Conjugate-addition-initiated ring closure

Conjugate addition and conjugate-addition-initiated ring-closure (CAIRC) reactions ofp-dicarbonyl compounds with Michael acceptors have been studied using several Lewis acid catalysts under solvent-free conditions. Bi(N03)3 was found to be an extraordinarily effective catalyst in some cases. Its catalytic behavior depended on the structural variations of P-dicarbonyl compounds (Equation 6) [28]. 

The reaction of a cyclic ketone—e.g. cyclohexanone 1—with methyl vinyl ketone 2 resulting in a ring closure to yield a bicyclic a ,/3-unsaturated ketone 4, is called the Robinson annulation This reaction has found wide application in the synthesis of terpenes, and especially of steroids. Mechanistically the Robinson annulation consists of two consecutive reactions, a Michael addition followed by an Aldol reaction. Initially, upon treatment with a base, the cyclic ketone 1 is deprotonated to give an enolate, which undergoes a conjugate addition to the methyl vinyl ketone, i.e. a Michael addition, to give a 1,5-diketone 3 ... 

Alkenyl Fischer carbene complexes can serve as three-carbon components in the [6 + 3]-reactions of vinylchro-mium carbenes and fulvenes (Equations (23)—(25)), providing rapid access to indanone and indene structures.132 This reaction tolerates substitution of the fulvene, but the carbene complex requires extended conjugation to a carbonyl or aromatic ring. This reaction is proposed to be initiated by 1,2-addition of the electron-rich fulvene to the chromium carbene followed by a 1,2-shift of the chromium with simultaneous ring closure. Reductive elimination of the chromium metal and elimination/isomerization gives the products (Scheme 41). 

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