Conjugated systems involving triple bonds

Compounds containing a double or triple bond, usually activated by additional unsaturation (carbonyl, cyano, nitro, phenyl, etc.) In the ap position, add to the I 4-positions of a conjugated (buta-1 3-diene) system with the formation of a ax-membered ring. The ethylenic or acetylenic compound is known as the dieTwphile and the second reactant as the diene the product is the adduct. The addition is generally termed the Diels-Alder reaction or the diene synthesis. The product in the case of an ethylenic dienophile is a cyctohexene and in that of an acetylenic dienophile is a cyctohexa-1 4-diene. The active unsaturated portion of the dienophile, or that of the diene, or those in both, may be involved in rings the adduct is then polycyclic. 

Cycloaddition reactions represent a very versatile route to alicyclic compounds. The most important for six-membered rings is the Diels-Alder reaction, and its great utility lies in the fact that it is both regioselective and stereospecific. The reaction involves compounds containing a double or triple bond, usually activated by conjugation with additional multiply-bonded systems (carbonyl, cyano,... 

All the reactions described so far have mobilised six electrons, but other numbers are possible, notably a few [8 + 2] and [6 + 4] cycloadditions involving 10 electrons in the cyclic transition structure. A conjugated system of eight electrons would normally have the two ends of the conjugated system far apart, but there are a few molecules in which the two ends are held close enough to participate in cycloadditions to a double or triple bond. Thus, the tetraene 6.17 reacts with dimethyl azodicarboxylate 6.18 to give the [8 + 2] adduct 6.19, and tropone 6.20 adds as a 6-electron component to the 4-electron component cyclopentadiene to give the adduct 6.21. 

Methods based on the reactions of carbon disulfide with compounds containing conjugated triple-bonded systems or an active methylene group are successfully employed in the synthesis of thienothiophenes. Generally, these procedures involve many steps, which require a thorough preparation and purification of the reagents and solvents. 

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