Cyclic allene

Because of the linear geometry required of cumulated dienes cyclic allenes like cycloalkynes are strained unless the rings are fairly large 1 2 Cyclononadiene is the smallest cyclic allene that is sufficiently stable to be isolated and stored conveniently... 

A derivative of cyclopentyne has been trapped in a matrix. Although cycloheptyne and cyclohexyne have not been isolated at room temperatures, Pt(0) complexes of these compounds have been prepared and are stable." The smallest cyclic allene" so far isolated is l-/err-butyl-l,2-cyclooctadiene 107." The parent 1,2-cyclooctadiene has not been isolated. It has been shown to exist transiently, but rapidly dimerizes." " The presence of the rert-butyl group apparently prevents this. The transient existence of 1,2-cycloheptadiene has also been shown," and both 1,2-cyclooctadiene and 1,2-cycloheptadiene have been isolated in platinum complexes." 1,2-Cyclohexadiene has been trapped at low temperatures, and its structure has been proved by spectral smdies." Cyclic allenes in general are less strained than their acetylenic isomers." The cyclic cumulene 1,2,3-cyclononatriene has also been synthesized and is reasonably stable in solution at room temperature in the absence of air." ... 

Macomber has described the oxidation of 3-methyl-l,2-butadienephosphonic acid with 3-chloroperbenzoic acid to the corresponding cyclic allenic oxide, which undergoes rearrangement to produce the corresponding unstable 2,5-dihydro-1,2-oxaphosphole-2-oxide derivative (Scheme 25) [66],... 

The two-step process, depicted by path b, involves initial addition of the carbene carbon to an adjacent it bond to form bicyclo[4.1,0]hepta-2,4,6-triene (2a). This process has precedent in the analogous rearrangement of vinylcar-bene to cyclopropene (Scheme 6),lc18 and is supported by Gaspar s work on 1-cyclohexenylcarbene.17 In the second step of the mechanism in Scheme 5, subsequent six-electron electrocyclic ring opening of 2a yields the cyclic allene 3a. 

Although the observed products are consistent with initial formation of 4a, Untch proposed that they might arise via the intermediacy of cyclic allene 3a.23 Subsequent experiments by W.M. Jones and co-workers supported the initial formation of 3a in the dehydrohalogenation reactions, but left open the possibility of a rapid equilibrium between cycloheptatetraene (3a) and cycloheptatrienylidene (4a, Scheme 9).22,24 It was also found that fusion of benzene or naphthalene rings to different positions on the seven-membered ring strongly influenced whether a carbenic or allenic structure predominates.25... 

As shown in Fig. 10, the lA2 state is predicted to be the lowest singlet state of 4a.55,57 The CASSCF vibrational analysis reveals one imaginary frequency for this state, corresponding to an out-of-plane a2 vibration, which leads to the cyclic allene 3a.57 Thus,1 A2-4a is a transition state for the enantiomerization of 3a. The analogous process of internal rotation about the C-C bonds in allene is also predicted to occur via an open-shell1A2 transition state.72... 

Twenty chapters cover such new and exciting developments as metal-catalyzed synthesis of allenes, strained cyclic allenes, the numerous applications of different metallated allenes in organic synthesis, as well as the many addition and rearrangement reactions of allenes and allene units in natural products like the remarkable enyne-allenes. 

Beyond dimerization and oligomerization, [2 + 2]- and [4+ 2]-cycloadditions with conjugated dienes and styrenes and the addition of nucleophiles are typical reactions of strained cyclic allenes. These transformations have been studied most thoroughly with 1,2-cyclohexadiene (6) and its derivatives [1, 2]. Concerning the cycloadditions, a theoretical study had the surprising result that even the [4+ 2]-cycloadditions should proceed in two steps via a diradical intermediate [9]. In the case of nucleophiles, the sites of attack at several 1,2-cyclohexadiene derivatives having an... 

Scheme 6.3 Activation energies (kcal mol-1) to enantiomerization of several cyclic allenes of different ring size and of 2,3-pentadiene (7).

Scheme 6.5 Isomerism of three-, four- and five-membered cyclic allenes.

The treatment of 23 with methyllithium in the presence of furan gave rise to the tetracyclic product 26, which is obviously a [4 + 2]-cycloadduct of furan to the 1,2-cyclopentadiene derivative 25 [27]. The feature that the oxanorbornene system of 26 carries its saturated substituent in the endo-position is analogous to the [4 + 2]-cycloadducts of furan to all six-membered cyclic allenes (see Section 6.3). Balci et al. [36] also provided evidence for the generation of l-phenyl-l,2-cyclopentadiene. They postulated this species to be an intermediate in the reaction of l-phenyl-2-iodocydo-pentene with potassium tert-butoxide in benzene at 240 °C, which resulted in the formation of 1-phenyl- and 1,2-diphenylcyclopentene. Both products were considered as evidence in favor of the diradical nature rather than the allene structure of 1-phe-nyl-1,2 -cyclopentadiene. 

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