Cyclopropenone dimethyl acetal

A number of cyclopropenes are available by routes which involve cyclopropanes as transient intermediates. For example, cyclopropenone dimethyl acetaF is obtained in yields up to 65% by sequential 1,3- and 1,2-elimination reactions (equation 24) the acetal... 

Hydrolysis of cyclopropene dimethyl acetal (45) provides a further useful route to cyclopropenone (equation 37). 

Bromoetherification of alkenes can be achieved using NBS in the desired alcohol as the solvent. The reaction of 1,3-dichloropro-pene with NBS in methanol yields an a-bromo dimethyl acetal in the first step in a convenient synthesis of cyclopropenone. Using propargyl alcohol the reaction depicted in eq 22 has been extended to an annulation method for the synthesis of a-methy-lene-y-butyrolactones. Intramolecular bromoetherification and bromoamination reactions are generally very facile (eq 23). In natural products synthesis, bromoetherification has been used for the synthesis of cyclic ethers (by subsequent debromination, see... 

Dimethyl-4,8-dioxaspiro[2.5]oct-l-ene is a synthetically useful precursor for cyclopropenones because of its stability and ready availability. The sodium derivative 1 of the cyclopropenone acetal in liquid ammonia reacted with alkyl halides giving alkyl-substituted cyclopropenone acetals 3. The lithiated cyclopropenone acetal 4 was generated by treating the cyclopropenone acetal with one equivalent of butyllithium in tetrahydrofuran. Reaction of the lithium carbanion 4 with alkyl halides proceeded cleanly in the presence of two equivalents of hexamethylphosphoric triamide (Table 1, entries 1-4). The lithium compound underwent nucleophilic addition to carbonyl compounds smoothly at — 70 C giving hydroxymethyl derivatives 5 (Table 1, entries 5-10). 

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