Catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions

According to Frontier Molecular Orbital (FMO) theory, Diels-Alder reaction between an electron-rich diene and an electron-poor dienophile involves interaction between the highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) on the diene and the lowest-unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) on the dienophile. The better the HOMO/LUMO overlap and the smaller their energy difference, the more favorable the interaction and the faster the reaction. 

Lewis acids catalyze Diels-Alder reactions. Do they enhance overlap between diene and dienophile orbitals and/ or do they reduce the HOMO/LUMO energy difference  

Simultaneously examine the HOMO of 1-methylcyclo-pentadiene (the diene) and the LUMO of acrylonitrile (the dienophile). Orient the two on screen such that they are disposed for Diels-Alder addition, i.e. 

Similarly, examine the overlap between the HOMO of 1-methylcyclopentadiene and the LUMO of an acrylonitrile BF3 complex. Does the Lewis acid affect overlap Would you expect BF3 to enhance, retard, or leave unchanged the rate of Diels-Alder addition  

FIGURE 23.12 Lewis acid-catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions. 

Write a mechanism for each of the following reactions, showing the function of the catalyst (a) OSiMej O 

3(a) In 23.1, the metal coordinates to the two anionic centers and to the ketone, making the ketone more willing to accept electrons in the decarboxylation process. 

3(b) The nickel coordinates to both the ring nitrogen and the carbonyl of the urea, 

4(a) This is a Mukaiyama aldol reaction the function of the ytterbium triflate is to enhance the electrophilicity of the formaldehyde by coordination  

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This thesis contributes to the knowledge of catalysis in water, us it describes an explorative journey in the, at the start of the research, unh odded field of catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in aqueous media. The discussion will touch on organic chemistry, coordination chemistry and colloid chemistry, largely depending upon the physical-organic approach of structural variation for the elucidation of the underlying mechanisms and principles of the observed phenomena. 

Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions... 

The regioselectivity benefits from the increased polarisation of the alkene moiety, reflected in the increased difference in the orbital coefficients on carbon 1 and 2. The increase in endo-exo selectivity is a result of an increased secondary orbital interaction that can be attributed to the increased orbital coefficient on the carbonyl carbon ". Also increased dipolar interactions, as a result of an increased polarisation, will contribute. Interestingly, Yamamoto has demonstrated that by usirg a very bulky catalyst the endo-pathway can be blocked and an excess of exo product can be obtained The increased di as tereo facial selectivity has been attributed to a more compact transition state for the catalysed reaction as a result of more efficient primary and secondary orbital interactions as well as conformational changes in the complexed dienophile" . Calculations show that, with the polarisation of the dienophile, the extent of asynchronicity in the activated complex increases . Some authors even report a zwitteriorric character of the activated complex of the Lewis-acid catalysed reaction " . Currently, Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions is everyday practice in synthetic organic chemistry. 

In summary, water is clearly an extremely bad solvent for coordination of a hard Lewis acid to a hard Lewis base. Hence, catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in water is expected to be difficult due to the relative inefficiency of the interactions between the Diels-Alder reactants and the Lewis-acid catalyst in this medium. 

What is the scope of Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in water An approach of extending the scope by making use of a temporary secondary coordination site is described in Chapter 4. 

In summary, the effects of a number of important parameters on the catalysed reaction between 2.4 and 2.5 have been examined, representing the first detailed study of Lewis-acid catalysis of a Diels-Alder reaction in water. Crucial for the success of Lewis-acid catalysis of this reaction is the bidentate character of 2.4. In Chapter 4 attempts to extend the scope of Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in water beyond the restriction to bidentate substrates will be presented. 

The merits of (enantioselective) Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in aqueous solution have been highlighted in Chapters 2 and 3. Both chapters focused on the Diels-Alder reaction of substituted 3-phenyl-1-(2-pyr idyl)-2-prop ene-1-one dienophiles. In this chapter the scope of Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in water is investigated. Some literature claims in this area are critically examined and requirements for ejfective Lewis-acid catalysis are formulated. Finally an attempt is made to extend the scope of Lewis-acid catalysis in water by making use of a strongly coordinating auxiliary. 

In summary, the groups of Espenson and Loh observe catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions involving monodentate reactants by Lewis acids in water. If their observations reflect Lewis-acid catalysis, involvirg coordination and concomitant activation of the dienophile, we would conclude that Lewis-acid catalysis in water need not suffer from a limitation to chelating reactants. This conclusion contradicts our observations which have invariably stressed the importance of a chelating potential of the dienophile. Hence it was decided to investigate the effect of indium trichloride and methylrhenium trioxide under homogeneous conditions. 

Consequently, in initial attempts to extend the scope, we aimed to identify catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions of other bidentate dienophiles in water. This task turned out to be more difficult than expected Scheme 4.5 provides a collection of potentially chelating dienophiles that all failed to... 

In a second attempt to extend the scope of Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in water, we have used the Mannich reaction to convert a ketone-activated monodentate dienophile into a potentially chelating p-amino ketone. The Mannich reaction seemed ideally suited for the purpose of introducing a second coordination site on a temporary basis. This reaction adds a strongly Lewis-basic amino functionality on a position p to the ketone. Moreover, the Mannich reaction is usually a reversible process, which should allow removal of the auxiliary after the reaction. Furthermore, the reaction is compatible with the use of an aqueous medium. Some Mannich reactions have even been reported to benefit from the use of water ". Finally, Lewis-acid catalysis of Mannich-type reactions in mixtures of organic solvents and water has been reported ". Hence, if both addition of the auxiliary and the subsequent Diels-Alder reaction benefit from Lewis-acid catalysis, the possibility arises of merging these steps into a one-pot procedure. 

As anticipated from the complexation experiments, reaction of 4.42 with cyclopentadiene in the presence of copper(II)nitrate or ytterbium triflate was extremely slow and comparable to the rate of the reaction in the absence of Lewis-acid catalyst. Apparently, Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions of p-amino ketone dienophiles is not practicable. 

Careful examination of literature reporting Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in combination with kinetic investigations indicate that bidentate (or multidentate) reactants are required in order to ensure efficient catalysis in water. Moreover, studies of a number of model dienophiles revealed that a potentially chelating character is not a guarantee for coordination and subsequent catalysis. Consequently extension of the scope in this direction does not seem feasible. 

Finally, in Chapter 5, micellar catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions is discussed. In view of the nonpolar nature of most Diels-Alder reactants, efficient micellar catalysis of this reaction was anticipated However, this has not been observed. The results for the Diels-Alder reaction between cyclopentadiene and substituted 3-phenyl-l-(2-pyridyl)-2-propene-l-one dienophiles, discussed in... 

This thesis has been completely devoted to catalysis by relatively hard catalysts. When aiming at the catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions, soft catalysts are not an option. Soft catalysts tend to coordinate directly to the carbon - carbon double bonds of diene and dienophile, leading to an activation towards nucleophilic attack rather than to a Diels-Alder reaction . This is unfortunate, since in water, catalysis by hard catalysts suffers from a number of intrinsic disadvantages, which are absent for soft catalysts. 

This thesis describes a study of catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in water. No studies in this field had been reported at the start of the research, despite the well known beneficial effects of acpieous solvents as well as of Lewis-add catalysts on rate and endo-exo selectivity of Diels-Alder reactions in organic solvents. We envisaged that a combination of these two effects might well result in extremely large rate enhancements and improvements of the endo-exo selectivity. 

Chapter 5 describes a study of the effect of micelles on the Diels-Alder reaction of 1 with 2. Literature studies on micellar catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions invariably failed to reveal significant accelerations. These results are unexpected, since most Diels-Alder reactants have a high affinity for... 

Catalysis of Diels-Alder reaction by zeolites is predominantly physical rather than chemical in nature [19]. The reactants are concentrated internally in cavities... 

Table 4.16 Micellar catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions of cyclopentadiene (1) with 3-(p-substituted phenyl)- -(2-propen-1-one (113) in water at 25 °C. Relative rate constants ( rei) to the reactions performed in sole water...

Wittkopp A., Schreiner P. R. Catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in water and in... 

Fraile J. M., Garcia J. I., Mayoral J. A. Heterogeneous Catalysis of Diels-Alder Reactions Recent Res. Dev. Synth. Org. Chem. 1998 1 77-92... 

Keywords enzyme mimics for catalysis of Diels-Alder reaction... 

Zang D. -L. and Li P. Enantioselective Catalysis of Diels-Alder Reactions Youji Huaxue 1994 14 581 (in Chinese)... 

Regioselectivities [7] and endo selectivity [8, 9] increase upon Lewis acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions (Scheme 9). Houk and Strozier [10] found that protonation on the carbonyl oxygen of acrolein amplifies the LUMO at the terminal and... 

Bonnesen PV, Puckett CL, Honeychuck RV, Hersh WH (1989) Catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions by low oxidation state transition-metal Lewis acids fact and fiction. J Am Chem Soc 111 6070-6081... 

Although Lewis acid-catalyzed-Diels-Alder reactions of enones are common, there are few reports on the catalysis of Diels-Alder reaction of nitroalkenes. The reaction of nitroalkenes with alkenes in the presence of Lewis acids undergoes a different course of reaction to give cyclic nitronates (see Section 8.3). Knochel reported an enhanced reactivity and selectivity of the intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction using silica gel as Lewis acid in hexane (Eq. 8.19).31... 

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