Cycloadditions step economy

Our initial studies focused on the transition metal-catalyzed [4+4] cycloaddition reactions of bis-dienes. These reactions are thermally forbidden, but occur photochemically in some specific, constrained systems. While the transition metal-catalyzed intermole-cular [4+4] cycloaddition of simple dienes is industrially important [7], this process generally does not work well with more complex substituted dienes and had not been explored intramolecularly. In the first studies on the intramolecular metal-catalyzed [4+4] cycloaddition, the reaction was found to proceed with high regio-, stereo-, and facial selectivity. The synthesis of (+)-asteriscanoHde (12) (Scheme 13.4a) [8] is illustrative of the utihty and step economy of this reaction. Recognition of the broader utiHty of adding dienes across rc-systems (not just across other dienes) led to further studies on the use of transition metal catalysts to facilitate otherwise difficult Diels-Alder reactions [9]. For example, the attempted thermal cycloaddition of diene-yne 15 leads only... 

Transition metal-catalyzed cyclopropane-based cycloadditions provide efficient strategies for the construction of (poly)cyclic structures. More importantly, the cycloadditions feature atom- and step-economy, good regio- and stereoselectivity, and excellent functional group tolerance. More and more total syntheses of natural products benefit fi om the rich cycloaddition chemistry of VCPs and MCPs. To date, numerous total syntheses of natural products have been accomplished utilizing these methodologies as key steps. Listed in Fig. 4 are some selected examples. 

A synthetically powerful method, an approach based on cycloaddition chemistry, allows one to assemble the pyridine ring in one step. Not only is this method efficient, atom economy, but also its convergency allows for the preparation for highly substituted systems in which one can, in principle, control all five positions on the pyridine ring. A versatile example of this methodology is the Boger reaction. It has been applied to the synthesis of a very diverse set of targets. 

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