Carbonyl ylides alkyne cyclizations

Dihydrofurans are valuable synthetic compounds. Nevertheless, little is known about intramolecular cycloaddition of carbonyl ylides to alkynes. In one example, alkynyl pyran-4-one (233) was cyclized to dihydrofuran (234 Scheme 69).128 Possibly this reaction proceeds via an oxidopyrylium ylide intermediate as shown. 

Transition-metal mediated carbene transfer from 205 to benzaldehyde generates carbonyl ylides 211 which are transformed into oxiranes 216 by 1,3-cyclization, into tetrahydrofurans 212, 213 or dihydrofurans 214 by [3 + 2] cycloaddition with electron-deficient alkenes or alkynes, and 1,3-dioxolanes 215 by [3 + 2] cycloaddition with excess carbonyl compound120 (equation 67). Related carbonyl ylide reactions have been performed with crotonaldehyde, acetone and cyclohexanone (equation 68). However, the ylide generated from cyclohexanone could not be trapped with dimethyl fumarate. Rather, the enol ether 217, probably formed by 1,4-proton shift in the ylide intermediate, was isolated in low yield120. In this respect, the carbene transfer reaction with 205 is not different from that with ethyl diazoacetate121, whereas a close analogy to diazomalonates is observed for the other carbonyl ylide reactions. 

While most of the initial studies have involved the transition metal-catalyzed decomposition of a-carbonyl diazo compounds and have been reviewed [3-51], it appears appropriate to highlight again some milestones of these transformations, since polycyclic structures could be nicely assembled from acyclic precursors in a single step. Two main reactivities of metalo carbenoids derived from a-carbonyl diazo precursors, namely addition to a C - C insaturation (olefin or alkyne) and formation of a ylid (carbonyl or onium), have been the source of fruitful cascades. Both of these are illustrated in Scheme 27 [52]. The two diazo ketone functions present in the same substrate 57 and under the action of the same catalyst react in two distinct ways. The initially formed carbenoid adds to a pending olefin to form a bi-cyclop. 1.0] intermediate 58 that subsequently cyclizes to produce a carbonyl ylide 59, that is further trapped intramolecularly in a [3 + 2] cycloaddition. The overall process gives birth to a highly complex pentacyclic structure 60. 

A type of 1,3-dipole that has received considerable recent interest is the carbonyl ylide. One method for its formation makes use of carbenoid chemistry (see Section 4.2). Cyclization of an electrophiUc rhodium carbenoid onto a nearby carbonyl group provides access to the carbonyl ylide. Cycloaddition with an alkyne or alkene dipolarophile then gives the dihydro- or tetrahydrofuran product. For example, the carbonyl ylide 235, formed from the diazo compound 234 and rhodium(II) acetate, reacts with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate to give the bridged dihydrofuran 236 (3.148). 

Rhodium(II)-catalyzed reactions between diazosulfones and aldehydes yielded an entry to carbonyl ylides, which underwent inter- and intra-molecular cyclization reactions with dipolarophiles, such as alkynes and alkenes, to afford tetrasubstituted furans in modest to good yields <01SL646>. The rhodium(ll) acetate catalyzed reaction of 3-diazobenzopyran-2,4(3 -dione with terminal alkynes provided a mixture of 2-substituted furo[3,2-c]coumarin and furo[2,3-f ]coumarin, presumably through a formal [3+2] cycloaddition reaction <01S735>. Furo[3,2-c]coumarins were also produced from 4-hydroxycoumarins and a-haloketones via a tandem 0-alkylation-cyclization procedure <01TL3503>... 

Alternative furan ring fusion involves the reactions of phenyliodonium ylides of cyclic seven-membered jS-diketones with alkynes. These processes lead under mild conditions to cyclization products 152. The high regioselectivity can be explained by the formation of dipolar intermediate 151 favored by the predominant enolization of the carbonyl adjacent to phenyl ring. Terminal alkynes react in the similar fashion, although, in this case, mixtures of regioisomers have been reported due to steric hindrance in the intermediate enol (Scheme 30 (1993JOC4885)). 

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