Cyclic nitronic esters, formation

Kumaran G, Kulkami GH. Effect of the a-alkyl substituent of conjugated nitroolefins on the formation of cyclic nitronic esters vs. nitrocyclopropanes in their reaction with sulfur ylides. Synthesis 1995 1545-1548. 

Quinoxaline-2-carboxaldehyde has been converted into the 2-carboxylic acid by oxidation with potassium permanganate in acetone and reduced to the 2-hydroxymethyl compound by treatment with formalin and potassium hydroxide. It also undergoes other typical reactions of aromatic aldehydes such as benzoin formation on reaction with potassium cyanide - and condensation reactions with malonic acid and its diethyl ester and Schiff base formation. Acid-catalyzed reaction of quinoxaline-2-carboxaldehyde with ethylene glycol gives the cyclic acetal the diethylacetal has been prepared by reaction of 2-dibromomethylquinoxaline with sodium ethoxide. " An indirect preparation of the oxime 11 is achieved by treatment of 2-nitromethyl-quinoxaline (10) with diazomethane followed by thermolysis of the resulting nitronic ester. 

Cyclic alkyl nitronates may be used in tandem [4+2]/[3+2] cycloadditions of nitroalkanes, and this reaction has been extensively studied by Denmark et al. (64,333-335). In recent work, they developed the silicon-tethered heterodiene-alkene 219 (Scheme 12.63). Steric hindrance and the fact that both the nitroalkene and the a,p-unsaturated ester in 219 are electron deficient renders the possibility of self-condensation. Instead, 219 reacts with the electron-rich chiral vinyl ether 220 in the presence of the catalyst 224 to form the intermediate chiral nitronate 221. The tandem reaction proceeds from 221 with an intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition to form 222 with 93% de. Further synthetic steps led to the formation of ( )-detoxinine 223 (333). A similar type of tandem reaction has also been applied by Chattopadhyaya and co-workers (336), using 2, 3 -dideoxy-3 -nitro-2, 3 -didehydrothymidine as the starting material (336). 

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