Carbocycles retro-synthesis

Intramolecular cycloadditions are among the most efficient methods for the synthesis of fused bicyclic ring systems [30]. From this perspective, the hetisine skeleton encompasses two key retro-cycloaddition key elements. (1) a bridging pyrrolidine ring accessible via a [3+2] azomethine dipolar cycloaddition and (2) a [2.2.2] bicyclo-octane accessible via a [4+2] Diels-Alder carbocyclic cycloaddition (Chart 1.4). While intramolecular [4+2] Diels—Alder cycloadditions to form [2.2.2] bicycle-octane systems have extensive precedence [3+2], azomethine dipolar cycloadditions to form highly fused aza systems are rare [31-33]. The staging of these two operations in sequence is critical to a unified synthetic plan. As the proposed [3+2] dipolar cycloaddition is expected to be the more challenging of the two transformations, it should be conducted in an early phase in the forward synthetic direction. As a result, a retrosynthetic analysis would entail initial consideration of the [4+2] cycloaddition to arrive at the optimal retrosynthetic C-C bond disconnections for this transformation. 

Compound I must be activated by the strongly acidic medium. One possible protonation site is the basic pyrrolidinium nitrogen atom (structure X), which would favor the formation of carbenium ion XI (see Scheme 16.3). This intermediate would gain additional stabilization from the polar solvent. Conditions for an SnI substitution would prevail to yield XII, whose fragmentation would resemble, formally speaking, the retro cycloaddition process used in the synthesis of I (i.e., VIII - I). The resulting ketone (XIII) would contain the elements required for the construction of a five-membered carbocycle with the desired incorporation of the functional carbon of one of the nitrile groups, as... 

Kuninobu and Takai developed a rhenium-catalyzed reaction of ketoester 43 with an alkyne, leading to cyclooctenone 44, in which an alkyne is formally inserted into a C-C=0 bond (Eq. (6.10)) [22, 23]. This ring-expansion reaction is applicable to the synthesis of up to 10-membered carbocycles. The C-C bond cleavage is proposed to proceed via retro-Aldol fragmentation of intermediate 45 or 46. 

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