Cycloaddition-ortho benzene

De Keukeleire, D., Bako, P., and Van der Eycken, E. (2000) Intramolecular ortho and meta photocycloadditions of 4-phenoxybut-l-enes substituted in the arene residue with carbomethoxy, carbomethoxymethyl, and 2-carbo-methoxyethyl groups. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A Chemistry, 133, 135-146 (c) Wender, P.A. and Dore, T.M. (1995) Intra and inter-molecular cycloadditions of benzene derivatives, in CRC Handbook of Organic Photochemistry and Photobiology (eds W.M. Horspool and P-.S. Song), CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp. 280-290. 

Intramolecular ortho-cycloaddition of benzene-ethylene systems... 

There are large number of cycloaddition reactions of benzene and its derivatives. Correlation diagram can be constructed to predict them which can be represented by examples of ortho-, meta- and para-cycloadditions of benzene and ethylene or benzene and butadiene. Ortho-, meta- and para-additions give different products. 

Since, symmetry properties of reactants, i.e., benzene and ethylene match with that of product in ground state reaction is thermally feasible but photochemical ortho cycloaddition between benzene and ethene is unfavourable. 

The reaction is illustrated by the intramolecular cycloaddition of the nitrilimine (374) with the alkenic double bond separated from the dipole by three methylene units. The nitrilimine (374) was generated photochemically from the corresponding tetrazole (373) and the pyrrolidino[l,2-6]pyrazoline (375) was obtained in high yield 82JOC4256). Applications of a variety of these reactions will be found in Chapter 4.36. Other aspects of intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions leading to complex, fused systems, especially when the 1,3-dipole and the dipolarophile are substituted into a benzene ring in the ortho positions, have been described (76AG(E)123). 

Conformational constraints induced by various ortho-substitutents in 1-aUyloxy-2-azidomethylbenzenes (97) were used to accelerate intramolecular cycloadditions of the azide group to alkenes (21) (Scheme 9.21). For the unsubstituted azide 96, high temperature was required for the cycloaddition and the yield of the cycloadduct 100 was low. The monosubstituted azide 97 underwent cycloaddition in refluxing benzene in 10 h to give the cycloadduct 101 in good yield. Disubstituted azides 98 and 99 underwent 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition in 5-7 h to give the triazolines 102 and 103. 

The irradiation of benzenes with alkenes provides a fascinating array of photochemical reactions, not least because it converts the aromatic substrates into polycyclic, non-aromatic products. In principle, benzene can undergo reaction across the 1,2-(ortho). 1,3-(meta), or 1,4-(para) positions the 1,3-cycloaddition is structurally the most complex, but it is the predominant mode of reaction for many of the simplest benzene/alkene systems. The products are tricyclic compounds with a fusion of two five-membered rings and one three-membered ring, and an example is the reaction of benzene with vinyl acetate (3.411. For monosubstituted benzenes there can be a high... 

Cycloaddition of alkenes to the benzene ring does not occur when both molecules are in their ground electronic states. The reaction can only be brought about by photoexcitation of either of the two addends. Three types of photochemical cycloaddition of alkenes to benzene and its derivatives are presently known. Ortho photocycloaddition, also referred to as 1,2-photocycloaddition or [2 + 2] photocycloaddition, leads to bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-2,4-dienes. Meta photocycloaddition, also referred to as 1,3-photocycloaddition or [2 + 3] photocycloaddition, gives triyclo[3.3.0.02 8]oct-3-enes, also named l,2,2a,2b,4a,4b-hexahydrocyclo-propa[crf]pcn(alcnes. Para photocycloaddition, also referred to as 1,4-photocy-cloaddition or [2 + 4] photocycloaddition, results in bicyclo[2.2.2]octa-2,5-... 

Ortho photocycloadditions of benzene derivatives to maleic anhydride have been tabulated in Table 1. Only the structures of the primary ortho adducts are given, but these are not the isolated adducts They always undergo endo [2 + 4] cycloaddition with maleic anhydride, yielding 1 2 adducts. An interesting feature to be seen from Table 1 is that substituents on the benzene (alkyl, phenyl, or halogen) always turn up at the position most remote from the site of addition. In view of the different nature of these substituents, it seems that steric rather than electronic factors are responsible for this regioselectivity. 

Most compounds studied have a carbonyl group conjugated with the benzene ring and nearly all reactions are intramolecular cycloadditions. In most cases, the alkenyl moiety is connected to the arene ring via an oxygen atom, ortho or para with respect to the carbonyl group. 

Wagner and Sakamoto [95] have studied the triplet decay of para-alkeny-loxyacetophenones with a substituent (X = Cl, CN, OMe, Me) at the position ortho to the alkenyloxy side chain. They propose that the cycloaddition reaction involves charge-transfer interaction between donor double-bond and acceptor triplet benzene first, followed by biradical formation (Scheme 18). 

For photocycloaddition, to benzene the following conclusions were drawn from this empirical correlation [124], Olefins with poor electron-donor or poor electron-acceptor abilities yield mainly meta adducts with benzene (i.e., if AG > 1.4-1.6 eV, all other olefins yield mainly ortho adducts). Even ethene, which had seemed to behave exceptionally, fits into this correlation provided that it acts as the acceptor. The transition area from ortho to meta cycloaddition (i.e., the AG region where ortho meta = 1 1) is relatively large ( 0.2 eV). This is considered not to be surprising because the AG correlation is based on many different types of olefins. When only AG values for derivatives of 1,3-dioxole and for 1,4-dioxene were used, the transition area was narrowed to 0.03 eV. Not only ethene but also vinylene carbonate now fit into the correlation. According to the ionization potential rule, this compound should give only ortho photocycloaddition with benzene. Mattay s empirical rule predicts mainly meta addition, which is indeed found experimentally. 

Orbital-symmetry relationships for thermal and photochemical concerted cycloadditions to the benzene ring were published in 1969 by Bryce-Smith [81], From correlations between low-lying excited states of starting materials and products, it was concluded that photochemical ortho addition is allowed ... 

The ortho cycloaddition is thermally forbidden in a suprafacial-suprafacial manner and the photochemical reaction is forbidden with S benzene and ground-state alkene. On the basis of these considerations, it could be understood that the ortho addition had only been observed with systems where the alkene is the lowest excited singlet species (as with maleimides [37,74,75] or where either the alkene or the arene has marked acceptor properties (the only examples known at that time were benzene-acrylonitrile [127] and benzonitrile + a mono-olefin [1,73], Benzene-acrylonitrile and benzonitrile-olefin systems do not display charge-transfer absorption, but charge transfer could well follow excitation. Bryce-Smith further stated that irradiation of benzene in the presence of simple mono-olefins normally provides B2u (Si) benzene as the lowest excited singlet species, which leads to meta rather than ortho addition, but the latter process might, in principle, be able to occur under conditions where a Biu (S2) state of benzene is populated. 

Figure 6 Distances between the benzene carbon atoms involved in ortho, meta, or para-cycloaddition.

From the orbital correlation diagram derived by Bryce-Smith [38], it was deduced that the ortho cycloaddition is forbidden from the lowest excited singlet state of benzene and the ground state of ethene. Van der Hart et al. [189] have constructed molecular orbital and state correlation diagrams for the ortho photocycloaddition of benzene to ethene. The molecular orbital correlation diagram differs from that given by Bryce-Smith, because natural correlations have been used. From a topological point of view, it seems less desirable to correlate the tt... 

Figure 8 State correlation diagrams for the ortho cycloaddition of ethylene to benzene.

In the formation of tetraenes from bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-2,4-dienes, two bonds are broken. This may occur in one concerted reaction which can be regarded as a retro [2 + 2] cycloaddition. It is also possible that the central bond, being part of a cyclohexadiene system, is the first one to break in a thermal, concerted disrota-tory process that leads to a 1,3,5-cyclooctatriene derivative. Ring opening of the cyclooctatriene then might take place photochemically, again disrotatory, to produce a tetraene. This two-step sequence was first observed by Mirbach et al. [114] in their study of the photocycloaddition of the two parent molecules benzene and ethene. The same explanation for the formation of a tetraene was given by Nuss et al. [160] in their report on the intramolecular ortho photocycloaddition of ( )-6-(2-methoxyphenyl)-5,5-dimethyl-2-hexenenitrile (see Scheme 40). 

A variety of four-membered ring compounds can be obtained with photochemical reactions of aromatic compounds, mainly with the [2 + 2] (ortho) photocycloaddition of alkenes. In the case of aromatic compounds of the benzene type, this reaction is often in competition with the [3 + 2] (meta) cycloaddition, and less frequently with the [4 + 2] (para) cycloaddition (Scheme 5.7) [38-40]. When the aromatic reaction partner is electronically excited, both reactions can occur at the 7t7t singlet state, but only the [2 + 2] addition can also proceed at the %% triplet state. Such competition was also discussed in the context of redox potentials of the reaction partners [17]. Most frequently, it is the electron-active substituents on the aromatic partner and the alkene which direct the reactivity. The [2 + 2] photocycloaddition is strongly favored when electron-withdrawing substituents are present in the substrates. In such a reaction, crotononitrile 34 was added to anisole 33 (Scheme 5.8, reaction 15) [41 ], and only one regioisomer (35) was obtained in good yield. In this transformation, the... 

Wagner, P.J. and McMahon, K. (1994) Chiral auxiliaries promote both diastereoselective cycloaddition and kinetic resolution of products in the ortho photocycloaddition of double bonds to benzene rings. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 116, 10827-10828. 

Three types of cycloaddition products are generally obtained (Sch. 1). While [2+2] (ortho) and [2+3] (meta) cycloaddition are frequently described, the [2+4] (para or photo-Diels-Alder reaction) pathway is rarely observed in benzene ring systems. With naphthalene systems however, the para cycloaddition occurs more frequently [6,8]. The photo-Diels-Alder reaction and other photocyclization reactions are also observed with anthracene derivatives and higher condensed aromatic compounds. However, these reaction are not treated in this chapter since they are caused by the particular photophysical and photochemical properties of these compounds [6,9]. 

Recent results revealed that the ortho photocycloaddition frequently occurs concomitantly with the meta photocycloaddition even in cases where only meta derivatives are obtained. Especially in the case or electron-donor substituted benzene derivatives, the competitive ortho cycloaddition is less stereo- or regioselective and the resulting products are less stable. Aside the meta adducts as main products, complex mixtures of ortho products or products resulting from rearrangements of these primary photoproducts have been obtained [15,16], Improved separation techniques recently enabled a better characterization of these products. Furthermore, using particular conditions like an acidic reaction medium, the intermediates resulting from ortho photocycloaddition could be transformed selectively in more stable final products [17]. 

The competition of ortho and meta photocycloaddition is much more expressed when the mesomeric effects of the substituents are weak [30,31]. A more precise analysis of the products revealed that ortho and even para side products are formed in minor amounts in cases were normally the meta cycloaddition should be observed as dominant reaction [32]. Bichro-mophroric substrates carrying electron donor substituents on the benzene ring and any electron active groups on the alkene moiety range in this category [15,31,33]. 

Regiochemistry and stereochemistry When both components of a cycloaddition reaction are unsymmetrically substituted, two regioisomeric cycloadducts are possible. In the case of Diels-Alder reactions, these are shown in the reactions of both C-1 and C-2 substituted dienes and monosubstituted dienophiles. Isomeric adducts can be referred as ortho, meta and para in reference to similar disubstitution isomers of benzene. 

Diazonium intermediates have also been employed in the synthesis of pyrazoles. A convenient one-pot procedure for the preparation of 3-phenyl- or 3-pyridylpyrazoles 27 from the 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of phenylacetylene or 3-(pyridyl)acetylene with diazo compounds 26 generated in situ from aldehydes 25 has been reported <03JOC5381>. Cyclization of ortho-(arylethynyl)benzene diazonium salts 28 having substituents at the para-position of the aryl ring furnished indazoles 29 <03TL5453>. 

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