Cycloaddition sensitized

Characteristic reactions of singlet oxygen lead to 1,2-dioxetane (addition to olefins), hydroperoxides (reaction with aHyhc hydrogen atom), and endoperoxides (Diels-Alder "4 -H 2" cycloaddition). Many specific examples of these spectrally sensitized reactions are found iu reviews (45—48), earlier texts (15), and elsewhere iu the Engchpedia. 

The ring opening of 2//-azirines to yield vinylnitrenes on thermolysis, or nitrile ylides on photolysis, also leads to pyrrole formation (B-82MI30301). Some examples proceeding via nitrile ylides are shown in Scheme 92. The consequences of attempts to carry out such reactions in an intramolecular fashion depend not only upon the spatial relationship of the double bond and the nitrile ylide, but also upon the substituents of the azirine moiety since these can determine whether the resulting ylide is linear or bent. The HOMO and second LUMO of a bent nitrile ylide bear a strong resemblance to the HOMO and LUMO of a singlet carbene so that 1,1-cycloadditions occur to carbon-carbon double bonds rather than the 1,3-cycloadditions needed for pyrrole formation. The examples in Scheme 93 provide an indication of the sensitivity of these reactions to structural variations. 

The reaction of several substituted imidazo[4,5-c/]-, pyrazolo[3,4-r/]- and triazolo[4,5-zf]pyrid-azines 3 with ynamines, in competition with [4 + 2] cycloaddition, leads to [2 + 2] derivatives 4, which rearrange to l,2-diazocines5.7 8 The reaction seems to be sensitive to the substituents, as replacement of the electron-withdrawing group R on the pyridazine ring of the pyrazolo compound (A = N, B = CH) by chlorine completely inhibits both the [4 + 2] and [2 + 2] cycloaddition reactions. The X-ray structure of the imidazo derivative 5 (R = Ms, A = CH, B = N) reveals a tub conformation of the eight-membered ring. 

Whereas lanthanide triflates are strong Lewis acids, lanthanide complexes such as Yb(fod)3 and Eu(fod)3 are mild catalysts that can be used when the cycloaddition involves acid-sensitive reagents and/or cycloadducts [34]. 

The 2-pyrones can behave as dienes or dienophiles depending on the nature of their reaction partners. 3-Carbomethoxy-2-pyrone (84) underwent inverse Diels-Alder reaction with several vinylethers under lanthanide shift reagent-catalysis [84] (Equation 3.28). The use of strong traditional Lewis acids was precluded because of the sensitivity of the cycloadducts toward decarboxylation. It is noteworthy that whereas Yb(OTf)j does not catalyze the cycloaddition of 84 with enolethers, the addition of (R)-BINOL generates a new active ytterbium catalyst which promotes the reactions with a moderate to good level of enantio selection [85]. 

An interesting example of accelerating a reaction when high pressure is applied is the synthesis of a series of highly functionalized 4a,5,8,8a-tetrahy-dro-l,4-naphthalenediones 10 by cycloaddition of p-benzoquinone (8) with a variety of electron-poor dienic esters 9 at room temperature (Equation 5.2) reported by Dauben and Baker [6]. Using conventional methods, these heat-sensitive cycloadducts are difficult to synthesize free of the isomeric hydroquin-ones. When the reactions were carried out under thermal conditions, the primary cycloadducts were mostly converted into the corresponding hydroqui-nones. 

Quinone-mono-ketals 46 and 47 are also low reactive dienophiles and are sensitive to Lewis-acid catalysts. The use of high pressure overcomes this limitation [17]. As shown in Equation 5.7, cycloadditions with a variety of substituted 1,3-butadienes 48 occur regioselectively and c This approach provides access to a variety of annulated benzenes and naphthalenes after aromatization of adducts 49. 

Diels-Alder cycloadditions are sensitive to steric effects of two major types in the diene. Bulky substituents on the termini of the diene hinder approach of the two components to each other and decrease the rate of reaction. This effect can be seen in the relative reactivity of 1-substituted butadienes toward maleic anhydride.19... 

Mechanistic studies have shown that the TSs for 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions (1,3-DCA) are not very polar, the rate of reaction is not strongly sensitive to solvent polarity, and in most cases the reaction is a concerted [2tts+4irs] cycloaddition.137 The destruction of charge separation that is implied is more apparent than real because... 

The quantum yield for the formation of the cycloaddition product has been found to be temperature dependent, increasing by a factor of approximately three as the temperature is lowered from 65 ( = 0.24) to 5°C ( = 0.69). Photolysis of mixtures of the olefin and f/my-stilbene in the presence of sensitizers yielded no cycloaddition product (42) but rather only m-stilbene. This suggests that the cycloadduct is produced via a singlet reaction. This conclusion is supported by the fact that tetramethylethylene quenches fluorescence from the /rans-stilbene singlet. A plot of l/ (42) vs. 1/[TME] (TME = tetramethylethylene) is linear. The slope of this plot yields rate constants for cycloadduct formation which show a negative temperature dependence. To account for this fact, a reversibly formed exciplex leading to (42) was proposed in the following mechanism<82) ... 

The photoaddition of acenaphthylene to cyclopentadiene was shown to be sensitive to the presence of heavy atoms in the solvent, as shown in Table 10.9. The data in Table 10.9 show that product (46) increases from 18% of the total product in cyclohexane to 38% of the total product in 1,2-dibromo-ethane. This suggests that the [4 + 2] cycloaddition products (47) and (48) and the [2 + 2] product (46) are produced from different excited states. Accordingly, some of the [4 + 2] product has been postulated to arise from either (a) a singlet excited state or (b) a vibrationally excited ground state... 

A photosensitized dimerization of an isolated olefin, norbomene, has been reported by Scharf and Korte.<3) Irradiation in acetone or in the presence of acetophenone (Et = 74 kcal/mole) produced dimers (5) and (6) as major products. However, benzophenone (Et = 69 kcal/mole) failed to sensitize the reaction to (5) and (6), but in ether solution led to the quantitative formation of benzpinacol and in benzene to the oxetane (7) in 80% yield. Sensitizers of intermediate energy, such as xanthone (Et — 72 kcal/mole), demonstrated a competition between energy transfer to form triplet norbomene and cycloaddition to form the oxetane ... 

Cycloadducts have been successively obtained by reaction of MCP with maleic anhydride (116) and a number of related electron-deficient alkenes (137,486,487) under photolytic conditions in the presence of a sensitizer (Table 38, entries 5-8) [132b]. Analogous cycloadditions in mild conditions with high yields have also been performed with electron-donor substituted alkenes, such as vinylene carbonates 483 and 484 and the imidazolinone 485 (entries 2-4) [132], In the case of the unsymmetrical anhydride 137 (entry 6), an almost equimolar mixture of both the possible regioisomers has been obtained [132b]. In all these cases the reaction has also been proposed to occur via diradical intermediates formed from the reaction of 1 with the alkene in its excited triplet state [132]. 

Reports of [ 2 + 2] cycloaddition of nitrogen containing heterocycles to alkenes are so numerous that attention can be drawn here to only a few. Recent examples include the acetone-sensitized photoaddition of 4-oxazolin-2-one (248) to ethylene to give the cis-adduct 249,203 the photocycloadditions of N-substituted imidazoles to acrylonitrile204 and of N-methyl-4-hydroxy-quinol-2-one to cyclohexene,205 and the photoaddition of pentafluoro-pyridine to ethylene to give the 1 1- and 1 2-adducts 250 and 251,... 

Scheme 4.5 Diels-Alder cycloaddition using graphite as sensitizer.

Cycloaddition reactions often require the use of harsh conditions such as high temperatures and long reaction times. These conditions are not compatible with sensitive reagents or products such as natural products. The applicability of Diels-Alder cycloadditions is, moreover, limited by the reversibility of the reaction when a long reaction time is required. The short reaction times associated with microwave activation avoid the decomposition of reagents and products and this prevents polymerization of the diene or dienophile. All these problems have been conveniently solved by the rapid heating induced by microwave irradiation, a situation not accessible in most classical methods. With the aid of microwave irradiation, cydoaddition reactions have been performed with great success [9, 10]. 

Interestingly, the electron-transfer activation of cis- and trans-DBC cycloadditions with chloranil as a sensitizer leads to a mixture of cis- and trans-decalin adducts (equation 72). 

There are so many different examples of photochemical dimerizations and cross-cycloadditions 8-11,13-17) 0f olefinic compounds that one is not surprised to find several variations of mechanistic patterns. Simple olefins, including dienes and strained small ring, bicyclic olefins and styrene derivatives form a class of compounds that undergo such reactions sensitized by triplet energy donors. Some examples axe given in Eqs. 19—23, where only cyclobutane products are depicted. Theory... 

A third important group of reactions that may be discussed with the first two groups is not necessarily photosensitized. The dimerizations and additions of cyclic a,/S-unsaturated ketones can be initiated by direct n-n excitation of the ketone, followed by addition reactions. However, the reactions are efficiently photosensitized by triplet sensitizers, and it is reasonable to propose that the unsensitized cycloaddition reactions also proceed via triplet states. 8>63>94> Examples are given in Eqs. 28—... 

Like unsaturated ketones, a,0-unsaturated carboxylic acid derivatives, e.g. lactones and anhydrides, undergo cycloadditions to alkenes. As for the preparative conditions (direct irradiation or sensitized experiments) these compounds are situated somewhere in between enones on the one side and olefins on the other. 

Amino acids labeled with DNS-C1 were determined using the Ru(bpy)32+ CL reaction after HPLC separation with a reversed-phase column [104, 105], DNS derivatives are expected to produce intense CL owing to their secondary and tertiary amino groups. The detection limit for DNS-Glu was 0.1 pM (2 pmol/ injection). Although underivatized amino acids could be detected by Ru(bpy)32+ CL, the DNS derivatives showed improved detection limits by three orders of magnitude [105], An approach to convert primary amines to tertiary amines was also reported [106], In this method, divinyl sulfone (DVS) was used for a cycloaddition reaction of primary amines (Fig. 19). The DVS derivatives after HPLC separation were sensitively detected (e.g., detection limits for propylamine and 3-aminopentane were 30 and 1 pmol, respectively). 

An efficient synthetic route to (10Z)- and (10 )-19-lluoro-la,25-dihydroxy vitamin D3 has been developed (488). The key feature of this pathway is the introduction of a 19-fluoromethylene group to a (5 )-19-nor-10-oxo-vitamin D derivative. The 10-oxo compound 445 has been obtained via a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of (5 )-la,25-dihydroxyvitamin D with in situ generated nitrile oxide, followed by ring cleavage of the formed isoxazoline moiety with molybdenum hexacarbonyl. Conversion of the keto group of (5 )-19-nor-10-oxo-vitamin D to the E and Z fluoromethylene group has been achieved via a two-step sequence, involving a reaction of lithiofluoromethyl phenyl sulfone, followed by the reductive de-sulfonylation of the u-lluoro-j3-hydroxysulfone. The dye-sensitized photoisomerization of the (5 )-19-fluorovitamin D affords the desired (5Z)-19-fluorovitamin D derivatives, (10Z)- and (10 )-19-fluoro-la,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3. 

Snyder and coworkers followed a completely different path to canthin-6-one (Fig. 23). Earlier they had shown that indole-substituted 1,24-triazine 66 could be heated in refluxing triisopropylbenzene (bp = 232 °C) to give /3-carboline 67 via an intramolecular cycloaddition/cycloreversion reaction [58]. Selective oxidation of 67 at C-6 was achieved through the use of triethylbenzylammonium permanganate [59]. Success of the reaction proved to be very sensitive to the solvent chosen. Heating 67 for 4 h at 70 °C in a 5 1 mixture of dichloromethane and acetic acid gave a 65% yield of 63, yet use of increasing amounts of dichloromethane slowed the reaction down (no reaction occurred in pure dichloromethane), while use of pure acetic acid led to an intractable mixture. 

The reaction mechanism for the aerobic oxidation of the pz to seco-pz can be attributed to a formal 2 + 2 cycloaddition of singlet oxygen to one of the pyrrole rings, followed by cleavage (retro 2 + 2) of the dioxetane intermediate to produce the corresponding seco-pz (160). This mechanism is shown in Scheme 29 for an unsymmetrical bis(dimethylamino)pz. Further photophysical studies show that the full reaction mechanism of the photoperoxidation involves attack on the reactant by singlet oxygen that has been sensitized by the triplet state of the product, 159. As a consequence, the kinetics of the process is shown to be autocatalytic where the reactant is removed at a rate that increases with the amount of product formed. 

The relative proportions of unsaturated carbohydrate, sensitizer (usually acetone), and solvent may have a decided effect upon a photochemical addition reaction, as at least three competing processes (cycloaddition, radical addition, and energy transfer) are possible. The irradiation of 1 in the presence of 2-propanol and acetone provides an illustration (see Scheme 4). When a small proportion of sensitizer... 

Attempts to liberate l-methyl-l-aza-2,3-cyclohexadiene (329) from 3-bromo-l-methyl-l,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine (326) by KOtBu in the presence of [18]crown-6 and furan or styrene did not lead to products that could have been ascribed to the intermediacy of 329 (Scheme 6.70) [156], Even if there is no doubt as to the allene nature of 329 on the basis of the calculations on the isopyridine 179 and 3d2-lH-quinoline (257), it is conceivable that the zwitterion 329-Za is only a few kcal mol-1 less stable than 329. This relationship could foster the reactivity of 329 towards the tert-butoxide ion to an extent that cycloadditions to activated alkenes would be too slow to compete. On the other hand, the ultimate product of the trapping of 329 by KOtBu could have been an N,0-acetal or a vinylogous N,0-acetal, which might not have survived the workup (see, for example, the sensitivity of the N,0-acetal 262 [14], Scheme 6.57). 

An allene is a very promising unsaturated partner in cobalt-mediated [2 + 2 + 2]-cycloaddition reactions. Exposure of an allenediyne to a stoichiometric amount of CpCo(CO)2 in boiling xylenes under irradiation for 5 h furnishes red-brown complexes in 42% isolated yield (Scheme 16.76) [84—87]. Treatment of a 7 3 mixture of the two diastereomers thus obtained with silica gel provides an oxygen-sensitive cobalt-free tricydic compound. 

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