Cycloaddition reactions 4-methyloxazole

In 1965, Ishikawa and co-workers investigated the oxazole cycloaddition reactions of 4-methyloxazole, 5, with a variety of dienophiles (Fig. 3.3). The product distribution for these reactions was found to depend on the substituents on the dienophile as well as the reaction conditions. For example, the reaction of 4-methyloxazole with diethyl fumarate gave a mixture of pyridinols 6 and 7. 

The primary adducts (156) and (157) of oxazoles with alkenes and alkynes, respectively, are usually too unstable to be isolated. An exception is compound (158), obtained from 5-ethoxy-4-methyloxazole and 4,7-dihydro-l,3-dioxepin, which has been separated into its endo and exo components. If the dienophile is unsymmetrical the cycloaddition can take place in two senses. This is usually the case in the reactions of oxazoles with monosubstituted alkynes with alkenes on the other hand, regioselectivity is observed. Attempts to rationalize the orientation of the major adducts by the use of various MO indices, such as 7r-electron densities or localization energies and by Frontier MO theory (80KGS1255) have not been uniformly successful. A general rule for the reactions of alkyl- and alkoxy-substituted oxazoles is that in the adducts the more electronegative substituent R4 of the dienophile occupies the position shown in formula (156). The primary adducts undergo a spontaneous decomposition, whose outcome depends on the nature of the groups R and on whether alkenes or alkynes have been employed. 

Oxazole N-oxides having a 4-methyl substituent are attacked by acetic anhydride to yield 4-acetoxyoxazoles (equation 21). The combined action of benzoyl chloride and potassium cyanide leads to compounds of the Reissert type, e.g. (177). The reaction of 4-methyloxazole Yoxides with phenyl isocyanate gives 5-hydroxy-4-methylene-l-phenyl-4,5-dihy-droimidazoles by cycloaddition, extrusion of carbon dioxide and recyclization (Scheme 12) with 4-phenyloxazole JV-oxides the reaction takes a different course, yielding imi-dazooxazolidinones (Scheme 13). 

That these reactions proceed via the intermediacy of a Diels-Alder cycloaddition adduct has been affirmed by the isolation of a variety of the 1 1 Diels-Alder adducts.For example, the reaction of 5-ethoxy-4-methyloxazole 8 with cis-2,5-dimethoxy-2,5-dihydrofuran 9 provided the isolable endo and exo adducts 10 and 11 respectively, in a 2 1 ratio (Fig. 3.4). Similarly, 5-ethoxy-4-oxazoleacetic acid ethyl ester 12 reacted with maleic anhydride to provide the stable endo and exo adducts 13 and 14, in which the olefin has moved into conjugation with the ester moiety. In this case, compound 13 was the sole product when the reaction proceeded at 10°C, but only the exro-adduct 14 was isolated if the cycloaddition was conducted at 80°C. Heating at 50°C for 3h converted 13 into 14. The 2-carboethoxy analog of oxazole 12 behaved similarly. ... 

Another example of an approach to pyridoxol began with the cycloaddition of 4-methyloxazole 5 with the sulfonyl-alkene 43 (Fig. 3.14)." The bridged cycloadduct 44 was formed with the expected regiochemistry, directed by the electron-withdrawing sulfonyl group. Elimination of methanesulhnic acid then provided hydroxypyridine 45, a precursor of pyridoxol. In a related synthesis reaction of the nitro-olehn 46 with 5 afforded the pyridoxol precursor 47 in low yield. 

Compared to the Diels-Alder reactions of 5-alkoxyoxazoles, relatively few examples exist for intermolecular cycloadditions of aminooxazoles and their derivatives. Since the initial studies of 5-aminooxazoles by Kondrat eva only four others have been reported. 2-Amino-4-methyloxazole 66a reacted with diethyl maleate at room temperature in ethanol to provide a 35% yield of 67 and 11% of 68 (Fig. 3.19). The acetamide derivative 66b reacted with maleic anhydride at 50°C in toluene to give only the decarboxylated 3-hydroxypyridine 69. 

The use of oxazole-alkene Diels-Alder cycloadditions to form biologically relevant molecules has recently been applied to the synthesis of isoindoles, useful intermediates for the preparation of substance P antagonists. Thus 5-ethoxy-4-methyloxazole 8 reacted with 4,4-dimethyl-2-cyclopentenone 78 in refluxing benzene in the presence of catalytic zinc bromide to give the (l//)-cyclopenta(c)-pyrrole 80 as a separable 3 1 mixture of cis and trans isomers in 53% yield (Fig. 3.22). The reaction is presumed to proceed via the intermediacy of cycloadduct 79. When cyclohexenone 81 was used as the dienophile, the product was the hydro-(l//)-isoindole 82, obtained via dehydroformylation of the cycloadduct, in 85% yield after only 30 min in refluxing benzene. 

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