Cyclopentadiene retro Diels-Alder reaction

C, b.p. 170 C (decomp.), has a characteristic odour. It is the Diels-Alder product of cyclopentadiene reacting with itself, the exo-form being formed most rapidly but the endo-form is thermodynamically favoured. At temperatures above ISO C a retro-Diels-Alder reaction occurs and cyclopentadiene monomer is regenerated see diene reactions. 

In a novel approach to vitamin K, Hoffmann-La Roche has exploited the potential acidity at C-3 as a means to attach the side chain of vitamin (36). Menadione was reacted with cyclopentadiene to yield the Diels-Alder adduct. The adduct is treated with base and alkylated at C-3 with phytyl chloride. A retro Diels-Alder reaction yields vitamin K. Process improvements in this basic methodology have been claimed by Japanese workers (37). 

An alternative synthesis of a thermally stable cyclopentadienyl functionalized polymer involved ring bromination of poly(oxy-2,6-diphenyl-l,4-phenylene), followed by lithiation with butyl lithium to produce an aryllithium polymer. Arylation of 2-norbornen-7-one with the metalated polymer yielded the corresponding 2-norbornen-7-ol derivative. Conversion of the 7-ol to 7-chloro followed by treatment with butyl lithium generated the benzyl anion which undergoes a retro Diels-Alder reaction with the evolution of ethylene to produce the desired aryl cyclopentadiene polymer, 6. 

Microwave heating has also been employed for performing retro-Diels-Alder cycloaddition reactions, as exemplified in Scheme 6.94. In the context of preparing optically pure cross-conjugated cydopentadienones as precursors to arachidonic acid derivatives, Evans, Eddolls, and coworkers performed microwave-mediated Lewis acid-catalyzed retro-Diels-Alder reactions of suitable exo-cyclic enone building blocks [193, 194], The microwave-mediated transformations were performed in dichloromethane at 60-100 °C with 0.5 equivalents of methylaluminum dichloride as catalyst and 5 equivalents of maleic anhydride as cyclopentadiene trap. In most cases, the reaction was stopped after 30 min since continued irradiation eroded the product yields. The use of short bursts of microwave irradiation minimized doublebond isomerization. 

A convenient synthetic method for 1,2,3-triazoles unsubstituted at C-4 and C-5 utilizes a reaction of azides with norbornadiene, for example, Scheme 29 <2004JOC1081>. The process is performed in refluxing dioxane. In the first step, norbornadiene undergoes 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition to glucose-derived azide 225 to give triazoline 226. The following retro Diels-Alder reaction results in the elimination of cyclopentadiene to furnish triazole derivative 227 in 79% yield. 

The Diels-Alder adduct of sulpholene and cyclopentadiene is a useful starting material for substituted diene synthesis121. The diene moiety is unmasked by retro-Diels-Alder reaction and sulphur dioxide extrusion under flash vacuum pyrolysis conditions (equations 74 and 75)122,123. 

The term Diels-Alder reaction in a general sense refers to the reaction between a diene and a dienophile. Retro Diels-Alder reaction is a process that, under certain conditions, produces diene and olefin or a compound containing a C=C bond. The application of flash vacuum pyrolysis to effect the retro Diels-Alder reaction, as shown in Schemes 5-46 and 5-47, has become the standard procedure since the introduction of the method by Stork et al.74 in the 1970s. Therefore, alkenes that are difficult to access by conventional methods may be obtained via retro Diels-Alder reactions.75 In particular, this reaction allows the preparation of thermodynamically less stable compounds such as 4,5-dialkyl cyclopenta-2-en-one. In this case, the alkene functional group can be regarded as being protected by cyclopentadiene (as shown in 154 or 157), which, after subsequent reaction, can easily be removed through quick pyrolysis. 

In the presence of a more reactive dienophile, a retro Diels-Alder reaction can be carried out at or below room temperature when catalyzed by a Lewis acid.78 In fact, this process can be regarded as a trans-Diels-Alder reaction in which the C C bond is replaced by another more reactive functionality. Thus, when treated with fumaronitrile in the presence of EtAlCl2 at ambient temperature for 2 hours, compound 159 can easily be converted to compound 160 with the removal of cyclopentadiene (Scheme 5-48). 

Hetero Diels-Alder reactions are very useful for constructing heterocyclic compounds, and many important chiral molecules have thus been synthesized. Although the retro Diels-Alder reaction does not itself involve the asymmetric formation of chiral centers, this reaction can still be used as an important tool in organic synthesis, especially in the synthesis of some thermodynamically less stable compounds. The temporarily formed Diels-Alder adduct can be considered as a protected active olefin moiety. Cyclopentadiene dimer was initially used, but it proved difficult to carry out the pyrrolytic process. Pentamethyl cyclopentadiene was then used, and it was found that a retro Diels-Alder reaction could easily be carried out under mild conditions. 

All of the isomerization data shown above is consistent with the normal electrocyclic reaction chemistry expected for such substrates (4). That such fused norbornenyl systems undergo exo/endo isomerization via Diels Alder/retro Diels Alder reactions has been explicitly proven for simple cyclopentadiene-maleic anhydride adducts (5) and... 

The norbornene derivative 16, obtained exclusively as the exo adduct via a Diels-Alder reaction of itaconic anhydride with cyclopentadiene followed by hydrolysis and esterification [7], was found to be a suitable precursor for an enolate of type 14 (Scheme 2). Due to the quaternary center at C-3 eno-lization with base proceeded unambiguously, giving rise to a diastereomeric mixture of lactones 17/18 after reaction with hexanal. Retro-Diels-Alder reaction led to the monocyclic lactones 19/20 (2 1), elegantly unmasking the cxo-methylene group found in so many paraconic acids [8]. Hydrolysis of this mixture in refluxing butanone with 6 N HCl [9] effected epimerization... 

There are several cases of polycyclic triazolines, obtained by azide addition to the strained olefinic bond in bi- and tricyclic systems, that are susceptible to retro Diels-Alder reaction to yield 1-substituted triazoles. A well-established example is the monoadduct from norbornadiene and phenyl azide, which decomposes at 90-100°C to give 1-phenyltriazole and a cyclopentadiene (Scheme 138).2s 97—" 1 47 430 Similarly, the cycloadduct from the reaction of 7-oxabenzonorbornadiene and 1-azidoadamantane, when heated at 110°C, affords good yields of l-(l-adamantyl)-l,2,3-triazole in a retro Diels-Alder reaction.155... 

Reaction between nitrosobenzene (55) and cyclopentadiene (56a) gives an unstable cycloadduct (54a) however, in a highly aqueous medium the adduct is stabilized by hydrogen bonding and the hetero retro-Diels-Alder reaction is retarded, thereby enabling a study of the equilibrium dynamics with both reactants and products present in solution.31 Comparison with the corresponding reaction of cyclohexa-1,3-diene has been made in an attempt to separate the effects of the aqueous medium on the rate constants for the forward and reverse reaction. 

Retro-Diels-Alder reactions giving thiocarbonyl compounds are favored when simultaneously a comparatively stable diene is formed1. This is the case with anthracene and cyclopentadiene Diels-Alder adducts 81 and 82 which, upon heating, afford a wide array of thioaldehydes and thioketones (equation 84). These adducts are stable at room temperature and have become a convenient way of storing very reactive thiocarbonyl compounds. Cyclopentadiene is the cheapest and most reactive diene for use in Diels-Alder reactions. Also, strain in the bridged cycloadducts facilitates retro-Diels-Alder cleavage224. 

Strained cyclohexenes, such as norbornene derivatives, can undergo retro-Diels-Alder reactions even at relatively low temperatures, and this reaction can be used to prepare 1,3-dienes and alkenes (e.g. synthesis of cyclopentadiene by thermolysis of... 

A new synthesis of isoxazoles is by successive treatment of a ketoxime with butyllithi-um, the ester of a carboxylic acid and sulfuric acid, e.g. 1 -> 2 (94S989). Hitrovinyl oximes 3 (R1, R3 = alkyl or aryl) undergo oxidative cyclization to isoxazoles 4 by the action of DDQ or iodine/potassium iodide (94JHC861). Flash-vacuum pyrolysis of the 1,3-dipolar cycloadduct 5 of acrylonitrile oxide to norbornadiene results in a retro-Diels-Alder reaction to give cyclopentadiene and 3-vinylisoxazole 6 (94CC2661). 

In an analogous reaction of (2) with norbomadiene, the tetracyclic adduct (116) is formed which on heating undergoes a retro Diels-Alder reaction with formation of the thiophene derivative (117). Further cycloaddition reactions of mesoionic 1,3-dithiolones have been carried out with cyclopentadiene, 1,3-cyclohexadiene and 1,5-cyclooctadiene (78CB3037). 

They noted that in dimethoxyethane or in iso-octane (path a), the major product was dicarbonylcyclopentadienylcobalt (2) which must arise as a result of a retro Diels-Alder reaction of the norbornadiene (which would lead to the formation of acetylene and cyclopentadiene). When the solvent was changed to an aromatic hydrocarbon such as benzene or toluene (path b), the major cobalt-containing product was shown to be a complex derived from Co4(CO)i2, with three CO ligands on an apical cobalt being replaced by a molecule of the aromatic solvent (3). The group noted that they were also obtaining hydrocarbon and ketonic products derived from norbornadiene, acetylene and carbon monoxide .1,2... 

Fig. 9a4) between cyclopentadiene and a C=C bond of the dumbbell-shaped part of the rotaxane. The dumbbell-shaped part contains two dicarbonyl stations (Fig. 9a3), one derived from fumaric acid (tram -CO-C H=CH-CO-. station 1), the other derived from succinic acid (—CO-CH2-CH2-CO-, station 2). The two diamide sites of the macrocycle can form four H-bonds with the two carbonyl groups of a given station (Fig. 9al for the interaction of the two carbonyl groups of fumaric-acid-derived station 1 with the four NH groups of the macrocycle through four H-bonds, see Fig. 9a2). Station 1 (derived from fumaric acid) has a tram C=C double bond due to its preorganization, this station interacts with the macrocycle better than the station 2. Consequently, the macrocycle is initially located at station 1 (Fig. 9a5). The Diels-Alder cycloaddition (80° C, 90% yield) of cyclopentadiene to the double bond of station 1 results in a mixture of diastereomers (Fig. 9a4) and causes displacement of the macrocycle from station 1 to station 2 (Fig. 9a6). The cycloaddition is reversible and the retro-Diels-Alder reaction occurs quantitatively (250°C, reduced pressure) when cyclopentadiene dissociates from the axle of the rotaxane this produces a displacement of the macrocycle from station 2 back to station 1. 

Thiophene 1,1-dioxide did not undergo cycloaddition with electron-deficient dienophiles. In most of the cases the dihydrobenzothiophene derivative 109 was obtained as the major product. This shows that self-dimerization is faster than cycloaddition with a different molecule. In the case of dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD) and 4-phenyl-3//-l,2,4-triazole-3,5(4//)-dione (PTAD), the Diels-Alder adducts 111 and 112 of 109 were obtained <1997JA9077>. However, cyclopentadiene gave the Diels-Alder adduct 113 with thiophene 1,1-dioxide. The DMAD adduct 111 on thermolysis undergoes a retro-Diels-Alder reaction to give dimethyl phthalate and thiophene 1,1-dioxide. Azulene was isolated in the thermolysis of 108 in the presence of 6-(dimethylamino)-fulvene this was the result of a [4-1-6] cycloaddition of the thiophene 1,1-dioxide formed in the reaction followed by elimination of SO2 and dimethylamine (Scheme 28) <1999BCJ1919>. 

When heated, dicyclopentadiene undergoes a retro Diels-Alder reaction, and two molecules of cyclopentadiene are re-formed. If cyclopentadiene is immediately treated with a different dienophile, it reacts to form a new Diels-Alder adduct with this dienophile. 

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