Cycloaddition reactions directed syntheses

Chapters 9, 10 and 11 describe methods for substitution directly on the ring with successive attention to Nl, C2 and C3. Chapters 12 and 13 are devoted to substituent modification as C3. Chapter 12 is a general discussion of these methods, while Chapter 13 covers the important special cases of the synthesis of 2-aminoethyl (tryptaminc) and 2-aminopropanoic acid (tryptophan) side-chains. Chapter 14 deals with methods for effecting carbo cyclic substitution. Chapter 15 describes synthetically important oxidation and reduction reactions which are characteristic of indoles. Chapter 16 illustrates methods for elaboration of indoles via cycloaddition reactions. 

Cycloaddition involves the combination of two molecules in such a way that a new ring is formed. The principles of conservation of orbital symmetry also apply to concerted cycloaddition reactions and to the reverse, concerted fragmentation of one molecule into two or more smaller components (cycloreversion). The most important cycloaddition reaction from the point of view of synthesis is the Diels-Alder reaction. This reaction has been the object of extensive theoretical and mechanistic study, as well as synthetic application. The Diels-Alder reaction is the addition of an alkene to a diene to form a cyclohexene. It is called a [47t + 27c]-cycloaddition reaction because four tc electrons from the diene and the two n electrons from the alkene (which is called the dienophile) are directly involved in the bonding change. For most systems, the reactivity pattern, regioselectivity, and stereoselectivity are consistent with describing the reaction as a concerted process. In particular, the reaction is a stereospecific syn (suprafacial) addition with respect to both the alkene and the diene. This stereospecificity has been demonstrated with many substituted dienes and alkenes and also holds for the simplest possible example of the reaction, that of ethylene with butadiene ... 

Bicyclic ketone 13 is a pivotal intermediate in Corey s approach to the prostaglandins. Buried within 13 is the five-membered ring of PGF2a, albeit in an undeveloped form. It would appear that a particularly direct approach to the synthesis of 13 would involve a [4+2] cycloaddition reaction between substituted cyclopentadiene 15 and ketene. Unfortunately, however, ketene itself is not a suit-... 

Oxetanes are present in several biologically active natural compounds as, for example, the taxol ring skeleton. An interesting method used to obtain this particular ring is the thermal [2 -i- 2] cycloaddition reaction. Longchar and co-workers reported a novel [2-1-2] cycloaddition of /1-formil enamides 5, often used in other cycloaddition and condensation processes, with acetylenic dienophiles 6 under microwave irradiation (in a domestic oven) to afford ox-etenes 7 in 80% yields [29]. This reaction was directed towards the synthesis of D-ring annelated heterosteroids (Scheme 2). 

Summary The formation, reactivity, and cycloaddition behavior of neopentylsilenes towards suitable reaction partners is described. Especially l,l-dichloro-2-neopentylsilene. Cl2Si=CHCH2Bu (2) - easily obtained from vinyltrichlorosilane and LiBu - is a useful building block for the synthesis of SiC four membered ring compounds. These can be converted into the isomeric Diels-Alder and retro ene products upon thermolysis reactions. The mode of the silenes cycloaddition reactions ([4+2] vs [2+2] addition) can be directed by either the substitution pattern at the Si=C moiety, the choice of reaction partners or the conditions. Furthermore the products resulting from cycloaddition reactions open up a wide variety of following reactions, which possibly will lead to new organosilicon materials or pharmaceutical compounds. 

Construction of isolated or benzannulated five-membered rings of NHPs can be accomplished by means of various condensation or cycloaddition reactions all of which involve interaction of an electrophilic Pj and a nucleophilic C2N2 building block. Salts containing 1,3,2-diazaphospholide anions or 1,3,2-diazaphospholenium cations can be directly accessed by some of these reactions but the products are in most cases neutral 1,3,2-diazaphospholes or NHP. A particularly concerted effort has been directed toward the synthesis of P-halogen-substituted NHP which are capable of undergoing further reactions via halide displacement or halide abstraction and serve thus as entry points for the preparation of a wide variety of neutral and cationic NHP derivatives. 1,3,2-Diazaphospholide anions are normally accessed by deprotonation of suitable iV-H-substituted precursors. 

In this chapter we provide an overview of studies originating from the above work and directed at the design and development of three new metal-catalyzed cycloaddition reactions, namely the [5+2] cycloaddition of vinylcyclopropanes (VCPs) and rc-systems, the [6+2] cycloaddition of vinylcyclobutanones and re-systems, and the three-component, [5+2+1] cycloaddition of VCPs, rc-systems, and CO. These new reactions provide fundamentally new approaches to a range of problems in seven- and eight-membered ring synthesis. 

The [2 + 3] cycloaddition reaction of nitrile oxides, easily accessible from corresponding aldoximes, with different alkenes is known as an excellent route to isoxazohne derivatives . The reactions of asymmetric addition ° or addition of unsaturated ger-manes and stannanes to nitrile oxides were reviewed in recent years. In this subsection only the main directions of the synthesis of isoxazole derivatives are briefly reported. 

Chiacchio et al. (43,44) investigated the synthesis of isoxazolidinylthymines by the use of various C-functionalized chiral nitrones in order to enforce enantioselec-tion in their cycloaddition reactions with vinyl acetate (Scheme 1.3). They found, as in the work of Merino et al. (40), that asymmetric induction is at best partial with dipoles whose chiral auxiliary does not maintain a fixed geometry and so cannot completely direct the addition to the nitrone. After poor results with menthol ester-and methyl lactate-based nitrones, they were able to prepare and separate isoxazo-lidine 8a and its diastereomer 8b in near quantitative yield using the A-glycosyl... 

Apparently independently, Markl et al. (139) and Regitz and co-workers (140-142) discovered that 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of mtinchnones and phosphaalkenes or phosphaalkynes provide a direct synthesis of 1,3-azaphospholes (240) (Table 10.7). The intermediate cycloadducts cannot be isolated. The various phosphaalkynes were generated from phosphaalkenes or, in the case of methyli-dynephosphane (239, R" =H), by flash vacuum pyrolysis of either 239 (R" = f-Bu) or dichloromethylphosphine. 

There is a rich synthetic potential for enamines in heterocyclic synthesis. Enamines can react as electrophiles or nucleophiles and as new partners in cycloaddition reactions. Various derivatives of nitrogen-, oxygen-, and sulfur-containing heterocycles have been prepared, and these, in turn, are of interest as starting materials for additional syntheses. They represent potential synthons for the development of various new directions in organic chemistry. 

The use of isoxazole derivatives in organic synthesis is of great interest, but little has been done on the utilization of such compounds as a part of a diene system in [4 + 2]-cycloadditions. 3-Methyl-5-vinylisoxazole 236 gave cycloaddition reactions in a sealed tube in benzene solution at 120°C for 3 days. With the dienophiles acrolein and methyl acrylate, aromatiza-tion of the isoxazole ring via a 1,3-proton shift occurs readily under the reaction conditions, allowing the direct isolation of compounds 237, which are also detected in the mass spectrum of the raw reaction material. The reactions are regioselective (85H2019). 

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