and concerted reactions is in better agreement with experimental facts. 

If one examines the minimal sequences of reaction steps for [2+2] cycloadditions, Eqs. 12—18, 32—35, one concludes that stereochemistry of addition, and perhaps relative reactivities might be calculable at several points. Oriented complexes could control regiospecificity, or the transition state leading to a biradical could be the important stage. Relative rates of product formation would be derived from relative perturbation stabilization energies for different configurations of the two reactants. 

Thermolysis of 44 produced products derived from the Myers-Saito cyclization reaction. However, when 43 having a trimethylsilyl substituent at the acetylenic terminus was subjected to heating in the presence of 1,4-CHD at 70 °C for 3 h, the 1H-cyclobut[a]indene 46 was produced. A reaction mechanism involving an initial Schmittel cyclization to generate the benzofulvene biradical 45 followed by an intramolecular radical-radical coupling was proposed to account for the formation of the formal [2 + 2]-cycloaddition product 46. 

Treatment of the propargylic alcohol 144, readily prepared from condensation between benzophenone (143) and the lithium acetylide 101, with thionyl chloride promoted a sequence of reactions with an initial formation of the chlorosulfite 145 followed by an SNi reaction to produce in situ the chlorinated and the benzannulated enyne-allene 146 (Scheme 20.30) [62], A spontaneous Schmittel cyclization then generated the biradical 147, which in turn underwent a radical-radical coupling to form the formal [4+ 2]-cycloaddition product 148 and subsequently, after a prototropic rearrangement, 149. The chloride 149 is prone to hydrolysis to give the corresponding 11 H-bcnzo h fluoren-ll-ol 150 in 85% overall yield from 144. Several other llff-benzo[fc]fluoren-ll-ols were likewise synthesized from benzophenone derivatives. 

The reaction between an asymmetrical alkene and an aromatic ketone gives two different orientations of cycloaddition through two different 1,4-biradicals. The route through the more stable biradical produces the major product ... 

In practice, it was found that whereas the synthesis of hirsutene according to the dual strategy met with success under thermal conditions, but at temperatures as high as 580 °C, under photochemical conditions it afforded the unnatural cis, syn, cis configuration of some intermediates which then need further elaboration. Although the transformations 44 — 43a and 45. — 43a by a [2 + 2] -cycloaddition and a vinylcyclopropane rearrangement, respectively, may involve intermediates with a more or less biradical character, they are not typical radical reactions such as the ones we are considering here. 

A study of the stereochemistry and secondary isotope effects for the 2 + 2-cycloaddition of alkyl-substituted buta-1,3-dienes with Ceo indicates the formation of an open biradical intermediate in the rate-determining step leading to the cycloadduct (18) (Scheme 5). The addition of benzyne to C70 produces four isomeric monoadducts. One of these adducts is the first example of an adduct of a 5-6 ring fusion where the ring-fusion bond remains intact. 

For instance, Kochi and co-workers [89,90] reported the photochemical coupling of various stilbenes and chloranil by specific charge-transfer activation of the precursor donor-acceptor complex (EDA) to form rrans-oxetanes selectively. The primary reaction intermediate is the singlet radical ion pair as revealed by time-resolved spectroscopy and thus establishing the electron-transfer pathway for this typical Paterno-Biichi reaction. This radical ion pair either collapses to a 1,4-biradical species or yields the original EDA complex after back-electron transfer. Because the alternative cycloaddition via specific activation of the carbonyl compound yields the same oxetane regioisomers in identical molar ratios, it can be concluded that a common electron-transfer mechanism is applicable (Scheme 53) [89,90]. 

---